Not again? Comparing interior space

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2013: Not again? Comparing interior space
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bernard Paulsen, San Buenaventura, Calif on Wednesday, August 07, 2013 - 02:30 pm:

Once again I have to revisit the interior space issue between the pre-improved Runabout and the improved Runabout. I'm getting to a stage where I am closing in on a deal, and this unclear issue is holding me back.

To revisit this, I'm trying to buy an early 1926 Roadster pickup which originally was a Runabout with a turtle deck (now missing). The asking price has been dropped to $6,600 which is close to what I have been offering.



Bruce's bible states on page 386 the original Ford statement concerning the Runabout under Changes in Dimensions that:

Body -- 4-1/2 inches lower from top to road. 7-3/4 inches longer.
Seat -- 2-1/2 inches lower from top of seat to floor. This with 1-1/2 inch drop in chassis brings the seat 4 inches nearer to the ground. Seat is 3 inches wider.

But on page 375-6 Bruce writes that " . . . all that was at the expense of comfort (in spite of Ford's words to the contrary). In the open cars in particular, the front seat passenger compartment was cramped and difficult to enter and leave . . . . With the lowered steering wheel and cramped compartment, it took some maneuvering to get seated. A tall man would find his knees against the instrument panel."

Well, at 6'6" I surely am a tall man, and short of flying to Arizona and test seating, I have no way of finding out if I will fit or not. However, I'm too cheap to spend a few hundred dollars to find out what the experienced members on this board surely would already know. I also don't want to buy a car sight unseen only to find out that I won't fit.

One very experienced member here, somebody who drives a RPU as a semi-daily driver, states that he fits well, and another experienced member states that his legs hit the dashboard.

Guys . . . I don't know what to do. Can you bring some more light into this?

Thanks!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dale L Myers on Wednesday, August 07, 2013 - 02:55 pm:

It may depend on how long your legs are. I'm 6 feet tall and my wife is 5'8". But if my legs were as long as hers I would be 6'4".


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Steve Jelf, Parkerfield KS on Wednesday, August 07, 2013 - 03:01 pm:

You probably don't have to go there. Surely somebody relatively near you has a 1926 roadster you could try on for size.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dan Treace, North FL on Wednesday, August 07, 2013 - 03:07 pm:

There's fun in the Improved runabout and touring, all the fixes that Henry regarded as important, and styling by Edsel :-)

Gas tank is where you don't have to get out and remove the passenger and the seat! Double opening windshield for hefty breeze in your face at 28mph. Big drum for the brake, big drum for the emergency brake, headlamps that are perched up for good light, big fenders to keep road spray off you, and a driver's door!!!

The space inside is fine, if you want more knee cap room, remove the seat spring and use a thinner block of foam under the upholstery....


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By john kuehn on Wednesday, August 07, 2013 - 03:23 pm:

Tall guys with big feet (size 12 and larger) are going to have to squeeze in most Model T's and that's a fact of life.
I am 6'3" and I have to squeeze in my 24 Coupe and 19 runabout. Once I get in and settle in its OK. Adding 3" would make it a little snugger.
If you can fit in the earlier T's a 26-27 will be close to the same give or take.

We are so use to our more modern cars it takes a little bit to get comfortable in a 90 year old or so car.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By john kuehn on Wednesday, August 07, 2013 - 03:34 pm:

Tall guys with big feet (size 12 and larger) are going to have to squeeze in most Model T's and that's a fact of life.
I am 6'3" and I have to squeeze in my 24 Coupe and 19 runabout. Once I get in and settle in its OK. Adding 3" would make it a little snugger.
If you can fit in the earlier T's a 26-27 will be close to the same give or take.

We are so use to our more modern cars it takes a little bit to get comfortable in a 90 year old or so car.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Norman T. Kling on Wednesday, August 07, 2013 - 03:39 pm:

Heighth has little to do with it. girth will make things tighter. I am only 5'7 but my dad was 6'. When we sat side by side, I was taller. His hieghth was all in the legs and my shortness is also in the legs.

You need to try out a similar car to see how it fits you. And as was posted above, you can thin the padding on the seat and back or take out the springs and replace with a board with foam on it.

The 26 does have an advantage for driving because it has wider spacing of the pedals and a wider brake and low pedal. The left door is hard to get through, but at least it has one. The earlier models don't have that door so you will either need the passenger to get out or climb over. Climbing over is not easy either because of the steering wheel.
Norm


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bernard Paulsen, San Buenaventura, Calif on Wednesday, August 07, 2013 - 03:50 pm:

Thanks for the input so far, guys!

I am trying to make sense of the numbers though.

If the body of the improved car is 7-3/4 inches longer, where exactly is that? Sure, the hood is longer, and surely the cowl is longer as well. But does none of this go to the passenger compartment?

The seat is 2-1/2 inches lower from top of seat to floor, surely because the relocated fuel tank allows it. But the steering column has been dropped 3 inches, so if my math is right, then the steering column is now 1/2 inch closer to the belly of the driver.

In addition, if you sit lower, yet the pedals are in the same place, your legs are in a narrower, less comfortable angle. A higher seat would allow a more relaxed seating position.

Maybe I'm overthinking that. If somebody has an improved Roadster in SoCal and would allow me to test sit this weekend, that would surely help as well.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Wayne Sheldon, Grass Valley, CA on Wednesday, August 07, 2013 - 04:00 pm:

At six foot even, I am not nearly as tall as you are. But I am taller than a lot of hobbyists. A lot of it has to do with you and your expectations and/or attitude. Being very much into antique automobiles from a very young age, I grew up expecting to sit in the seat where the seat is at. I almost never adjust the seat in a modern car, even if I drive my mother's car. She is five foot four. I just get in and fold me into place and never have a problem with it. Every model T I have ever driven has felt fine to me. Other people I have known, shorter than I, complain they can't drive some cars.
I do agree, make a few phone calls. Find someone within fifty miles that has a '26/7 roadster and try it on for size. You may find a new friend locally in the process.
However this all works out. Good luck!
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bernard Paulsen, San Buenaventura, Calif on Wednesday, August 07, 2013 - 05:48 pm:

Well said, Wayne. To clarify, I have driven cars you wouldn't believe, such as a Stanguellini road racer, a Berkely Sports Roadster, a Goggomobil Coupe (German microcar), Nash Metropolitan Coupe (much worse then the convertible), Austin Sprite with the hardtop mounted, and a Jaguar E-Type flat floor Roadster with the top up, the worst of all the above, aside from the Stanguellini which is for leg amputees only.

But it's one thing to move a car from point A to B, and to enjoy driving it over an extended period of time. There's a point where adapting doesn't work anymore, and I remember vaguely around 2001 when I drove a fabulous Model A Roadster Pickup with factory original paint that I loved dearly, but required me to sit sideways while driving it . . .


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jack Daron - Brownsburg IN on Wednesday, August 07, 2013 - 07:37 pm:

Get a pre-22 coupe. They have all kinds of room. We have a big galute in our club who fits in one very well.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Rex Pyles on Wednesday, August 07, 2013 - 08:49 pm:

I'm 6'5" and 315lbs and have a 26 roadster, I fit just fine in it. The 20' we have has tons of room, the 25 Fordor has plenty of room but my 24 Tudor lacks in head room.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bernard Paulsen, San Buenaventura, Calif on Wednesday, August 07, 2013 - 08:51 pm:

I know. I've sat in one. Super cool that phone booth body.

But I don't want a Coupe. I live in a small mission town in Southern California, the beach one one side, the mountains on the other. We have perfect weather about 330 days per year, never really cold, never really hot. I neither need a heater nor air conditioning. If I spend quality time in a car, I want to be in an open one. Only a Runabout will do it for me, nothing else. And not even any Runabout; I want one that is largely original, has not been mucked with, and shows its age with pride. A car with new radiator that runs perfectly cool in triple digit Arizona weather without the aid of a waterpump, yet has decades old spark plugs fits the bill perfectly.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bernard Paulsen, San Buenaventura, Calif on Wednesday, August 07, 2013 - 08:52 pm:

Here's what I'm talking about:


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bernard Paulsen, San Buenaventura, Calif on Wednesday, August 07, 2013 - 09:11 pm:

Here's what I'm talking about:


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bernard Paulsen, San Buenaventura, Calif on Wednesday, August 07, 2013 - 09:12 pm:

Here's what I'm talking about:




Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Wayne Sheldon, Grass Valley, CA on Thursday, August 08, 2013 - 12:46 am:

Nice! And what are those spark plugs? They don't look like Champions. (I just restored a dozen of them, Xs, 31s, and some Fords) I have some ACs that look like those. Maybe Stitt?
I have never really had a good-enough-to-keep-original car. My '29 REO had a bad repaint. Several of mine have had partial restorations, some of them with a fair bit done wrong. The '25 Pierce Arrow was the best with a '30s repaint on the body and a beautiful original interior. Wish I still had it.
Good luck!
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Royce in Dallas TX on Thursday, August 08, 2013 - 08:07 am:

Bernard,

Try sitting in the car. I am 6'5" and 230 pounds with size 14 feet. I can barely drive a '26 - 27 runabout. My left leg is nearly trapped by the steering wheel when I close the door. Not everyone is tall in the same way, for me the length is all below my belt.

The older Model T's have much more leg room.


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