Building a comfortable hot rod for tall people

I'm patiently waiting for pic's of the 34.

 

Yes there is still good info, but replying to someone who posted years ago is not that good, sometimes they are gone and don't come back.

You may wait a long time

 

JFYI...anyone thinking about this and starting from scratch may want to consider a Model T Coupe...and make into a Coupester.
I built this one from scratch...and put in on a Model A frame...
I am 6' 5" and weigh ~350 lbs, so leg room was critical to me...
Also note the lack of a transmission tunnel...
Unfortunately due to health (back and leg) problems I had to sell this as you see it in the first picture..
Sure would have had ample room for us bid dudes though..

 

Door closing latches that belong on an outhouse Wow.

 

LOL one thing to remember is that my granddad was 5'3" officially according to the Army (long story on that) and those old fords were built for people like him.
@HotRodRyan I have a friend that is about your height that drives a Model A coupe. It is built east coast style channeled and no chop. He uses Neon Buckets that he built the sliders into the floor (so his seats site about an inch off the floor) and a smallish cal custom wheel (like a 13") on a tilt column. If he was single he told me he wouldn't have used sliders on the seats at all but his wife is around 5' 0" tall and she drives the car once in a while. He used the 30/31 body because it has a little more leg/foot room and he drives it all the time. if you wanted to stay totally trad and not use the late model seats you could use Volks wagon buckets or glass race seats.

The Model 40 body has a lot more room inside then the A bone but if you want the A that is the way that my tall friend did his.

 

After doing both a 33-5 window/3 inch chop and a 32-3 window/2.5 inch chop. I'm 6.2/250. I made both of them comfortable to drive by removing any vestige of a package tray, moving the seat all the way back, mounting the seat low and most of all working with my upholstery shop to make the seat comfortable. Drove the 5 window all over and just learning how to drive the 3 window, but both of them are and were comfortable

 

Something else I have discovered as of late and maybe it is my age showing here is that suicide doors are easier to get in and out of. Granted on an A someone would think that it is a little street roddy but they are easier to screw yourself in and out of.

 

Tilt columns also help, but you don't have to abandon tradition, just make your own instead of buying a late-model version or aftermarket product.

 

Ever heard of temporary dipity ?????

 

No, can't say I have. Made up or invented words that have no meaning or definition ( and also no place) in the English language are useless.

 

You can quickly remove the word "comfortable" from the dialogue if either "top chop" or "channeling" is part of the build. HINT: I am 5'6", and my '32 roadster has a 2" firewall setback with a GLIDE seat frame and normal upholstering, no overstuffed seatback. I have NO, that's NO, extra room for my little feet and short legs. My son and grandson are both 5'11" tall, and neither can even sit in the car for any length of time. Their legs are contorted unnaturally. Good luck with your build.

 

Excuse me, Bud. That is a '34 coupe. Notice the web in the back of the window opening. Also, the cowl has the tell-tale dimple to rest the hood side-panel. The Model 40, as the '33-'34s were called, is a favorite of everyone. Go for it.

 

Ha...typical response...funny, the other day I filled out the HAMB questioner about this forum, and one of the comments I had was that with the huge amount of members, there really were very few "Can Rats" making stupid posts....so you can consider yourself one of them...I get hassled all the time and have no problem with it (and a lot of times justified)...just on occasion decide to respond to an obvious stupid reply...
No one in their right mind would use a set up like that to drive anything...
Oh, in case you are interested, here is a picture of what I started out with..
And lastly, your rig looks great !

 

Wow, holy thread resurrection batman! Long story short, my offroad truck project (that I was working on at the time of the initial post) snowballed into a much bigger project than originally thought. Got married, bought a house, picked up the 52 Dodge coronet you see in my avatar pic, yadda, yadda, nothing has been done on either the model a or 34 body but my dad still has them lol

 

I rolled in here in 2019 looking for advice. The old thread with recent posters doesn't bother those looking for info. Someone may have something recent to share with those looking for answers.

 

You waited since 2012 to write your first post and that was it. This old ass thread is what brought you out from the shadows? You just couldn't hold your silence anymore? Hahha crazy bro. Good for you.

 

Yeah, but how tall are you?
and welcome to the madness!

 

The real answer IMHO is coupsters, tudors and uncut firewalls for starters.
After that is comes to amputation or extender cabs and lengthened doors...

 

I’m surprised by all the information given.
My friend has a ‘34 coupe, he must be 6’4”, I’m 6’1”, and it is a most comfortable car to drive and to ride in.
It has a 4” chop.
Seat is almost on the floor.
By the way, your coupe is a ‘34, just as Gary Addcox has mentioned.

 

Lol. Saw this thread and felt the same. I'm 6'-6" and have the same issue with the car I'm building. I did a lot of drafting/layout work with some crude mocking up. Because I'll be building everything from scratch I have the luxury of making the car bigger, but with that comes other issues that can negatively impact the look. As others have mentioned, moving seat as far back as possible and keeping it low help immensely. In my case with frame rails at 28" outside width, and a body width of maybe 36" foot room also became a huge issue due to trans. To solve the problem in my case, I raised the floor pan to be almost flush with the top of the trans to give me that couple extra inches for my right foot. I also dropped engine/trans down as low as I could based on ground clearance and driveline angles. Every bit helps.

 

6'2" / 210, 4.5" chop, no package tray, lowered seat, and tons of room.
Very comfortable cruiser.

 

It's all in how you build it. Take your time and fit it to you and you'll be happy. I'm not small and my 27 rpu is comfortable because I built it for my body.

 

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I'm 6'4" and specifically chose a 35 Coupe - kept stock body, shortened the package shelf and moved the seat back - have tons of room - super comfortable !

 

Lots of good stuff here.
It's more work to add or gain back usable room after it's been removed.
That's why it's not seen too much, lazy.

In a relative way, it's much easier to Chanel a car and chop a top to get your proportions than it is to drop the floor pan so you can gain back the room.

Some ergonomics will get tossed,all of them don't have to, and retaining some of the more valuable ones is not impossible.

 

Tell you what, dude, that vintage oak seat is gonna be really uncomfortable on a long drive and you gotta do something about those pants

 

Wow, just wow!

 

when you are tall and goofy sometimes you need to get creative

 

It’s all about how you put them together.

 

Ah, revived again. I parted out the offroad truck that I ended up building instead of the hot rod. My brother and I started building the 5- window Model A for my dad. He's 73 years old and hasn't had a driveable hot rod since I was a little kid (I'm 34) Hopefully the chassis will be done this year and we can start with putting the body on it. Dad wants it to be an unchopped, full fendered, dependable hot rod. Gonna get the basic 350/350 dressed up to look the part

I picked up a 1959 Chevy Apache and started on that build in August. Moving quickly on it. I have already decided that the 34 coupe will be my build after the Apache is a dependable driver.

 

One of them zombie threads eh? Keeps coming back to life.

You wanna talk about a lack of leg room, try as model A closed cab pickup...

Late last year I got tired of driving around on worn out seats in my A pickup and I bought some really nice round back bucket seats from a dude off Craigslist and installed them. I love the seats, supper comfortable, but the round back combined with the thick padding just cost too much leg room, so they're coming out. I picked up some forklift seats I'm going to try next. I'll give up a little comfort for my rear end to gain an inch or 2 of leg room and head room.