neither the bench seat or the "bucket" seats in all of my corvairs have gone back far enough for comfortable driving for me.

did the average person have much shorter legs 45 years ago???

or was seat travel limited on puropose to give the illusion of more back seat leg room?

(seat extenders are on the way).

People are taller now. At 5'5", I find a Corvair to be a PERFECT fit for me. Tall people, hahahaha!!! (that felt good)

--------------------------------
Ronnie
Southern Maine.
www.dirigocorvairs.net
66 Corsa Convertible, 140, 4sp.
65 Monza Convertible, 110, PG.




It doesn't leak, it's marking it's territory.

A mirror is a reflection of the miles travelled.

I was 6'4" 45 years ago.

Bowie,MD

If you read contemporary road tests of the Corvair at the time, they mentioned the lack of seat adjustment. The car was a "compact" car, and inside room was kept on the tight side. The VW Beetle managed by having its seat very high. I think I read somewhere that the average American is actually shorter now than then. They blame our lousy diet, but I don't know if that is the cause. At any rate, the fact is we used to be the tallest people (on average) on the planet, and now we're something like 9th place.

[www.washingtonpost.com]

I also think thatmodern cars have us more stretched out and reclined for driving.

David Clamp


1965 Corsa convertible - 140 4spd/3.55/AM-FM

2013 Mustang GT convertible - 5.0, 6spd auto, Procharger i-1

2003 Miata SE - 6spd manual (wife's toy)

"Victory is mine!" - SG

Norman, OK

While it's true that people are taller than they were in 1960, I think it's more a matter of designers trying to cope with the early concept of a compact car. For an example of their level of skill, take a look at the poor package in the C1 Corvettes.

A common "test drive" procedure is to put the front seat all the way back and see what's left for the rear seat passengers. I think GM designers shortchanged the front seat legroom with the seat at its rearmost position in order to leave the appearance of some remaining rear seat legroom. Nevermind that the rear seat cushion is practically on the floor!

These days the mechanical package is compressed in favor of passenger space at the expense of serviceability. The Corvair RR powerpack consumes at least twice the volume of a modern FF engine & trans.

Craig N. Coeur d'Alene ID.
66 Black Monza 4dr, 4.2L V8 49k
61 Seamist Jade Rampside 140 PG
65 Canadian Monza 4dr 110/PG 40k
66 Sprint Corsa convt - First car! Re-purchased 43 years later
2+2 gnatsuM 5691

+17 Tons of parts

The corvairs were designed for little old ladies who scoot the seat all the way forward and like 80hp motors and men who like to steer with their beer gut on the wheel!

Just an observation... Old Corvair seats typically sit quite a bit lower than they did when new. If your seating position were higher, the front of the seat would provide some lift and it would feel as if you had more leg room. I was pleasantly surprised how much more leg room that I 'felt' was there once I replaced the stock seats with ones that let me sit a bit higher. There are also instructions in the FAQs on this site for making your own track extenders for the stock seats if you prefer.

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<TD>Reid M.<BR>
<A HREF="[www.hacoa.org];
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the day i bought my 60, i drove it up to my grandmothers house to show her the car...i was anxious to drive it and didnt mind the fact that the seats couldnt go that far back...

im 6'3 300lb.

lets just say the 5 mile trip up the hill and back felt like it took 2 hours!!!

ive sat in first generation mazda miatas and honda crx that have more room...

and not just leg room! i was practically steering the car with my belly... with my hands at 10 and 2 flat against my chest ... LOL


the next day i took out the factory buckets and started woking on brackets to put my late model camaro seats in there...

i was actually quite surprised to find that the factory seats had wood spacers underneath them, that raised the mounting of the seat almost two inches inches...

is that a factory thing, or did someone add these in the past?

Added for midgets... by midgets... ggg

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...............110-PG.................................................Webered-Turbo

I never sat in my original front seat


When I had my new seats and the floor was fixed, I moved them around, up, and down til I found the height and distance for me. Then welded the new supports.


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