Where's all the leg room in a Model A?

Yeah, I'm new to the board and hot rods...but at least I searched first

Anyway, I bought a frame the other day and some body panels that loosely resemble a Model A roadster. I set the panels up on the floor with some old buckets seats to "test drive" the car and noticed that there isn't a whole lot of leg room - like I need to put my feet about 6" through the firewall (I'm 6'5"). Maybe its poor planning on my part, but anybody got any suggestions...

Thanks in advance

(flame suit on)

 

leg room in a Model A roadster? there isn't any...you will have to use a seat with a very low/thin back , and have most of it sticking under the rear deck to get any room

don't even think about channeling it if you are 6'5"

 

sorry stretch... youre gonna be cramped!

 

You could try extending the passenger area and the doors. If the body is going to be on top of frame , you can drop the floor a couple of inches.

 

What leg room?? I didn't channell my A sedan,but welded the body, directly on a low chassis. even then I put the throttle spoon,on the trans hump.and I brake with my left foot. with a passenger its even more cramped. I'm only 5'7"!! I think people were smaller then. Sparky

 

Leg room? I'm building a Bantam coupe from an old drag racing shell. I found that the firewall on the Bantam extended under the hood, so I'm building an extended cowl to make the room. It's still too cramped to make it a standard, but with a 36" inseam some things are secondary. Try raising your seats at the front, it lets you rest your legs with the knees bent and gives more headroom. What kind of seats are you using? Some have a lower profile and you can always remove the undercarriage from the seat and mount it to the floor where you want it. I'm assuming you'll be the only person driving your car....

 

You could try going with almost zero padding on the back of the seat to gain you two or three.

I'm slightly better off at 6'4" and I'm making a Murray 4dr into an RPU, so I have some leeway in making my own room.

In a perfect world I would have the skills to make it a rear-engined car, running a transverse V8-60 or Ecotec, drop the floor to the bottom of the rails, and put a nice stretched foot box at the bottom of the old fire-wall. But that's only in a perfect world.

Maybe someone should start up a site that caters to hot rodders over 6', or maybe write a book. You know, NBA players could afford a Blast-O-Lene Special clone, but us regualr guys are stuck with creativity, scrap metal, a hammer, and a welder.

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Buy a coupe.

 

legroom what are you nuts!
extend the floorboard area forward
lengthen the doors a coupla inches
lean way back so your knees are up even wth the steering column center
tilt telescopic wheel
comfy yet maybe not sittin still

now close your eyes and think bugs in your teeth and sunburned cheeks

 

I'm only 5'8" and there ain't no leg room in a coupe,either!!

 

I hate to tell ya, but you are going to need a 4-door roadster OR a Sedan body for YOU to be very comfortable.

 

If I recall, Speedway offers an extended cab pick-up body?

 

my 31 pickup is channeled 6 inches but unchopped and im 6'2 its a lil tight in the legroom dept.

 

Ive looked into this myself, same boat....6ft 4.....dont channel, drop the floor pans in the seatbase/footwell area{design crossmembers to suit} as much as you can...run exhausts outside the frame.....hang pedals from up/under the cowl{not under floor}......thin bomber type seats....quasimoto stance .....kidney belt....etc....its hard being a freak .........Bert

 

I figure thats why every built A coupe I see, the seats are as far back as they can possibly go.

If your body is in pieces, maybe you can stretch the tub opening some and add a few inches there - but if you're not experienced at metalworking, I'd get a lot of practice on some junk first.

I suppose you could drive from the rumble seat, too, but that would look a little silly going down the road. Although if you were nearly laying flat so no one saw you, like the stunt drivers in Knight Rider's KITT apparently did... nah, nevermind, it's 3:45 am here, I'm babbling

 

if you want leg room, get a Sedan.

 

even then - where's the shoulder room? my 46 is nice - big comfy couch

 

leg room
thats what the rumble seat is for
tom

 

All the room in A models was saved to put in the 32 cars, so I think??

Sell the roadster back, but a roadster pickup body with a 3" stretch, Set the whole body back 3". Nice shorty pickup bed. DuVall screen and a narrow 57 Chev dash in it.

Wait................... bad idea, you will look bad in that............





Doc.

 

What? I don't think I understand the question.

 

There's a lot more room than most think.
Especially so in a roadster.

DRD57's 30 A coupe has had the package shelf removed and the seat set back.
He's 6' tall and fairly long legged.
I've ridden in the car and it had plenty of room for me at 6' tall and 32" inseam.

Far as the roadsters go, you can use a mid-90's ChryCo van two passenger (middle) seat - it's a drop-in, but you have to build a base for it cuz the stock base sits the seat too high.

Nice part is, the seat fits just fine without cutting it up, but if all you can find is a ChryCo van three passenger seat, they're easy to cut down.
Take a look at what Rolf did with his A coupe.
( Rolf's info is in the tech archives.)

As you'll note in the pics the van seat can be slid back under the cockpit rear rail quite a ways.
Where it's sitting now is about an inch too far back for me.

My 31 on 32 rails roadster has a 4" firewall recess as well.

Depending on where you set the seat and what type seat you use, you really don't need a very thick back cushion.
The one in my 32 roadster is fairly thick and it takes away from legroom in that car, but it's not bad.

The van seat is very comfortable and garage testing shows that spending the day in it will be pleasant.

 

As a small fwiw, the cockpit size/measurement in both the 32 and 30-31 A roadsters is very close to the same.
Within about 1/4" if I remember right.

The only difference I see is the 30-31 A's have a 2" shallower cockpit.
Even so, the ChryCo van seat mentioned above can get down very close to the floor and get you out of the wind.

Not shown in the above car are the 32 windshield posts bolted to the slightly altered A stanchions.
Along with using a 32 style windshield that's chopped 2" as is common in 32's.
My view in the 31 looks right through the center of the windshield horizontally speaking.

 

Glad I'm 5'8, I fit in As and Cobras just fine.

 

Big deal...wait to drive it and it rattels your teeth off.

 

Fast Eddie is 6'3" and he drives a t bucket all over the place with no problem! Gas and brake are on the same side too!

 

You may have to section your shins and femurs to be comfortable.

Glad I have big old Packard. I fit in that real well and I'm 6foot negative 3" tall.

 

or how about, whenever you want to go for a drive, just get someone else smaller to drive it and when they get back, ask them how was it.....

 

My wife suggested I paint it hot pink with white flames and let her have it.

I kind of like the dropped floor and tucked under seat idea. I'll let you know how it goes....

Thanks for the good ideas and good humor - yes, it is hard to be a freak!

 

Ah, I love being short.

Buy a bigger car!