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-   -   Original Seating, Did you eever notice.. (http://www.clubcobra.com/forums/all-cobra-talk/48444-original-seating-did-you-eever-notice.html)

CSX 4027 12-24-2003 10:22 AM

Original Seating, Did you eever notice..
 
Did you ever notice or figure out why the original cars pictured with average size people behind the wheel seem to fit nicely and sit low in the car even with the seats on the original Leverol Seat Tracks? And the new cars Shelby or other brand) seem to sit an average size guy way too high and make him look like the car is too small for him?

Any explanations welcome..

computerworks 12-24-2003 10:40 AM

People were smaller 38 years ago.
:rolleyes:

REDSC400 12-24-2003 11:36 AM

Torso length has alot to do with how you are seen to fit in a Cobra. A guy who I work with is 5-11" however his upper body length is abnormally long and he has short stocky legs. He looks rather "large" in my ERA. His head and shoulders appear to be way above where they should be.

Whereas I am 6-0" and appear lower or not so large. My legs are long and upper body is perhaps normal for the height.

SCOBRAC 12-24-2003 12:14 PM

Most original cars had far less padding in their seat. People were smaller as well. All the Cobra race drivers were under 6' with the exception of Dan Gurney who was 6'2". You will recall he needed a special roof line in the GT (40) to get in the car with a helmet on.

I'm 6' but have a rather long torso. I use what I like to call the "cobra scrunch" driving position. It is essentially a position in which if I were to roll the car I would be able to sink below the level of the fiberglass and potentially survive a roll over crash. I would suspect anyone who thought about rolling a car like this at speed would do the same.

misfit41 12-24-2003 03:49 PM

I have wondered the same thing,,I was thinking maybe most of the pics we see are of comp cars with racing seats,,thus much thinner,otherwise I am with ya,,I wanna know,,Tim

Cal Metal 12-25-2003 04:45 PM

Ron is right. Compare the average offensive/defensive line weight of high school teams today with that of the NFL 35 years ago. Not much difference.

RACERAL 12-25-2003 08:35 PM

my wife says i look like fred flintstone in my fake cobra

CSX 4027 12-25-2003 10:00 PM

Height
 
I did drive Shelby's continuation car when I first visited the small Las Vegas facility in the beginning. McClusky did make it as per original and the seats did sit me way down in the car as opposed to on the car. When I started to sit in other 4000 cars I noticed I sat way up in the car. I found the original seat bottoms were designed different than they are now and used horse hair in the cushion. The new rubber bladder and foam are not good at letting you sink in to the car so I had my 4000 seat custom made. The production 4000 seat sat too high.

RACERAL 12-26-2003 09:14 AM

I know what you are talking about. My seats were only about 2" thick. I took out the foam and made it 3" with a much dencer foam. Now they are to hard and I set on them and not in them.. back to the drawing board... When I drove Jim Maxwell's real 427 cobra, man, those seats spoiled me.. I am now searching for that feel...

maxrpm 12-26-2003 12:52 PM

It's referred to as the "Magilla Gorilla" stance:LOL:

SCOBRAC 12-26-2003 08:56 PM

My photo galley has a photo of CSX 2019 the Dragonsnake Cobra prototype. The little guy working on it was the original driver Tony Stoer. Tony is about 5'1" or so in workboots.


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