Car Care
Adding Legroom
Seat-track extension installation
Created by Dave AndersonLet's say you're a good 6-feet tall and you love the First Generation F-Body. You know, then, that driving one for any length of time will give you serious leg cramps. When the General first designed the early Camaro/Firebird, more than 90 percent of the male population stood less than six feet. Fortunately, John DeLorean is part of the 10 percent who stand taller than 6 feet.
Tall Order
When presented with a prototype F-Body, DeLorean quickly realized the lack of legroom. He sent the engineers back to the drawing board to design a fix, but very few options were available to the Pontiac design team. The F-Body, not of Pontiac nor DeLorean's design, was virtually complete and ready for release as Pontiac's well-dressed version of the Camaro. The team did however devise a solution that was to come standard on the soon-to-be-released 1967 Firebird and an oft-forgotten option in '68 and '69. The resultant fix was a "seat track extension," which today seems to be unknown to most.
Well, jump ahead almost 40 years. Performance Years has fixed this oversight with the release of a reproduction seat-track extension following GM's original design. Our subject vehicle is a 1969 Ram Air III Firebird Trans Am. This classic is one of 697 built and was one of the original cars used for the "Press Reveal" of the 1969 Trans Am and GTO Judge at the old Riverside Raceway in Riverside, California. Today the Trans Am still retains its original interior but is lacking the legroom a 6-footer needs.
Installation
The installation of the seat-track extension is simple and straightforward. It can be performed in less than a half hour with simple hand tools. The bucket seat is detached from the floorboard by removing the four attaching bolts. Once the seat is removed, the new seat-track extensions bolt to the floorboards where the original seat-track was affixed. Then the seat is placed upon the seat-track extension and bolted down. The end result of this 30-minute modification is an additional two inches of legroom—and that's the long and short of it.
Resource
Performance Years, www.performanceyears.com