Cal, as a recovering fat *** myself, it costs a lot less to stop eating and start exercising. As a matter of fact, fact I say, you will actually save money to spend on your dream car and won't die from diabetic complications before it is even built. Just sayin' and not to offend, I know what it is like on both sides of the fence and it is much better over on the slimmer side. C'mon over, there is plenty of room.
Try to find a 33/34 Hudson, Nash or best for a big guy a Graham. They look a LOT like 33/34 Fords but are much bigger. The Graham in particular.
Thats the reason I bought my 1930 REO coupe.Mocked up the body on the frame last weekend and it appears to be spacious.Decided to use a Olds Rocket engine just to keep it in the family.
I thought 32s were the most expensive, up there with platinum pound for pound?? Ever thought of a 30-31 Touring car? You can make all the room you want in them. Doc.
if you don't mind fibergl***, there is a guy in oregon that makes a killer 27 touring body. the thing is big, and open from the cowl to the rear. Could hold a dance in the thing, with a fat bride and a full band. put your seats anywhere you want, then hide the battery, gas tank, master cylinder, wiring and anyting else you need to hide in the space left over with a canvas cover. Hell the cowl on this thing is like 12-15" deep.
No offense taken. It's good advice, and I could certainly stand to loose some weight (if only to lighten the load on my bad knees). But maybe my thread ***le was a little misleading. I'm fat, sure, but it's not like I'm ready to appear on the next season of Biggest Loser. And, as good for me as it would otherwise be, I don't think losing weight will get me in a smaller car. It's not so much my fat belly (which I do have) or my fat behind (which I don't - it's a running joke that I have no *** at all, and it's frighteningly close to true) that's causing me to need a wide car - it's that I'm basically built like a barn door. I've got a 40" waist (with a bit of overhang ), but I'm 63" around the shoulders. I might be able to drop down a couple pant sizes and loose the beer gut, but I'll still have 63" shoulders. So I don't see me ever being comfortable in a 42" wide car.
I'm glad to see I'm not the only biggun on the H.A.M.B. Know what you mean about space. Would never have thought 52 Buick Special would be a problem. With the seat all the way back, steering wheel still touches gut. I know I'm big, but even my normal size brother remarked how people must have been smaller back in the 50s.
I have no idea. I was guessing based on the reccommendation to look for a 33-34 and, "Just open your wallet".
I am 5'-10" and used to weigh 280 ,old cars were a ***** for me to get in and out of. This past year 11-01-09 to today I have lost 54 lbs.I can now ride in my friends chopped 3" and channeled 5" 34 pickup. I am 66 years old and if I can do it so can you. More to go, as I want to stay active as long as I can.
A lot of cars have less room than they should due to poor steering wheel/pedal/seat location. It's not necessarily the car's fault, just dumb building. As said earlier, get a phaeton and move the seat back as far as you think you need. '34 roadsters are pretty big inside. Just don't fill it with big furniture and mock, mock mock, sit in it and keep mocking til it works.
Bud, take a look at this thread... I remember how cool this guy modified his ride. One of my favorite builds here. Hope this helps, Gary. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=266505
The ticket for you is a pheaton or a pheaton like tub built from a sedan. If it is too long you can shorten it up a little. Just think a roofless sedan.
That's neato....I am only a little feller...but I like that Truck...thanks for posting it. You know as people get larger maybe the old time cars will have to be built for bigger ppl...just sayin'!
I'm not a very big man as men go. I like the idea of people getting bigger. it lends a whole new angle on traditional rodding. IE to run a trad rod you'll need to be trad sized. Gives little fellas like me buying power.
How about moving a portion of the firewall foward? Maybe cut out a section from the outer edge to as close as you can get to the engine and about half way up,and moving it foward. Also move the M.C. down on the frame and put a lever pedal setup on it and mount it on a backet that bolts to the frame like dragster guys do so that if a smaller driver buys the car in the future they can more the pedals back. Heck. You could just put the whole mess on a sliding bar and use clevis pins to secure it in multiple posistions. You also need to take a while to get used to the car. I have a race car with a bar that goes right across the door opening and is fairly hgh. I am 6'1" and 290" with a 50+" chest. I have let a few of my much smaller friends drive my car and laugh at how they look like contorionist getting in and out. I have a way of doing it that is so easy I practly jump in. I have a co worker who just retired who collects Vettes. He bought a 90 ZR1,and he is both big and not very flexable. he littlerally rolls out of the car. He found that he can put one leg out,and one arm out of the car on the ground and then roll the rest of himself out of the car into a push up position,then get up from there. This isnt your problem,but it shows that sometimes you can learn to adapt to make something much easier then the first time you do it. In the case of my race cars. I found that I cant drive a lot of the older cars out there that had the main hoop mounted to the same crossmemeber as the ladderbars. it was standard proceedure to build cars that way,and if I just wanted to believe that is how cars were built then I could have never went racing. I installed my bar way back even behind the door opening.I also bolted the seat back directly to the bar,and didnt use a bracket like most builders do.I also threw away the seat track and fabbed up a set of flat plates to bolt the seats to the floor. At 6'1" with a big helmet on I was pressing the headliner up before,now I have room to spare. Nobody else can really drive my car anymore,but thats a small price to pay to get what I want. Dont give up. Look outside the box a little. Its better that you spend an extra grand or two to modify the car you really want then to spend 30 grand on a car that just isnt your dream. Good luck.
Oh, yeah. Now we're talking. Looks roomy, real seats, and the first 30s rod I've seen that looks like it has ample room in the footwell to work the pedals. I noticed a couple people thought the stretched length and width threw off the proportions... and I can kind of see what they're getting at. It no longer has the same proportions as a normal 33, but I think it has great proportions all its own. And that's what counts, as far as I'm concerned. So I guess my question is answered - a stretched and widened 30s car can look good. I see he ended up with enough room for fully adjustable bucket seats too. Major plus. I've seen a few rods with really thin fixed seats or even cushions mounted right to the body... that won't work because my wife will want to drive it too, and she's only 5' tall, so adjustable seats are a must. As are bucket seats - if we had a bench moved up to where she could reach the pedals, and I was riding, my knees would be through the firewall.
Yeah.... But no. Personally, I wouldn't own a car that I had to do that to get in and out of. I can respect someone who just wants a specific car so badly he'll do whatever he has to, to deal with it, but I'm not one of those guys. Back in my 20s I wanted a Fiero so bad I could taste it... until I crammed myself into one (and I was thinner and a lot more flexible back then). After crawling out, much like the guy with the ZR1, I walked away and never looked back. Fortunately, modifying a 30s roadster should work a little better than trying to modify a Fiero.
I am 6 foot 2 inches tall and I was over 325 lbs when this photo was taken. I have driven this 32 roadster over 50 thousand miles and it is comfortable to me. My seat is lowered and the back rest is thinner than original but the seat is very comfortable. To show my size ... here is a photo a few years ago taken with Denise ... Hotrdoladycruiser and Hotrodprimer. This was taken @ Nats South in Knoxville TN. But I have lost over 100 pounds since the first two photos were taken. This one was taken June of 2010 ... at the LimeWorks party in Los Angeles the Thursday before the LA Roadster show. Plan on being less than 200 pounds ... by the first of the year ( 2011 )
Damn, man. That's quite an accomplishment. Congratulations! Since the photos are going up, I suppose I might as well put my mug where my mouth is (so someone can tell me I actually do belong on Biggest Loser - ha, beat you to it ). I don't let my picture get taken very often, but here's one that my wife caught when I had no place to hide (hence the disgusted expression). Obviously I could stand to lose quite a bit too. I've always been heavy, but I'm up to about 290 now and that's a bit more than I'm really comfortable with. Time to switch to diet soda or something. But on the width thing... do you notice how short I look in that photo? I'm not short.
The Jalopy Journal
