Moving the seat in a Phaeton

Synchro909

Synchro909

Well-known member
There has been discussion at times about moving the seat back in a Coupe and other body styles. I have a friend who wants to move the seat back in his 1928 Phaeton. There are a couple of problems this will cause. The seat helps support what can best be called the B pillar and moving the front seat back will restrict the access to the rear seat.
Has anybody any experience or tips I can hand on to him?
 
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I have a very tall friend who could not operate the clutch or brake pedals on a 29 sport coupe because his legs were very long. The steering wheel interfered. The solution for him was to simply drive with his shoes off. Drive stocking feet, in other words. Without shoes, clearance was gained between his legs and steering wheel. 28-9 open cars are a squeeze for tall people. Even if your friend moves the seat backwards, the front door is still very narrow. I'm 5'10", and I can get in and out of our 28 Phaeton only if I fold my legs in a certain way. These cars were not built for tall people. mike
 
Moving the seat would be very difficult on this phaeton. I looked into it on mine, because I am almost 2 m tall.

You can get a bottom seat spring from Snyder's that is specially made thinner than stock, so that you sit a little lower in the car. That will help.

Instead of using back cushion seat springs on his phaeton, my Dad used a piece of plywood with a slab of furniture upholstery foam attached to it. He put a thin layer of cotton batting over that and then stretched the upholstery over that, pulling it tight (staple to back side of plywood). This has you sitting a couple of inches further back on the seat, away from the steering wheel and foot controls.

My Dad also bent the gear shift lever away from him a few inches (heat it locally with a torch and then push) to open up leg room.

HTH.
 
I made a spacer out of sheet metal to move the metal backrest back 2 inches. The backrest is bolted to the shoulder section near the hinges for the back doors. I also had the springs for the backrest made 1 inch shorter than stock.
I moved the seat riser back 2 inches.
I am 6'1" and I am comfortable in my 28 Phaeton once I get in. My 28 Phaeton has as much leg room as my 30 Coupe.
 
J Lambert said:
I made a spacer out of sheet metal to move the metal backrest back 2 inches. The backrest is bolted to the shoulder section near the hinges for the back doors. I also had the springs for the backrest made 1 inch shorter than stock.
I moved the seat riser back 2 inches.
I am 6'1" and I am comfortable in my 28 Phaeton once I get in. My 28 Phaeton has as much leg room as my 30 Coupe.
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He is thinking along those lines. Reconfigure the frame for the backrest but not so much that it interferes too much with access to the back seat. Shorter springs in the Squab (backrest) and I think he will get the 1 1/2 - 2" he is looking for.
 
my 28 ute has a straight back to the seat so I substituted the spring back for simple moderate density sponge rubber about 2 inches thick. Then I slipped the squab under the seat back, about the equivalent of a row of springs. Then reworked the seat base to give about an additional 3 inches to squeeze my feet through. Much easier and extra leg room.


On my tourer I had the back row of springs in the squab removed and this gave more room when I reworked the seat structure back to fit. It really does need the seat back substituted with rubber as well. Just as I described above for the ute.
 
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