Tall drivers?

[Latka]

New guy here. I've been lurking on and off for a while, and been a fan of Porsches in general since I was old enough to know what they were. I've wanted a 911 now for about 15 years... and a recent drive of a buddy's 67 S only reinforced my lust!

I'm a pretty tall dude (6'6"), and as such I get squeezed out of some pretty cool cars. Oddly enough, I also have a passion for classic Minis... anyway - I've driven a '65 911, 67 S (man what a hot rod!), and an 85 coupe. I can't really fit in the 996 or 997, so my question is this: What's the best range of years for a big Grape Ape like myself? I remember the 65 having TONS of room, but then again that was in High School when I weighed probably 1/2 of what I do now (I'm 290lbs) - I was a couple of inches shorter as well. I drove the '67 S recently, and from what I recall it had the Sport Seats in it. It was a little tight for my big "child birthing" hips, and the roll bar behind the seat cut into the leg room I sorely need. I *think* if the roll bar was removed I would fit much better. (Most of my cars, including the Mini, are a very "knees in the sky" driving experience for me) For a comparison - our "regular" car is an Infiniti G35 Sedan. I fit decently in it. We also have a Nissan Titan - it being a full sized truck I actually fit pretty well in there. (We had a Frontier that I used to complain about all the time - nowhere near enough room!)

I prefer the early cars to everything else, and this being the early S registry I figured it'd be a good place to start asking. What do ya folks think?

...and while we're at it, why does it seem that with each generation of 911 there's less and less room? I was upset to find that the 996 and 997 seem to be built for ...well, short Germans at best.

-Andy Kauffman
Kaneohe, HI

[boba]

I am also a big guy 6'3" 290+ and I have a 1965 356SC and 3 1972 911Ts. I have had thru the years many other Porsche including other 911s, 914, 928, 944, 996. I have found that the driving position in all these cars has been good. Getting in and out with grace is a practiced motion, but once in no problem.

Boxter and Cayman are limited to 6' and under unless very thin.

My son is 6'5" and 320 and has a 86 Targa. For him the only problem is his size 16 feet. For him we moved the seat rails back about 1.5" and he has good room I have to slide the seat up to drive it.

In the 996 the electric seats seem to give you more room.

Hope that helps,
Bob

[Chuck Miller]

Hey Andy..... Welcome to the board

I think you're closer to your answer then you think........

911's were conceived during the end of the era where the respective auto manufactures design their products with a 'regional body types' in mind...

The 'historic' Teutonic was BIG and Tall ... the arc type Brit was tall and slender........ early sports cars of these countries USUALLY had deep 'toe boxes' and ample reward travel on their seats.... The early Italian sports cars were built for men who traditionally drove with their seat backs way back with arms straight out and their 'toe boxes' were average..... long arms short legs......

As the regional and gender driving demographic changed so did the auto design... so now you have the uni-human template that averages the 'worlds body type'.......

I would suggest staying with an Early 911 with NO roll bar ... I haven't seen too many 'stretches' have much trouble......

Hope any of this longwinded story helps,

BTW- I'm 5' 7" on a good day....

Cheers,

[Latka]

Sounds like "earlier is better" for me then. Thank you for the quick replies!

...now to sell off a few cars and start looking for "the one". I thought I had myself convinced that another Mini (I have an '80 now as well as a '66 S) was going to make me happy, but man - after hearing that '67 S with no real exhaust system to speak of...blasting through the San Pasqual Valley in SD*... jeez. That told me that I have strayed from the path long enough!

*"Blasting through" is not really an accurate description. I didn't want to push the car at all having never driven a SWB 911 in anger. The last thing I wanted to do was stuff my buddy's car into a ditch!

There is no sound like a carburetted flat six. I've known that for years - now I've got to do something about it! I'll probably have to buy a car over there in LA or San Diego and ship it over here. Seems like the cars I do see are all SCs or 993s/996s. Not that those are bad at all - just not what I'm lookin for. I'd love an early S, but I'd have to score a crazy deal in order to be able to get one. I figure as long as it's an early 911 I'll be happy. My significant other has a Mini to make her happy

Here's an unsolicited photo of my current Mini to show ya what a big monkey I am:



The Mini is "hers", so I was banned from doing anything to it. The last one I really drove we chopped the exhaust off (it was rotting anyway) and stuffed a Cherry Bomb on it. It sounded *way* faster than it actually was. (edit) - This is that car, a '71.



So - the 911 is going to be mine. Loud, snorty, smelling of gas and oil.

[Eade Hopkinson]

I am almost 6'5", and the early cars are the ones to go with. My 67S, with low back sport seats works just fine. And, it has a sunroof, which makes it even tighter for a tall person, but it does have enough room. I drove it over 1,400 miles in 4 days on the Iron Bottom Rally, and it works just fine. When it comes to the newer cars, I have a 2006 997S with sport seats and a sunroof which belongs to my wife, but it is kind of tight. My 2007 GT3RS has the stock GT3 seats in it, with no sunroof, and it actually has quite a bit more room than the 997S with sunroof and adaptive sport seats. I drove the GT3RS to Monterey from San Diego, about a 7 hour drive with no problem for the Pebble Beach week.

[Gburner]

Depends what seating position you find comfertable.
I'm 6'6" 220lb and can barely fit in any 911 with a stock seat.
But with a little seat mount fabrication I do fit nicely.
My daily driver is an 86 911 with a sunroof.
Seat mounted lower and further back.
3 inch spacer on the steering wheel.
My street car steering wheel is D shaped, the flat side for ingress/egress clearance.
The race car has a special tall man chair for a perfect fit.
You know how nice it is when something actually fits you perfectly!
I may be the bear in a circus car, but with a little work at least I don't feel that way.

Check these posts for more opinions.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showt...highlight=tall
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showt...highlight=tall

PS The real Minis are very cool!
Your wife drives a Mini?
You know what the tall single ladies call a tall man with a short lady?
A waste of a tall man.
Met a gal that was 6'6', I asked her if she would date a guy 6 foot tall?
She said "6 nothing?"

[Latka]

Glad to see there are other tree like humans around here. It sounds like I'll be able to fit in pretty much whatever I want depending on the modifications. I'm still hoping for an early car, then maybe a pre-SC car...then an SC. We'll see how things shake out over the next year or so. Unfortunately it seems all the guys here are into SCs and later cars. I'm definitely going to be the black sheep of the bunch showing up in something loud - but that's how I like it! Hopefully the PCA guys here are younger than the Brit car guys. I swear it's like a casting call for "Cocoon" when I go to events. Ugh - so cliquish too.

I dated a gal once who was 6'. Kinda creeped me out! Here in Hawaii I'm definitely one of the taller people. Back in SD it's not unusual to see a handfull of people WAY taller than me. ...dated a gal who was 5'1 also. Everything seems to work out.

The better half does drive the Minis. She didn't like my '66 S (said it stunk too much like gas and oil), but she likes this '80 (the green one). It's fuel injected and has A/C and all that good stuff. She drove the '71 (the red one) but only when I was with her. I have to encourage her to run it out in each gear, but other than that she does really well. Can't wait to get her autocrossing as well.

Thank 'ya for the help! I'll check out those Pelican links tomorrow.
(edit) - just looked quickly at one of 'em. Since this future car would be for autocrossing and "fun" driving... should I stick with the non-sunroof coupe? Or do you think a Targa would be ok as well? I figure if I'm looking for a car that'll do well in the Auto-X I don't want a "flexi-flyer!"

-Andy

[berettafan]

Neat cars! The sound is what got me too.

I think most folks would be very suprised at just how racey these cars sound, even the completely stock versions. The ringer on my cell phone is a 2.0 going through the gears then decelerating. My wife says all of a sudden (since getting that ringtone) i don't pick up the phone so fast

BTW i'm 6'1 and 270 (working on it i swear!) and fit in my sunroof car with no trouble. However helmet concerns have caused me to lower the mounting a bit (still in progress).

[Kaefer]

I'm 6'4" and have found the longhood 911's with no sunroof are the best for headroom, followed by the shorthood 911's with no sunroof.

The sunroof assembly takes a good 3" of headroom.

If you find a non-sunroof 911, and possibly swap out the stock seats, you should be fine.

[Gburner]

Can't wait to get her autocrossing as well.

Since this future car would be for autocrossing and "fun" driving... should I stick with the non-sunroof coupe? Or do you think a Targa would be ok as well? I figure if I'm looking for a car that'll do well in the Auto-X I don't want a "flexi-flyer!"

-Andy

Why not AX the Mini?
The Mini I rode in was a go kart on rails!
Can you imagine the contrast in handling and driver technique between your front engine fwd Mini and the rear engine rwd 911?
Both valid but contrasting.

On the Island it might be good to find what 911 class you like and design a car for that class. Hopefully it's popular, always fun to have someone in your class to compare times with.

Yes a Targa or a Convertable is a poor platform for performance upgrades.
But if you want a nice dual purpose Ax and Island drive car it might be the right choice.
A coupe with or w/o sunroof is going to be a better car in all aspects except vertical view.

Any 911 in good condition will be fun to AX.
My choice would be something a little more purpose built like TT's slate grey SWB car.

Best,
Mike