Hot Rods Stretching the cab

Hi all, I would like to know peoples opinion of lengthening the cab on my '40 Ford pu. The reason I'm asking here is because of the amount of stock trucks and honest guys. I've built many rods over the years and lots of stock units as in resterations. Lots of 32,33,34's a bunch of model a's but no trucks. I have a lot of guys say there is not enough legroom in a stock cab. I'm 6'2" and would like to know some pro's and con's. I think 3 inches? I don't want a supercab look but only lenghten the doors and roof. I can lenghten the frame to make up the distance or take it out of the front of the box. This will most likey be my last build as I'm nearing seventy. Thanks in advance for any and all responses.
Randy

 

It would be a lot of work, but it has been done. I am 6'2" and 250 (after fasting for a week...maybe two) and I fit in my 41 just fine. These are some of best-looking trucks ever built, it can be difficult to alter that cab and pull it off without losing that beauty. You have heard of the Fibonacci sequence or the golden triangle? There is no golden rectangle. There are things the human eye finds pleasing, perfect, attractive. Use caution, show your work.

 

You can do it, but shortening the seat height and narrowing the seat back (Use thin aircraft density foam) can make a 40 cab comfy for a big person

 

Also close to 70, and at 6' 6" I fit...or at least put up with it.
Hard to improve on what Henry got right.

 

I agree with others, it's all about layout inside, thickness and position of seat, pedal and steering wheel position, etc. I'd spend some time mocking up the inside of the cab with seat and pedal placement and see if you can make it comfortable before I'd dive into the incredible amount of work it would take to stretch the cab through the doors and not have it turn out looking awkward.

In my T, I have a little dropped floorpan that dips down a couple inches in between the frame rails just behind the pedals, right where my heel sits. It's a tiny, easy modification that makes the seating position so much more comfortable. My seat sits very low, so being able to drop my feet down a bit makes up for the low seat.

 

Lowering the seat height takes away leg room rather than adding it. It just gives your knees more room to fold. Modifying the leanback so that you can move the seat back further would gain some though.

I guess I should edit this to say that I have had seats that sit lower in my 48 since 1981, First was a 76 Toronado seat that wish I still had but the foam crumbled so bad that I got mad and tossed it. It's got a Dodge St Regis sedan seat in it now that is the most uncomfortable piece of crap that you could expect a person to sit on, Worse than a wood church pew during a long drug out sermon. Bad case of that was what was cheap that had good upholstery that fit the day I went to M&R looking for a seat. When you sit lower the angle of y our foot to the gas pedal changes making that uncomfortable for longer runs.

 

Everyone has it right so far.
The body can bend and make the length less, wirh careful planning.
Mock up is the key word.
The ones who bitch are not willing to bend.
My big issue is, how you fit a big-assed ego in there when rolling onto 'the scene'?

 

Thin the seat back, especially the shoulder area. As long as your head isn't banging on the back of the cab, it's good.

 

I’ve seen maybe 1 or 2 stretched cabs that didn’t look goofy.
I’d rather be slightly uncomfortable in a cool truck.

 

I’m 6”-6” and stretched my roadster build I think 6” based off of the original I’m coping. Also raised the cowl height to keep things in proportion. Just because folks are the same height, doesn’t mean they share the same body proportions. For me, my 34” inseam is a killer when it comes to finding a car/vehicle big enough to accomodate my long legs. In my OT off-road rig, just moving the seat back 1.5” made all the difference in the world. I would rather be comfortable than uncomfortable when driving. Also, didn’t want to be this guy…



I think, if done properly, very few would really notice the difference.

 

If you decide to lengthen......My suggestion is to look for an extra cab thats deteriorated. I think they used the same cab for several years and just changed sheetmetal hood and fenders. Someone correct me if that is inaccurate. Anyway, my idea is that you cut the front of the donor cab longer than what you cut your original cab. Then the extra length is there and you can move it till you get the length you want. It also lets you rejoin the top more easily if you decide to chop any. Then also maybe provides some extra pieces for lengthening the doors...if you go that way.
If you decide to do the lengthening behind the doors instead of toward the front, the rear part should be easier to rejoin and provide that extra length. I'm thinking about that same scenario for a 49 Chevy truck...if I live that long. Picked up an old cab a few years ago for about a hundred bucks. No firewall or floor...but cab is ok and it had some old doors too.

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/stretching-cab.1138139/

 

Thanks guys I think I will try the seat and pedal mock ups to see where I am. I'm sure not no Chip Foose so making a mistake is highly possible cutting up the cab, then I have a cab that looks terrible. We plan on driving the wheels off this thing with many cross country runs and we sure need the comfort!
Randy

 

I think this has been stretched.......but the second one wasn't...........


No stretch marks ?



Sorry I don't have any Ford examples.

 

The body extension looks well done from the pictures but given the wheel/tire combo I doubt its long for this thread. JMO

 

This is exactly correct. Imagine sitting on the floor with no seat or riser, there would be no place for your legs from the knees down. Keep the riser, and a decent thick seat bottom.

That is what I did. Glide seat and foam, I had the foam shaved in half in the back. It looks a bit flat compared to the padded seat bottom, but it is still comfortable for both my wife and I. She is only 5'3" so I had to compromise on pedals and column (tilt) position to fit us both.

 

This is where the dropped floor pan really shines. Drop the seat down to gain headroom, drop the floor down between the frame rails to gain back the space your legs lost.

If possible, pushing the floor at the base of the firewall forward to make the pedal position further forward also gains a lot of space without changing the dimensions of the cab.

 

That poor stretched crew cab thingy

 

Man- trade for a sedan delivery, or panel truck, or even a four door rather than wreck what you have.

 

The seat in a stock 40's truck takes up a lot of room in the cab. Going to a thinner bench seat can gain you a lot of room, and seating position is a huge thing.

My truck is a 46 GMC. A couple weeks ago a guy was on a Facebook group saying he barely fits in his truck with the same cab, and he's 5'6". He put big puffy buckets in his truck out of a modern GM SUV on the floor. I am 6'2" and I fit well in my truck, it has an S10 bench that is against the back of the cab and mounted 6" off the floor. As was mentioned, a lot of people try to gain room by lowering the seat and it's the wrong move. I have driven my truck 8 hours a day for days in a row without issue. Just because the cab is small, doesn't mean you can't make it comfortable for you. That's much easier than a cab stretch on something so round.

Getting rid of the seat riser in these old trucks often gives you more freedom in where you can place the seat for comfort.

 

My dad bought a '65 GMC this spring and it had a different seat in it, looked like an 80's conversion van seat or something. It was in good shape, but looked out of place and really made for an awkward driving position. It had tall backs that touched the rear window and you sat near-vertical in it. The previous owner added a tiny steering wheel to the column to make up for it. I redid a stock seat for it which is much thinner and replaced the tiny wheel with a stock one and it sat just fine and was much more comfortable.

Seat swapping for newer stuff in the hopes of not having to re-do upholstery rarely ends well.

 

Some modern seats are thin, but a lot of them are thick and bulky. That extra space takes up a lot of important space in a small vintage truck cab.

In the 47-66 GM trucks, some of the best fitting seats I've seen are the 88-94 GM bench, split bench or buckets. Unfortunately they're not as prevalent in junkyards as they once were.

 

^^^^Do you have any better pictures that show the entire truck? Did he shorten the bed? To me it makes the front end look short but I have been staring at mine for 5 years and it is etched in. I would like to see the entire rig and you might want to blot out the wheels so the images stay on here since it answers the OP's question.

 

As far as finding a donor cab to use in stretching yours, the cabs are the same '40-'47. Now here's the problem you're going to have: That cab tapers in at the front--it's significantly wider at the back than it is at the front. So to make it look right, you'd have to be a lot better body and sheet metal man than I am. Although it's a totally different cab than '38-'39, the '40-'47 cab is dimensionally the same as the '38-'39 cab and the seat riser is the same. I modifed the back seat out of a '86 Ford Tempo to work in the '38 that I had. The thinner back of that seat gave me considerably more room than the stock seat. I feel your pain on being tall and long-legged. I'm 6' 5" and 265. Could have been worse--I had a great-grandfather who was 6' 8".

 

I have never been afraid to break out the Sawzall and tig welder. That said you must have a good visual end result long before you start. If I were thinking along the lines of a stretch, I would first check into using 2 door sedan doors. Why not be different? Just don't Chop it while you're at it.

 

Sort of related, I used to have a 37 Chevy pickup. Had similar problem with tight cab, plus the seat was kind of low overall; such that you sat upright and all your weight was on your butt. Uncomfortable for any longer than about 1 hour. My solution was to thin the seatback couple inches by modifying the seat springs so the top of the seatback could lean back more. Then I also added a riser at the front of the bench, so the seat supported my weight under the length of legs vs just the point of my butt. In effect I kept the seat at stock height, but leaned it back a couple inches. Made all the difference, and could drive that truck for several hours and no issues.

 

I would like to see that silver truck with the nasty wheels full on side view. The cab didn't look bad stretched but the overall view may not have worked. Like I said the nose looked short, if the bed looked short too...miss. Comfortable but miss.