Getting into, then out of older sports cars.

On Sunday I had the chance to help a friend move some of his collection of cars into his new garage. Over the course of 4 and a half hours we pushed, pulled, or bought back to life thirteen cars and two motor cycles. If you find your self thinking of spending any time with an older car know this, they were built for people smaller than most of us to day.

Growing up I always wanted to be as tall as, at least my dad. Never made it. But at 5' 10", alright almost, I do fit the max size some of these cars were built to allow behind the wheel. The steering wheels are that big, the doors are that small and your right leg has to pivot at the hip like you are still in your teens. Getting out, make sure the owner wants to load his collection so that you can open the drivers door "ALL" the way. If he wants to drive something in the future he can step on the seats and slide on in. Coupes, good luck.

One last thing, never set the hand break on these things. They will break free when you tow them, but you will need the Rino to get them moving.

I thought this thread would be advice to buy low and sell high...

You have to fit in the car before you spend the money, right?

In reply to jr02518:

That depends on whether it's a car or an investment

Me, I plan to heed your advice on the test-fitting!

Sounds like we need photos of this collection...

I'm right around 6' tall and always loved Midgets until I actually tried to drive one. Holy hell that's a tight fit. MGBs are a little more practical, Miatas even more so. ;-)

Yeah, Midgets are pretty funny getting in and out. I am sure it's not a big deal with the top down (step in), but a friend of mine who owns some loves hard tops.

The ONLY way to get out of one for me is to crawl out on my hands!

Size is the one of the reasons I don't own a Crown conversion Corvair V8. With the V8 taking up all the room in the back, the front seat is very far forward. Not a huge deal getting in and out, but still very much a shorter guy car.

In reply to aircooled:

I'm 6'2" and regular Corvairs are hard to get into sometimes, mainly because of the steering wheel. Late Model 4-doors are the worst, I nearly removed a kidney on the door pillar trying to get in one.

I want to put a smaller wheel in my coupe, but I have a '65 Corvette wheel that my dad got from a junk yard in the 70's, so I want to keep it.

aircooled wrote: Yeah, Midgets are pretty funny getting in and out. I am sure it's not a big deal with the top down (step in), but a friend of mine who owns some loves hard tops. The ONLY way to get out of one for me is to crawl out on my hands! Size is the one of the reasons I don't own a Crown conversion Corvair V8. With the V8 taking up all the room in the back, the front seat is very far forward. Not a huge deal getting in and out, but still very much a shorter guy car.

I owned a '72 Midget in college...I was a LOT smaller then. You can do things in Midgets that can't be listed here however...there was applause involved, but I didn't know we had an audience!

I don't know that it's really the size once inside, it's how low and what you have to step over to get out. My 370 is more difficult than my last Miata, and the MINI is easy compared to the CRV. I will say that almost any sports car is easier if you don't go to the all you can eat buffet at Denny's though. Unfortunately I have experience here too.

I have always loved the GT6. It's probably my favorite body style for a LBC. I'm 6'2 and #270.

I somehow squeeze into this though.

Might be the removable steering wheel and lack of top. Having the seat mounted on the floor pan with all the structure under the car helps a little as well.

Try getting in and out of my brother's Lotus Europa sometime. Its amazingly comfortable to sit in but entering and exiting is a different story. Definitely not a car for really big people.

I never had any trouble getting into tight cars at 250 lbs. until my left knee went out on me. I can only bend it so far and that means that getting in and out of small coupes can be an issue, especially if you can't just swing a leg out. No trouble with Fiero and Solstice, which have decent size doors, nor my Jamaican bodied MGA, which requires some contortion to access, but the shorter doors on my MGA coupe are pretty hard now. Having to decant yourself onto the pavement on your hands and knees in front of people trying not to laugh is hard on dignity and in inclement weather, doing it into a puddle is even less fun!

I daresay that my old TVR race car would be a trial to get in and out of if I still had it. It was a Mk 3 Grantura; the earlier models had even shorter doors, so much so that they were known at the factory as 'The Virgin, as they were so hard to get into.....

6.2 180LBS and fit into the GT6 just fine but the seats are designed for the car. NO SIDES.

6' tall, 250lbs...

I've got an E-type in the shop right now and my apprentoid will be driving it.

No chance in hell that I can operate the pedals.

I fit in the Healey 3000 and the MGA though, those will receive a through flogging.

Shawn