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Manual 360 with sports seats

B

Beda

New member
Hen’s teeth, I know! I am 6’6” and i know, after much trying, that the only way I fit in a 360 is with the large sports seats.

I have been looking for about a year now, hoping to find one, but so far I’ve come up with nothing.

Based in Hampshire but willing to travel, I’ve seen about 15 cars, 10 of which were non-sports seats just to get my eye in. With one exception (where I was too slow!), they have all had stories, from undisclosed engine swaps and damage, to heavy underside corrosion and limited service history. I have spent a lot of time bothering Tim Walker and Aldous Voice, and one thing that I’m sure of is that I don’t want to buy a project or story car, but one that’s got a great service history and is loved.

It’s pretty painful to have such a small potential pool of cars (I don’t know how many manuals with large sports seats remain, but I’m guessing there weren’t many to start with!). Not fussy about colour, albeit I love TDF blue.

Are any owners considering moving their cars on? If so let’s talk!

Thanks, Alex
 
I'm 6'5 and never had a problem in a standard 360. My 430 did have buckets which did give me much more headroom for sure though.

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk
 
If it's the seats that are mainly responsible for limiting the choice of potential cars, maybe consider aftermarket seats instead? They can be switched back to standard if you decide to sell further down the line. Matching them to the interior would be only real headache, unless you had them recovered to suit.
 
Kyodo said:
If it's the seats that are mainly responsible for limiting the choice of potential cars, maybe consider aftermarket seats instead? They can be switched back to standard if you decide to sell further down the line. Matching them to the interior would be only real headache, unless you had them recovered to suit.
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Mark please let us know what you had for breakfast this morning, as the best/most sensible idea I think anyone has posted on this forum !! You end up with a reversible mod that costs beer money, and potentially gives you a better seat than any 360 was given at the factory.

Us stupid humans will adjust a seat to what we think is comfortable, whereas a fixed bucket has nothing to adjust (i.e mess up :laugh:), and I have always found them to be more comfortable on a long run.

Also when you come to sell the car the drivers seat will have no more wear in it :thumbsup:
 
I'm also 6ft 5 and fit very comfortably in the 360, with plenty of headroom. I guess you've tried putting the seat in it's lowest setting and angling the seat back? I have the standard seats, not the Daytona seats, not sure if that makes a difference.
 
Thank you all for replies. I have looked at installing other seats, but cannot find a definitive answer as to whether they get low enough. There’s not much out there about installing other seats, and at least some of the threads on installing aftermarket seats talk about them ending up at Daytona height, rather than markedly lower, which is no good for me. Tim Walker has suggested that I chat to Cobra about their seats, and I should do that too, but am worried about buying a car and then finding that nothing works, and I’m 3-6k down on aftermarket seats and brackets that don’t do what I need them to!

I am grateful for the comments from my fellow giants, but should probably clarify, i am long bodied and relatively short legged. No amount of fiddling gets me fitting in a car with standard or daytona seats without my head touching the roof liner. I have tried, but appreciate everyone is a different shape so some of my height (or taller) will have no problem, but I do!
 
Just curiosity but have you tried a 360 Spider or wouldn't you be interested anyway?

Might just be the way they look but the roof line above the seats appears higher on the Spider and my guess is if there are no bars above the seats (not sure if there are of not but I'm guessing not) it'd be thinner than the standard 360 roof. Just a thought. There's also a lot to be said for driving a Ferrari with the roof off, definitely adds something I think.
 
Nosevi said:
Just curiosity but have you tried a 360 Spider or wouldn't you be interested anyway?

Might just be the way they look but the roof line above the seats appears higher on the Spider and my guess is if there are no bars above the seats (not sure if there are of not but I'm guessing not) it'd be thinner than the standard 360 roof. Just a thought. There's also a lot to be said for driving a Ferrari with the roof off, definitely adds something I think.
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Hi, I am not fussed whether coupe or spider (given what I’ll use it for spider is probably better!), and did find getting into the spider I test drove slightly easier than the coupe with the roof down. That had buckets though. Many years ago I drove a 360 spider round thruxton and that had normal seats. My head was above the window line - I think the screen is lower / shorter in the spider than the coupe.

So yes to a spider but no to non-buckets! V grateful for the responses from everyone by the way, thank you
 
sssdu01 said:
Mark please let us know what you had for breakfast this morning, as the best/most sensible idea I think anyone has posted on this forum !!
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I had a small orange.
sssdu01 said:
...Also when you come to sell the car the drivers seat will have no more wear in it :thumbsup:
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This ^ is also a cracking point, a real win-win. I'm off now to store our Crema Daytona full electric option seats from the Cali in the shed...
 
Nosevi said:
I was sort of hoping you were going to say a Full English. I'm going to pass and just keep coming up with daft ideas if that's ok :)
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If you can't add anything constructive to the thread Pete, best you not say anything. Alex needs help with his long body.
 
Kyodo said:
If you can't add anything constructive to the thread Pete, best you not say anything. Alex needs help with his long body.
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:hmmm:

Thought a Spider might be an option if he hadn't considered it given that's the way some have gone in older models such as the 308 and 328 which really are cramped in the hard top, that was my constructive comment. The day people object to the odd light-hearted, inoffensive comment on here to the point where people can't say anything that's not 'dry' and to the point will be a bit of a shame imo.
 
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Nosevi said:
:hmmm:
The day people object to the odd light-hearted, inoffensive comment on here to the point where people can't say anything that's not 'dry' and to the point will be a bit of a shame imo.
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Pete, I was joking. Perhaps a little too 'dry'? :laugh: :wink3:
 
Not been on for a little while due to work and a few other things getting in the way of keeping up with various things...

O/P I managed to find a car with racing seats towards the back end of last year so if that is your desire, stick with it and something will always turn up if you're patient enough...

I had been looking for over 18 months and was adamant that I would only buy from a dealer... A 2000 Modena F1 come up privately in pretty much the exact spec we'd been holding out for. Had a chat with the seller and it was obvious he was a car enthusiasts just like we are, drove the 250 mile trip to view it and the rest is history as they say.

Was it worth the agonising wait? I doubted that many times along the way and thought we were just being too specific with our criteria on the must have spec but in the end all come good :thumbsup:

One thing I would say is getting a totally independent PPI complete was a must for us due to the car being a private sale and went some way to easing our nerves when transferring the funds on collection day.

Lastly, I've only sat in the Standard and Daytona seats a few times but since collection and doing around 700mls in our car, I am so happy we held out for a car with the Carbon Racing seats! I'm 6ft 4" and our seats are medium and they are one of the comfiest seats I've ever had in a car. It took a little while to perfect the angle of the back rest but I can honestly say they were worth the wait.

Good luck in you search and keep us all updated on any developments :)
 
Thanks Ben. I reviewed my efforts and exchanges over the last 12 months and see that I did check in with Cobra who could fit seats but felt they’d be the same height as normal seats. Aka stick to your guns on buckets!

Most on the forum will probably know the frustration of having to be incredibly patient and then act fast. I will keep on with waiting and prodding, and will update when I have something worth posting.

Will be getting any car inspected if possible - i don’t know enough to DIY beyond checking it’s a car. Hugely appreciate the comments on here, and glad that Nosevi and Kyodo are back on speaking terms!
 
Tiny update, I had a "sliding doors" moment with a car that sold essentially as I learned of it. If I'd posted this wanted ad a few days earlier, I might have been writing to say I'd got incredibly lucky and now owned one. So disappointing, but good to know that there are decent cars out there being sold from time to time...

If anyone is selling or thinking of selling a manual 360 with large bucket seats, I'm here and eager to chat!
 
Hi all, the hunt continues with a few other cars looked at, but with the exception of one near miss, still no cars without a story of some kind. Very frustrating but I feel like I’ve been really well-guided by Tim Walker in particular.

If anyone is thinking about selling a manual 360 with bucket seats, please please please drop me a line - I think there are various specialists (esp. Tim!) who are now sick and tired of hearing from me…
 
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