drave199

Im looking at a 1974 stingray. Honestly i have never sat in one before. I am concerned that i may have issues with seeing over the steering wheel. I am only 5'8" and maybe a half on a good day. I know that the seat will move forward and back so i don't think reaching the pedals will be an issue? This particular car doesn't have the TT steering wheel option on it (or power steering ). So i guess my question is are any of you as short as me and can give me some feedback if i will be alright? Has anyone ever had the seat customized to had a little more height to it?

Or because these seats will need to be re upholstered sometime in the near future, is there a way to maybe add extra height to it then (thicker foam)? Or any good direct replacement aftermarket seats out there?

Thanks.

Easy Mike

Why not take the seller for a test drive in his/her 74? My better half is 5'6" and has no hesitation jumping behind the wheel of either of her two (71 and 96) and cruising all day.

drave199

Well yes for sure i will do that, but i will be driving 12 hours to get it lol so it would be nice to have an idea before hand.

Alan 71

Hi d,
A new old 74 for you NICE! You must be pretty excited!
The slope of the backrest of the seat can be decreased by use of shims. In fact some shims came along with each car when new for that very purpose. That'll help you sit a bit more up-right.
Also the way the seat tracks are bolted to the underbody allows the tracks to be raised a bit too with shims and slightly longer seat mounting bolts.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan

73Reprise

I am 5'7" and have a 73. As Alan71 posted, adding shims to seat back helps considerably. You definately will feel that you are sitting IN the car rather than ON it but you can see just fine. Since my son is 6'4", I won't be raising the seat.

chiefttp

I'm 5'5" and no problems in my 81

68/70Vette

Manual steering, in my opinion, is not good. Fortunately converting to power steering is pretty easy and not too expensive.

With manual steering, parking requires a lot of arm strength. My 68 with a 16 inch steering wheel required a lot of muscle power. If you have a later year Corvette, you have smaller diameter steering wheel and even more muscle power is required. What did it for me was the thin metal spokes on the steering wheel. Hitting one of those parking curbs in a parking lot would cause the steering wheel to suddenly jerk and the metal spokes would hit my thumbs....talk about pain! After a few such incidents, I installed power steering. Be aware that early C3/GM power steering is not like power steering today. There's almost no (well OK maybe NO) road feed back. Under all driving conditions, you can steer the car with your little finger...including parking...no back pressure. My 08 Corvette takes a little arm power to hold it in a turn, not so with the 68.

ddawson

I wish I was 5'8"

I'm 5'5 and have no issue.

richard emmanuel

I am 5/7--I had no problem in mine for years, its a 77 by the way. It also has a hi rise custom Daytona hood. The previous owner used the shims as mentioned by others in the previous post. Also the long threaded screws can be screwed in or out to give you a lift effect. The one problem I did have was on long rides. The these cars as you know detect every road bump. As the old saying goes ride over a nickle and you can tell if its on heads or tails. I had my seats redone, padding, foam new leather, new springs and all. Still I ended up with the same uncomfortable ride. The solution was to go to a Fiero Seat. They bolted right on the track Mr Mike's makes a kit for the Corvette so check on his website. These seats also have a factory lumbar so on long trips these are very comfortable and the height is better too.

Bad Bird

Whilst I agree with you that it isn't the same as today's modern power steering, my '69 drives nothing like how you are describing your '68. Mine actually has a fair (not amazing, but not none) amount of road feedback,it offers only a fairly low amount of assist and it has great return-to-center. Maybe your car has the later (softer, 40 lb I think) springs installed in the power steering valve.

74Ken

I too am 5'8.5", but I am long in the torso.
The seat height will not be a problem for you. These cars have more of a problem for people over 5'10" in my opinion.
I swapped out my seats for Fiero seats also and love the newer comfort. These seats raise me up another 1" or so already and I have not gotten my Mr. Mike seats yet.

As for reaching the peddles, I have short legs and I still have the seat all the way back.

Ken

PS. Welcome to the 74 club...assuming you go thru with it,

gbvette62

You should have no problem driving a Corvette. My wife is 5'6". When we got engaged in 79, I bought her a 74. She never had any trouble driving the car, and we didn't have to shim the seat or anything. I'm 6', and there were never issues with having enough seat adjustment for either of us.

Like most sports cars, being a little shorter, is actually an advantage. The people who have trouble driving old Corvettes, are those over 6 foot!

bj1k

Some of the taller people have complained that when getting the seats re-done with new foams that they sit too high so I think when you have the seats re-done with the thicker foam it will probably be just right . I just had my seats done with new foams and covers and it really raised them up.

7T1vette

I'm about the same height as you and I've been driving C3's for over 40 years and never had a problem.

However, it will take you a bit of time to get used to:

1.) having your *** 3" off the pavement;

2.) looking over the fender humps;

3.) figuring out when to stop so that you don't run the front end over tire stops, etc.

If the seat is angled back too far, you may have to install some washers or shims under the seat-back stops to get the seat-back in a more upright position. Tall drivers tend to remove them.

M A Fry

I'm 5'6" an have a '69 vert with no TT and have no problems at all. In fact when I first
got mine it had no PS as well and the only reason I have PS now is that I couldn't find
a non PS RHD r&p unit for my steering upgrade. The only time PS is really useful is when
your parking or stationary, other than that it is totally unnecessary.

Mark

scrappy76

I am only 5'4" and I sit comfortable, but the nose length takes a little getting used to. I can see, but cautous how close I get to things when parking. I have taken a 12 hour road trip and enjoyed every minute of it.

drave199

Im confused here. So manual steering is bad? AND Early year Gm power steering is bad? So what am to do? haha

drave199

Thanks everyone for your comments. I didnt get any notifications so i thought this thread was a dud.

All of your feedback has eased my mind, thanks.

Turns out this is pretty much a base model. Doesn't have power breaks either. Which i am told isn't really that big a deal either. Does have disk brakes all the way around.

Unless something goes wrong i will have it in garage Monday night.

qwank

I'm 5'7" and was really surprised how high up the seating position in my '81 was. But I'm used to driving C4,5,6, and 7s at work.

Brother Rob

You're not that short. Average male height in America is 5'10"

I'm 5'4" and seriously wonder how taller people even fit into a Vette.