Child in rear?

Hi There,
Looking at a 356 Speedster Replica. Quesion: can I carry two 3 year olds in the back? Will it take a child seat? What are the issues surrounding rear belt installation?
Thanks a million!
Regards,
Paul

The rear seat can be utlized for kids. I would add a steel plate directly under the horizontal fiberglass speedster seat area and weld supports from that to the chassis so that your added seating and seat belts are safely and properly anchored. ~Alan

Thanks a million. And apologies that I overlooked the Newbie forum...

Is this something that can be done retrospectively (that is, after the build)? How difficult is this. I'm thinking that with modern Isofix anchored child seats, it should be easier to forget the belts and merely weld the appropriate anchor points. But, I'm concerned at leg and head room, I guess.

Regards,

Paul

There is no leg room to speak of in the back of a Speedster. Head room depends on whether you have the low bow or high bow top, the latter providing more space. I really don't think there is a way to safely mount child seats back there, but I could be just a pessimist.

I decided to add back seats by getting a 911. ;)

Buy a trailer and tow the kids behind you, gives them more room and you more peace....and quiet, so you can hear the humm of your motor.

I decided to add back seats by getting a 911. ;)

Funny you should say that: I'm here because my search for a sound (reasonably-priced) 993 proved fruitless..

That is funny too - if you peruse our Technical and Engine threads, you will find that we have a lot of "unsound" 356 replicas here. But that is part of the allure (politely referred to as the madness) to us.

IMHO, from recent experience with grandchildren, I seriously doubt that you could properly attach a child seat in the rear of a speedster. This from a guy who, for five years, hauled his own son around in a '70 Corvette convertible (before child seats were invented).

I wonder if I installed a suitable belt harness, with modified padding on the bench seat

Paul,
In all seriousness (I have two kids 6 & 3 yrs old) if you want to devise a way to get them in the back seat area I'm sure with some ingenuity you can find a way, but to worry about one way being safer than another is silly. You're driving around in a fiberglass car with NO side impact safe guards, air bags, etc... if you get hit hard enough well, you know. (I mean yes, there is a difference between a rope looped through the firewall and bolting in seatbelts with solid anchors but you get my meaning here)
Next year my oldest girl start kindergarten and I plan on picking her up everyday I can with her booster strapped to the front seat in the Speedster. Her mom isn't crazy about the idea but she "understands". ;)

Of course, you're right. But, my question is whether the kids can fit in there and somehow be restrained. The car will rarely be used for the kids. Just the short trip to the beach. Its more a case of preventing them from escaping, than crash resistance(!). That job is reserved for our 2009 Ford Flex armored vehicle..

As a fATHER OF 5 and grandfather of 11 our car has 2 seats for a reason. 2 seats 2 people normally no racket from the peanut gallery. I do take them for rides now and then.... usually short rides. I have found very few small children understand the SEG aspect of riding in my car.

Oh yea, they don't ride on the bike or in the Vette either.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm

Evil Grandpa.

Gotcha! But I don't quite have that flexibility: I need to sell this on family trips to the beach....

On a short trip kids can fit in the back seat just fine. I don't know how much room there is in a pan based car but in a beck there is enough room with the seats pulled forward a little. My kids (2, 4, & 6 years old) have gone for rides around the neighborhood and seem to have enough leg room. adding seatbelts, or velcro suits & seats, to restrain them from escaping should do the trick for in town driving. I wouldnt recommend hitting the highway though.
my $.02

Jesper Larsen made some very nice modifications to his car a couple winters ago. He's in Denmark, if I remember correctly.
He added a functional back seat.

https://www.speedsterowners.com/files/view.asp?sf=schakenda&f=IMG%5F2518%2EJPG

Paul,
No matter how you slice it, these cars are not safe for children. They're just a motorcycle on 4 wheels. Don't try to sell this deal as something for the family. You'll end up regretting it and we'll see it for sale here in a few months.
You'll have to change you strategy. Tell your wife that the car is for just the two of you for those romantic trips to the beach, or wherever. These cars are more about an escape than they are about transportation. That's how you have to market it.

If you just want to restrain the lttle buggers then children's Gravol and duct tape will do the job just fine. Eventually just the threat will achieve the same results but just in case I also carried an old axe handle in the car too. Needed the "reach" to get at them in the back seat, hammer handle wouldn't cut it.

hi all

yea i build a speedster a few winters ago with the functional backseat.
It was an option that Tygan/Chesil could provide for an extra fee.
But for a person that is used to work with fiberglass this should be fairly easy to make.

it have given me great fun, that i can have the kids with me in the back seat - so we can have a family trip in the speedy.

Brian stun guns now could solve the problems....

Paul--Alan's advice is excellent. Also I don't know about other makes of Speedsters but mine is a Vintage and I am 6' tall and don't ever need to put the seats all the way back. In fact I use that area behind the front seats to store supplies and tools on trips. There is plenty of room for a 3 year old to sit in the back seat, and an occasional ride with the family would be a load of fun.

I see families riding bicycles all the time at the side of streets with the parents in front carrying small children on a kids seat. A Speedster has got to be infinitely safer that a bycycle---or even a motorcycle for that matter. Actually I'd never ride a little kid on the back of a bike but I see it all the time.

If my Speedster were too dangerous I sure wouldn't drive it even with just me in it, but I use some common sense and take the same care as I would when riding a motorcycle---that is whith a lot of caution, head checks and staying away from other vehicles plus anticipating other cars pulling out in front of me! I believe we all take the same precautions and this is one reason we read about so few Speedster fender benders (fender cracks??) on this site!

I am pretty sure that the top bow configuration is not an issue regarding head clearance for a 3 year old. Maybe a 12 year old but certainly not a 3 year old so don't be put off about that at all.

I guess we all agree that a Speedster ain't a HUMVEE but we recognize that and apply some common sense to our hobby.

Just my 2 cents--your mileage may vary.----Jack

Great, Jack. I guess this was the post I was hoping to read. I still would like to install rear safety belts - if only to keep my health & safety supervisor happy. :)

Paul---good on the back seat belts---just do 'em like Alan recommended in his post above. Good luck---be careful and drive safely---and watch out for the multitudes of jerks out there that are out to squash you!---Jack

"The rear seat can be utlized for kids. I would add a steel plate directly under the horizontal fiberglass speedster seat area and weld supports from that to the chassis so that your added seating and seat belts are safely and properly anchored."

How difficult is this with a fully finished Speedster?

I don't see how anyone close to 6' tall could even drive with the seat that far forward. I had to mount my seat on the pan as far back as it could go...

Paul--surely you have thought of this but do see if you can have enough room to drive before going to all the trouble to put in seat belts. You know--measure twice and cut once?

This is why I said "your mileage may vary".

Good luck!---Jack

;)

I built my Speedy axactly for the rear set over a Beck Spyder with a small child at the time. At the time, the kit costs were close to the same? My son and his friends all rode in the back of my speester plenty of times and actually fit but outgrew the top up part rather quickly. After that it was mostly a top down sunny day ride with them and there were plenty of them, baseball, ice cream, picnics of sorts, not to mention the car shows and basic errands that always seemed more fun in the speedster.

I only needed to open up 3 clean slots in the fiberglass at the rear seat crease to squeeze the belts through. It was easy to bolt the outside belts to the cast uprights in the rear torsion/shock towers, there are bolt holes there for mounting the body. In the center, I fed 2 belts through 1 slot and bolted them to the metal aftermarket front transmission mount I had used. In liu of that, large plates as suggested would be easy to add.

For the memories, and I think my son would agree, I'd reccomend you do it, enjoy it and drive it safely.

I'll agrre that driving around in one of these plastic tubs might not be the safest things to be in and I drive it much like I would a motorcycle (whick I also ride) but, I've never had anyone hesitate getting in the Speedster, and I can't say that about my bikes.

Boston Bob E

PAUL UP UNTIL I LOST MY SPEEDSTER MY 3 YEAR OLD GRANDSON AND I WOULD CRUISE THRU MULHOLLAND, TOPANGA AND THE KANAN PASS ROADS DOWN TO MALIBU AND UP AND DOWN THE COAST. U WILL NEVER FORGET THE FUN WITH THE KIDS IN THAT CAR

I put a back seat in my Speedy for the kids. They both have now out grown the seat space. I did fab up a structure for seat belts to be mounted on. You really don't want to anchor the belts to the fiberglass. As for safety ... use common sense.
With the front seat pushed all the way back there is no leg space. When asked at local car shows " can someone really sit back there ?" I usually reply that my kid do ...... they don't have legs. That usually ends the conversation.

Thanks Joe. Looks cool. What age did they outgrow the back?
Cheers,
Paul

Washington DC (UK expat)

I can answer that....one and a half...

When the kids grew older and taller the wife had to stay home. I could not slide my seat forward with out making me too uncomfortable. So I would say around age 9. God ....kids grow like weeds these days. My 14 yr old daughter is 5'10" .

got any pic's Joe

both my kids can fit in the backseat - he is 3 years, and she is 7 years.
i have mounted reel seatbelts with 3 ancherpoints each.

hope the childdrawing makes sense ;-)

the reel sits behind the backseat (where the batteri normaly sits)

Isn't "a child in the rear" synonymous with "a pain in the ass" . . . ?

Chris is, what....30?? I guess that he could fit in the back seat in Pearl, but it's bad enough when he's complaining about the car's handling or my driving when he's in the passenger seat.

I sure as hell wouldn't need him complaining into my ear from the back seat...

gn

Another great back seat driver :)

Vince .. I'll post one of the car.......and Not my daughter!!!!

Joe---that's a VERY good call, my friend!---Jack