So I am not short- and long in the torso to boot. So when i sit in the spider my legroom is ok.. manageable anyway, but my eyes line up with the chrome at the top of the windshield and I know that when i get a top on it (currently this is a major project) my head will be pushing up canvas and I will have almost no visibility.
Since this is a complete rebuild of the car- interior is fully trashed, any suggestions for us vertically challenged? I need to redo the seats and top in any case- are stock seats the best and just remove foam? Can I modify the rails to go further back, or shorter? and are their kits/ideas for making a little extra head room? Like can I attach spacers on the top rails and stretch the fabric more?
any experience and advice on this appreciated.
cheers,
-j
tall guy in a tiny car
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toplessexpat
- Posts: 1183
- Joined: Fri Aug 31, 2012 2:29 am
- Your car is a: 1976 Spider 1800
- Location: Houston, TX
Re: tall guy in a tiny car
Hey - I'm 6'6", and there's a sweet spot with the reclining back and the seat not quite all the way back that seems to work for me.... although I'm sure that's not the same for everyone.
Hacking the seat runners around isn't that appealing... but the roof does actually curve up slightly from the top of the windscreen, and there's even more room if you don't have / remove any headlining. The seats are really hard to replace without increasing the height. Mine are apart right now as I'm recovering them. There's not that much foam underneath. I'd be tempted to get some denser foam and cut out a thinner cushion if it was too much of a concern. That said - it's your posterior....
Hacking the seat runners around isn't that appealing... but the roof does actually curve up slightly from the top of the windscreen, and there's even more room if you don't have / remove any headlining. The seats are really hard to replace without increasing the height. Mine are apart right now as I'm recovering them. There's not that much foam underneath. I'd be tempted to get some denser foam and cut out a thinner cushion if it was too much of a concern. That said - it's your posterior....
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81SPIDERMATT
- Posts: 1239
- Joined: Mon Oct 11, 2010 5:10 pm
- Your car is a: 1981 spider 2000
- Location: FORT COLLINS, CO
Re: tall guy in a tiny car
although I am not tall I have often thought about getting lower... not sure I would want to give up any padding ... not much there .... and past my pay grade to modify my support for the rails to get them lower than they are ... I do the lean back maneuver ... if you choose to somehow lower the seat rails I would be very interested in how you do it
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jetboy
Re: tall guy in a tiny car
that is a bit reassuring to hear. my past experience has been with alfa romeo spiders, and it was quite a tight fit. in that case i was able to remove a stop on the rails as i recall, and push the seat back and down further than was factory capable.
if i was the only person to ever drive it i suppose i could remove the rails and just bolt the seat to the floor. maybe a couple positions with wing nuts for when someone wants to move it!
if i was the only person to ever drive it i suppose i could remove the rails and just bolt the seat to the floor. maybe a couple positions with wing nuts for when someone wants to move it!
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timspider
Re: tall guy in a tiny car
I'm 6'6" as well and agree on the seat position sweet spot, but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the headroom. I just put a new top on last Fall and I don't have any lining or anything in it. Don't even know what that looks like, but the top works fine and headroom has never been as issue.
My issue was with knees knocking the door panel when clutching and the shifter a bit from 1st to second. My solution for that are the tightest fitting, skinniest shoes I could find, combined with shifting my clutch foot position up on the clutch pedal just a touch. As for the right knee, the shift from first to second happens so quickly and is so brief, I don't even notice it any more.
Overall, I've been pleasantly surprised at the head and elbow room in the vehicle. It doesn't feel cramped at all to me.
As far as eyeline, it's only an issue for me as I get really close to stuff, like when approaching an intersection, seeing the traffic lights requires a tiny tilt down of the head.
I can live with the adjustments. I've never had this much fun driving a car.
My issue was with knees knocking the door panel when clutching and the shifter a bit from 1st to second. My solution for that are the tightest fitting, skinniest shoes I could find, combined with shifting my clutch foot position up on the clutch pedal just a touch. As for the right knee, the shift from first to second happens so quickly and is so brief, I don't even notice it any more.
Overall, I've been pleasantly surprised at the head and elbow room in the vehicle. It doesn't feel cramped at all to me.
As far as eyeline, it's only an issue for me as I get really close to stuff, like when approaching an intersection, seeing the traffic lights requires a tiny tilt down of the head.
I can live with the adjustments. I've never had this much fun driving a car.
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georgeramos
- Posts: 1359
- Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 11:11 am
- Your car is a: 1971 124 Spider 1608
Re: tall guy in a tiny car
Ive never seen headlining in a soft top either...is that even an option?
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backyardbill
Re: tall guy in a tiny car
I'm 6'3" with long legs.
Ditto on the shoes, Puma makes driving shoes, like the F1 guys wear, an puts them on sale every once in a while. I got mine for $40. They have no welts at all so your feet don't catch each other when working the pedals. However, heel and toe downshifts are still tricky.
A Michigan short shifter solved my "bang in the leg" while doing the 1-2 shift. Various vendors here have them.
A smaller diameter, dished, steering wheel will help too. I don't have one yet, but am looking.
Does your Fiat have the fake rear seat? In my 1980 car, I removed the rear "seat" and replaced it with a shelve (like Foster48x and other here have done). I located the shelve on top of the cross frame member, but rearward about 1"-2". This allows the seat back to recline fully backwards and not touch the shelve. This doesn't seem like much, but it made a big difference in comfort for me. My head is comfortably clear of the top when it is up.
As for the Alfa Romeo spider, I wanted one of those before buying the Fiat. But, I could not contour my body any which way to safely drive it. So I gave up on it. There was a die hard Alfista who had his Alfa cut in half around the middle of the seat area, and welded in a 3"-4" stretch to the frame, doors and all. But this was big $$$$ .
Good luck with your project.
Ditto on the shoes, Puma makes driving shoes, like the F1 guys wear, an puts them on sale every once in a while. I got mine for $40. They have no welts at all so your feet don't catch each other when working the pedals. However, heel and toe downshifts are still tricky.
A Michigan short shifter solved my "bang in the leg" while doing the 1-2 shift. Various vendors here have them.
A smaller diameter, dished, steering wheel will help too. I don't have one yet, but am looking.
Does your Fiat have the fake rear seat? In my 1980 car, I removed the rear "seat" and replaced it with a shelve (like Foster48x and other here have done). I located the shelve on top of the cross frame member, but rearward about 1"-2". This allows the seat back to recline fully backwards and not touch the shelve. This doesn't seem like much, but it made a big difference in comfort for me. My head is comfortably clear of the top when it is up.
As for the Alfa Romeo spider, I wanted one of those before buying the Fiat. But, I could not contour my body any which way to safely drive it. So I gave up on it. There was a die hard Alfista who had his Alfa cut in half around the middle of the seat area, and welded in a 3"-4" stretch to the frame, doors and all. But this was big $$$$ .
Good luck with your project.
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leeputmanjr
Re: tall guy in a tiny car
I love all these tips!
I added an Alfa Romeo steering wheel, which is dished & puts the wheel about four inches closer to me. With the seat all the way back & reclined, this makes reaching the steering wheel a LOT easier!
The Alfa wheel by The Put-Man, on Flickr
However, I'm still not happy with how high I sit in the car. So...I had an upholstery shop try to make the bottom seat foam much thinner, but with more modern, stronger foam.
Untitled by The Put-Man, on Flickr
You can see where they removed the thick wire frame from the lower cushion, and you can see how wrinkled it looks now that it's been 'sucked' downwards a good bit. It's still quite comfortable, and gets me another inch lower in the seat.
I wish I'd had them do the same thing to the seat BACK! I may go back to them this spring for that.
In the meantime, I'm still considering lowering the rails that the seat bolts to. Has anyone done this? I'd love to hear pro-cons...
I added an Alfa Romeo steering wheel, which is dished & puts the wheel about four inches closer to me. With the seat all the way back & reclined, this makes reaching the steering wheel a LOT easier!
The Alfa wheel by The Put-Man, on Flickr
However, I'm still not happy with how high I sit in the car. So...I had an upholstery shop try to make the bottom seat foam much thinner, but with more modern, stronger foam.
Untitled by The Put-Man, on Flickr
You can see where they removed the thick wire frame from the lower cushion, and you can see how wrinkled it looks now that it's been 'sucked' downwards a good bit. It's still quite comfortable, and gets me another inch lower in the seat.
I wish I'd had them do the same thing to the seat BACK! I may go back to them this spring for that.
In the meantime, I'm still considering lowering the rails that the seat bolts to. Has anyone done this? I'd love to hear pro-cons...
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toplessexpat
- Posts: 1183
- Joined: Fri Aug 31, 2012 2:29 am
- Your car is a: 1976 Spider 1800
- Location: Houston, TX
Re: tall guy in a tiny car
Hey all - having just done 900 miles this past weekend, with the roof up and down - I go back to my previous point, there IS a sweet spot. Now, I do have a slightly smaller Abarth steering wheel which means knees fit in easier, and the shift from first to second doesn't require patella reconstruction... but I'm 6'6", and it just works. I've also recently finish my seat recovering, and that put an extra inch back into the seat base.
I got out of the car after the last 240 miles... and didn't even have a crick in my back.
I do often get the comment "how do YOU fit into that?!" though....
On the w/end I did see a 2000 with the SpiderPoint seats in it. They look REALLY nice, and the bases are considerably lower than stock I think, probably about 2 inches or so. Worth looking at if you're really having problems - not cheap though...
A
I got out of the car after the last 240 miles... and didn't even have a crick in my back.
I do often get the comment "how do YOU fit into that?!" though....
On the w/end I did see a 2000 with the SpiderPoint seats in it. They look REALLY nice, and the bases are considerably lower than stock I think, probably about 2 inches or so. Worth looking at if you're really having problems - not cheap though...
A