So where do you guys draw the line between comfort and style?

I've got a '32 5W and I fit in it just fine at 6'4.

Looks like your engine is pretty high up and set back. Drop that motor a bit and that'll give you less of a hump inside, also follow the advice of flipping that firewall back around around and sliding the body back to get some more space.

...or find yourself a sedan body, you'll have all the room you need.

 

Cool and comfortable don't go together, when talking hot rods!

 

Try going for comfort. If you plan to hold on to this for a long time you will probably do some long trips. I am 5'6" and built my coupe to fit me. Some taller friends have bitched when I let them drive. I've done several trips of many thousand miles in a couple weeks. I am now 63 & the car is not as comfortable as it was 20 yrs ago. I may re-do some things next sumer, but not a complete tear down.

 

Cool and comfort go together on a lot of 'rods I see.

 

My Model A pickup is stock height and not channeled and it is still tight. I'm 6'-1" tall. To gain more room I removed the rear cab wood brace and formed a metal strip to take its place, Then I used a piece of plywood for the seat back with 2" of foam glued to it. For the seat bottom I used a repro stock seat spring. The seat back is comfortable, the bottom is sort of stiff, and I may change that something else. That added more room as compared to a pair of buket seat. The brake pedal poses the biggest problem as it has to intrude enough to get the proper stroke to stop, so my knee is up in the air.

 

Yes, the engine is set up high in the frame. It was done to give me access to the oil filter without removing the motor and to give me some room for the steering box. It really isn't that high up, and the bell housing would still be in the way if I lowered the engine.

The frame is already been stretched or soon will be. The front cross member was moved forward slightly and the cab moved back from the stock location to give me room for the motor (with a stock type fan and access to the rear distributor). I don't know that I could move things any more without it looking out of proportion.

I could flip the firewall back around, but I'd have to notch it so much to clear the motor and bell housing that I would probably loose the same amount of foot space. I'm going to have to wait until we brace the body up some more and rough in some floors to see how the overall toe area will work out.

On a side note, this was a Tudor until I changed my mind. Actually it really is a mutt, the cowl is from one car, the A-pillars from another, both doors are different cars, the rear cab panel is yet another, and I have yet to find some decent above the door panels for it. Oh, lets not forget the bed sides, tailgate and front bed panel are all different donors. It's all built from leftovers and I probably have less than $3K in the whole build including all the other Model A stuff I traded to have this one built. I guess I can't complain as it has been fun so far.

 

How long is a y-block. I set my chassis up for a blown BBC with a 2" belt. I think I'm 35 or 36 from cowl to grille shell. I would say lower the motor is going to help. I lowered mine 1" and it made a big difference.

 

My buddy's and I added 6" to the frame to get the 348 to fit right. My firewall on the 34 is stock. The truck will never have fenders so why not. Nobody has ever guessed that we lenghtened the frame. We cut and fit a 93 Arrowstar seat to fit with thin foam on the back rest. Then raised the seat till our legs were in the right position. I'm good for 2 hours in it before I need a stretch. Take your time and get thing positioned correctly before you just settle for a certain "look". Time and planning well spent. I'm 6'2" 240 lbs. You can do it. Model A cabs are smaller for sure. 2 inches here and there makes a world of difference.

 

No the question here is where do you draw the line. Your unavoidable anxiety is your choice of vehicle to play with. I’m not knocking you by any means and think your pic of your truck looks good but in being honest with yourself it’s an undeniable truth. I feel your pain and have attached photos of our 29 model A roadster pickup that we just finished last fall. We built and rolled out with an English wheel the entire body from the front cowl back to include the suicide doors. You’ll notice the body is actually somewhere around 8 inches (give or take a couple) longer or, in other words it extends back behind the doors that much to make this work for us in the leg room department. The truth is these are tight little trucks to begin with and when you start to alter where your legs are going to go and steering wheel angles it gets tighter yet. On average in my rat pack we are 6 ft. 2 in. or taller and we tip well beyond the 200 to 220 lb mark (or more). You just aren’t going to cram 220 lbs of hell raiser into a 5 gallon paint can. It just ain’t gonna happen without a fight or something breaking. Part of our solution was to basically build our own cab and extend it to accommodate as much as we could without it looking like a real freak show. 29 pick ups are an extra challenge but we have been chopping and screwing up perfectly good factory offerings with some excellent results for several years and we drive them all. Comfort might not be their strong suit and their only fun at just a couple hours at a time. We still get our big asses in these cars and manage to not look like circus bears on mini bikes and you can too with some extra thought. Spend the time placing your steering wheel angle, steering wheel size, placement of pedals and shifter. Placement of door handles and window regulator handles if that’s an amendable part of your project. Can you raise the dash up or slice a section out of it and bring the bottom of the dash up to allow for more comfort of folding your legs under it? Make your own seat back and or bottom with less width and depth of material but with that will further sacrifice some comfort. All these given their due at design and build time can be the difference between pulling it off and driving it some –or- that rude feeling you get when you realize you can’t drive your newly finished project. As I’ve said I’ve been doing this for years and another unfortunate truth is eventually, if you’re a big man you will not be able to fit in some of your tighter built cars that you could fit into as a younger man. I don’t care what the 5 ft. nothing pip squeaks try to tell you, the big man faces challenges in this art form that others don’t. This is typically where a new found appreciation for the big sleds, 4 doors and things like air conditioning are more appealing and at that point in your skill evolution you can hide creature comfort things so the self proclaimed rivet counting retro purist can’t figure it out either. I still own my first front engine rail dragster, a 61 Dragmaster and I can get in it but in the last few years it’s a Jaws of Life event to get me back out. So the car is basically shop jewelry now. Solution; I moved up to a 1970 Mark Williams front engine chassis and I can get in and out of this just fine and it’s an all around safer dragster. One day I’ll bag a cute little hard body that wants to use me for her betterment and I’ll outfit her in the 61 so I still actually have some good rides left in that car. When we get tired of each others crap I’ll outfit the next one in the car. Man it comes down to this, if this shit was easy half the guys on this website and any roller skating drive in bimbo could build a car. And it takes a real sick ticket to do it their whole life so pay the steps on your truck build, steel all the leg and head room you can within reason, remember it will never be or ride like a luxury sedan so spend the time to build it right and go enjoy your truck to the fullest and have fun. Hope to see you on the asphalt soon.


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If you guys want some fairly comfortable bucket seats that are cheap when you find 'em, and not as recognizable as the Mustang buckets... go British. The factory low back buckets in my '67 MGB GT would look right at home in an old hot rod. Especially with a change in covering. The covering doesn't look too bad though. 99% of people at a hot rod event won't recognize them as British... they're thin and comfortable! Like a good condom...

Not the best pics of the seats, but you get the idea...





-Chris

 

If you are able to make the seat bottom long enough (with a slight rise) to support the upper leg just behind the knee joint, it may make a significant difference in driver fatigue. This means paying some attention to the steering wheel location in relation to your lap......A higher wheel helps obscure your vision unless it is fairly small. A smaller wheel means less mechanical advantage on manual steering, and attention needs to be paid to the ratio in the box, weight distribution, tire type and tire pressure.........

 

Over thanksgiving break, I pulled out my bench seat and threw in a smaller bucket seat just for the hell of it. Well lets just say that bench seat took up alot more room than i thought and I realized I made a mistake the last 2 years going with the bench seat. My knees were up near the steering wheel and now with a bucket seat my knees are no where close to the steering wheel. So looks like I will be hunting the junkyard when I am home over xmas....

 

My sentiments exactly !!!! When you want comfort,get in the family cruizer. When you want fun jump in the Hot Rod !

 

I've got a 2" streched 32 Roadster High Boy with a mid 90's Chrysler minivan seat. The steering wheel is a spare I had from a '61 Catalina, and the shifter is exactly midline on the tunnel. When I put it all together, I put everything where it exactly fit me. To be perfectly honest, it is extremely comfortable. I took a lot of care with the seat height, steering wheel placement, gauge placement, brake pedal/gas pedal positions, etc. I'm just to old and broken to not be comfortable while I'm driving...and I didn't need to give up any cool on the look of the car, either. I believe that if you take the time to really plan out everything, you can have both style AND comfort...but then again, the "A" interior IS a bit smaller than the 32...

 

It is like going to an all you can eat buffet that serves crappy food. Is it worth it? It should be comfortable enough to want to drive it. Seat height an inch or 2 can make a huge difference. Good luck, it comes down to trial an error.

 

Wow, popular thread!! Well, i have always thought that a hot rod needs to look right first of all. Forget being comfortable, but of course safety has to be a priority.
I work on the right stance first, then figure out what i need to do in order to being able to drive the car.
I channeled our model a truck 7", and put the steering box inside the cab because i don't like the look of them witting on top of the frame. It's tight but will definitely work. Just have to make two "ass buckets" to sit in so i'll come down a bit. Steering column mounted high up, cut out in dash. Once in there, it'll be alright!!

 

I'm 6'5" and not remotely skinny and I put 5000-ish miles on my car this year, a 1920 T roadster (steel body with factory firewall) not the most comfy thing in the world, but I put the steering column and pedals where I wanted them and made my own seat for some added comfort. The seat is a cut down minivan seat so it still has springs in the bottom which is really nice since I have had a spinal fusion. I think the best bet is to build the car around the driver.

 

I had a '31 Model A which fit me nice. I'm only 5'5". I was thinking about getting a '34 Ford P/U. My friend has an identical truck and he told me to sit in it. Boy was it cramped. I chose a Pontiac Grand Prix instead.

 

For me, safety comes first. Then comfort, then style.
I'm 6'2" with size 15 steel toe boots. My '29 Sedan will have a Steer-Clear type setup on my column to make my life easier.
'29 Sedan, '32 frame, 3 pedals. I will be comfortable and enjoying it!

 

If it's not comfortable why drive it?...to look cool?...are we that vain?...life is too short and work is too hard, to drive an uncomfortable car in your "free" time! IMHO

My 55 Chevy fits me like a condom, nice and roomy...

 

that is exactly what i am doing with my 27 chevy.
go pedal in center.
5.9 and 145 lbs and i barely fit in it.
i used the smallest boat seats i could find and mounted them on the floor with no brackets.

p.s.
i am starting to wonder if my best gal is even gonna fit in this thing.
5.9 with really big boobs.
if she does fit i dont think she will be able to drive it...

 

Comfortable is a relative term.

There are some things you can do as mentioned previously, like playing with the seat and steering wheel position, and dropping the floor down to the bottom of the framerail.

Any comfort I can get in the T roadster with a channel is just a charming bonus!

Also, as mentioned before, the more you drive it the more you will learn how to fit!

 

My 23 bucket was pretty uncomfortable, but dang it was cool. Of course, I needed to loose about 100 lbs at the time. Now that I'm well on my way back to my high school football playing weight, I think I'd be able to fit in it much better. (I wish I had it back)

It had a quick-release steering wheel and a seat made out of high density foam.

I guess that's why my 54 tudor has always appealed to me.....tons of room.

 

When I had my frame built Deek stretched it 3 inches to reduce the firewall recess. It made a world of a difference compared to the stock frame. I'm also using a piece of 1/2 plywood and am going to use high density foam seat. I can also add foam where I need to be more comfortable. My car is channelled about 3.5" and chopped 6. I'm about 5-8 160 pounds.

 

I'm coming into some money soon, and plan on throwing a wad into my car. I can't decide if I want to do the chrome work, finish the body and paint, or have the interior done.

Chroming aint cheap but it would be worth it with my desoto grill and packard tail lights.
I could easily get the body blocked out and painted before next season, but its pointless to do if the chrome is shitty.
The interior I have now is all stained and tattered, and I am wearing a rather large hole in the seat everytime I sit in it.

I think for this season I'll just shoot for comfort, let the rest follow.

 

all comfort is discarded for style

 

Anyone can throw an uncomfortable/cool looking car together and drive it for a few miles, but it takes a real craftsman and some serious planning to build a kool looking car that is comfortable, and can be driven for a long period of time. Model A pickups are probably one of the hardest to make comfortable, but there is alot you can do to help out. I would suggest take the time to figure out what looks cool and is comfortable for you, or you won't enjoy the pickup as much as you would like. I have seen alot of vehicles come through the shop because the owner bought it because it was cool looking, and after driving it alittle, they would be in the shop having the floors cut out and a bunch of fab work redone to make them comfortable. I would put the firewall back, widen the the frame rails so the floor pans and seats sit down between them, and try some 64-66 mustang buckets. You can also take a little out of the windshield header to give you more visibility. This will allow you to sit higher and not have to cramp your knees. Just a few thoughts.

 

If it is not a pleasure to drive you will not drive it. Having a car you can spend all day in is priceless.

 

Aman to that! It can't be called style if it an't comfortible to drive,but it can be call poor engineering if it an't a comfort. And car that don't drive well never look cool to me,things like too low so ya can't see out much or drive over normal pumbs ect.

 

GAS PUMP if I cant drive it affordably dont need it to sit in the garage, got to get better than 8-10 miles a gallon.