Am I too tall to own a Speedster replica?

I have a VS speedster with standard Speedster seats and stand 6'2" with a 35 inseam.  The previous owner of my car was 6'4".  He had the seat rails moved back approx 3" and re-bolted to the pan.  I now drive with seat pulled up near the front of it's track.  There's move than enough room  for anybody not in the NBA. 

You can also check with Robert M. I read recently that he's 6'4" and 300 lbs...

Thanks much guys.  Just wanted to ensure that I wouldn't look odd and my head wouldn't be sticking up above the windshield by a foot. 

Robert M, if you read this I would love to hear your two cents. I am 6' 4" and 200lbs so would appreciate you letting me know if you have any problems with the windshield being off kilter to your vision.

Thanks

Sicem

Raising the front portion of the seat a bit, will give you additional room too.

You'll need a smaller diameter steering wheel 13, 14" but it can be done. Best if you find one to test fit and see before you get to deep into this...

Make sure you have the Speedster seats. The Roadster seats won't move back as far because of the width of the backrest. It's too bad because they are really comfortable. Definitely find one to sit in first.

Terry Nuckels posted:

You can also check with Robert M. I read recently that he's 6'4" and 300 lbs...

Don't forget I bench 500 lbs also. LOL

Sicem,

Don't listen to Terry. I was jesting on a different thread about something being super easy and joked that I was a big guy. I'm only 5'09" and need to lose some weight.

Use the map feature and try to locate some people near you, reach out and see if you can try out their Speedster. Go to "MEMBERS" up in the black bar at the top of the page, click on it, and sort by map. It's pretty easy.

I'm 6' 0-1" depending on the day and 235. My windshield top bar sits right in the middle of my eye line. I can duck and look through the windshield or sit up straight and look over it. I have removed the top completely so the weather decides how I sit. It's a bit annoying but after a few miles you adjust and forget.

My seats are adjustable but I keep them all the way to the back, touching the rear shelf. I'm not totally spread eagle driving but can certainly hit the steering wheel if I want. I find my left foot most awkward when not shifting as I have no rest plate. But it doesn't hinder some spirited driving with many turns and shifting.

If you can't get the seat position low enough, I've done a simple floor pan alteration for a 6'3" guy making the area under the seat 1 -1/2" lower that looks similar to a paint roller pan.  

Probably the ultimate space in one of these cars is a Convertible D.  Only IM and Beck make a Conv D.  And yes a Conv D with speedster seats will give you more room than the roadster seats.  My car (used) actually came with the "tall man" package with roadster seats.  The seat was lowered and the drivers seat pad was thinner.  Since I'm 5'7" I've raised the seat.  The harness belt also has to be  placed in a different location.  I'd like to add back the seat padding for my bony butt but looks like a pretty big job, probably for a professional.

There is also a CMC version with rollup windows, higher windshield and top that gives 3" extra inches --- granted that option is rare.  The right seats, seats mounted all the way back (even a lowered floor pan too), and smaller than OEM 15' steering wheel would help too.  An easily added dead man pedal is good for left foot while cruising.  Additionally there are wider spaced brake/clutch pedals for big feet and curved shifters for ape arms.  Just sit in before buying - vs buying on ebay and being surprised when it arrives and you don't fit.

 https://www.speedsterowners.com/clip/windup-windows002

Just be careful that you probably, at that challenging height, want to avoid a car with a roll bar installed, because it may not allow the seatback to move back or recline much before interfering with the bar.  CMC cars with roll bars (like mine) only let the seats go back a relatively short distance.

Alan wrote: "I've done a simple floor pan alteration for a 6'3" guy making the area under the seat 1 -1/2" lower that looks similar to a paint roller pan. "

If you were John Steele it truly WOULD be a paint roller pan!

For visual reference, here are pics of the seat pan modification Alan Merklin (Dr. Clock) is talking about. Lowers the floorpan about 2" under the area where the seats are installed.

These are pics of the same modification to SOCer Ken Vela's Speedster, #13.

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

SicemBears posted:

I am 6' 4" and 200lbs so would appreciate you letting me know if you have any problems with the windshield being off kilter to your vision.

it will.it's still worth it. 

i'm 6'2" and you get used to it.  it's actually kind of fun to sit up super straight and see over the windshield.

That's exactly it and can be done in a day.

To all of you I wanted to say thanks for the great information.  Tremendous to have such a highly responsive forum for these kind of questions.

For those of you proposing a mod to the seat pan...are there typically a variety of fab shops around that can handle that kind of modification?  I won't claim to be able to handle something like that myself.

Rather than take it to an expensive fabrication shop, ask around ( cruise night /car show) and find a metal fabricator guy who can do this , it's straight forward with laying it out to confirm the seat & tracks will clear everything, cutting out the pan and fabricating the lowered sections weld, seam seal and paint....I would be sure to us a heavier gauge metal to support the seat and the seat belts. Since nothing has to be relocated it's 8 hours of less in labor.

Next SOC grille badge?

Actually available as a biker button -

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1...p;utm_campaign=Share

I've been hit on the forehead by a bug before. It scares you more than it actually hurts.

That pin is the ballz

A one up from getting hit by a bug...When I had a T Bucket a guy came up to me and told me a story of a guy and his wife in the Mid West passing a cattle truck on the interstate at a very untimely "cattle moment"~

"Bovine Revenge"

TRP posted:

I've been hit on the forehead by a bug before. It scares you more than it actually hurts.

Back in my motorcycle days I got hit by lots of big bugs at high speed.  Some times it felt like a bullet in the chest.  I know this is hard to believe but one time I was wearing a red helmet doing over 100 on my VFR and a bird flew down and exploded in a plume of blood off my helmet.  I pulled over to the side of the road.  This redneck in a pick up truck did a u-turn and came up to me and said "Did you see that bird explode off your head?"  I just looked at him "Ah yes I did"

Back to the speedster:

You can be made to fit, original poster, but it'll take some modifications.

I really hate having the windshield frame in my line of sight, and I want to be behind the windshield. I've gone to pretty great lengths to make sure I do, and I know that a guy up to 6'5" or so could do it without resorting to buying a "D".

I'm not sure if they still sell them, but some of the sheetmetal places in the back of Hot VWs used to sell "dropped pans"  15 years ago. They were just as Dr. Clock described-- like a paint pan, complete with seat mount holes, etc. If not, they could certainly be fabricated easily enough, but you'd need to re-carpet in either case.

You'd also want speedster seats, tipped back as far as you can bear. As far as the steering wheel, I have arms like an orangutan-- when I had a pan-based car, Henry Reisner from IM sold me a short steering wheel adapter collar to replace the 6" long one that comes with Nardi-copy wheels. The quality of the piece, and the manner in which Henry provided it was the pointy end of the wedge which eventually compelled me to spend quite a bit more for a replica speedster than I ever thought possible.

It can be made to work, but it's not "off-the-shelf". IMHO, nothing looks quite as silly or uncomfortable as a guy's head sticking 8" above the windshield. Sitting "in" the car is a lot more fun than sitting "on" it.

Stan,

Thanks.  That is my biggest fear as well...I don't want to dump thousands of dollars into a car and have my head sticking 6 inches above the windshield.

Kurt

This is exactly why I wanted either a Beck or SAS, and I'm really happy I got lucky and found a pre-owned SAS cabriolet for sale.

I'm 6'2" and really long waisted... So when seated, I pretty much look most people who are 6'4" right in the eye.

The extra height of the cabriolet's windshield is really nice, plus the added head room with the top up. 

As a young man in a tiny Pennsylvania town, I vowed that I'd not allow the curse of a long torso to derail MY dreams. Though I've suffered a lifetime of untucked shirts, I fell like I've prevailed.

HOWEVER...  like our original poster, Sicem, I have questions.

I'm very interested in the thoughts of veterans on the possibility of "dropping the pan," so to speak, in my Beck. I'm already planning to reupholster my seat with thinner foam, and I might even go so far as to chuck my seat rails and bolt the seat down, thus gaining another inch or so.  I'm still afraid that it won't be enough to get my eyes back down into the comfort zone.

It looks like the center cross-brace of the Beck tube frame pictured below (thanks, by the way, to Lane Anderson for the hijacked pic)  runs directly beneath the seat, thus preventing any "dropping." Is my geography right?  Is my badonkadonk currently plopped in the red zone? Or do you think the seat is actually situated just to the rear of the red area, over the open space?

Perhaps it'll come to that, Tom, but I'd ship 'er back for the summer, as (lucky us!) we're just about to move into seven perfect driving months here in Arizona! Gosh, how I'd love to have the top of my head below that windshield frame!

It's completely possible, Cory. I've always said that if my legs were in proportion with my torso and arms, I'd be 6'4". That's why pitching the seat back helps enormously-- it keeps my legs on the pedals and reclines me so that I drop another 1-2" at the top of my head. FWIW, standard seat sliders add 1-1/2" to the height of the seat, so the combination of pitching the seat and bolting it directly to the floor gets you at least 3", possibly as much as 4-5".

Jethro: I'd be remiss if I didn't add that Intermeccanica will build it however you'd like as well. Stock, they come with a dropped pan-- the flat-floor was always my discomfort with sitting in a Beck, but I'm sure Carey will modify to taste as well (as he is a 100% solid dude). 

Good point, Stan!

When I was shopping, I was talking with Special Edition about my height.   He said they can lower the pan in the area of the seats in order to get the seats lower.  So I'm sure they could modify your car, Corey.

Corey start by pulling the tracks and put the seat on the floor. At least from there you'll know if you nead more and take it from there...

I'm a long 6'1" and the floor mounted seats worked perfect (I may add a 1/2" bushing at some point) We stuffed my son (6'7", 250lbs) in and he was able to drive but boy did it look funny as he toward over the windscreen.

Also, a smaller diameter steering wheel with a shorter shifter freed up some space for the right leg.

I wish I had a height problem. I have the weight of a strapping young man of 6'2". Unfortunately it is packed on a 5'8" old guy frame. 

Cory,    Unless you are the stature of "Lurch" your peepers should be south of the windshield frame . Things to address that you can do ....  Seat cushion thickness, seat tilt back ( raising front will lower your butt)  Delete tracks and lastly floor pan mods.

Cory - I believe that the seats are mounted with the forward edge about where the red line is and the back edge over the following cross-member.  I can't recall if the seat tracks are actually bolted to those two cross-members or not, but I think it's likely.

Sorry for hijacking this thread (I guess we're all pulling on the same oar here, though...)

I admit that you guys are blowing my mind when it comes to this seat-tilt phenomenon!  I NEVER would have devised this strategy on my own. (I made a D+ in geometry.)

I'm going to start another thread dedicated to that operation (as soon as I check to see whether it's already been addressed at length), and hope that those who've done it can weigh in...

In your natural seated position are you looking over the frame or right at it? Have you pulled the seat cushion and just sat on the bucket for reference?

Look for a used IM. I bought mine from a guy who is 6'4" and I don't think his head was above the windshield. Anyone have pics of Will Pierson driving his IM?

Older IMs that are VW pan based (pre '87ish) would not have extra room inside over a pan based FF/CMC, JPS or VS though --- unless the wide-up window taller roof model. Becks seem to have the most floor space from looking at various ones (they are tube frame).