Short Driver Question

Tell her to buy a pair of these shoes!!
Does the colour match your 328? These are Rossa Corsa. They are also available in Nero, Tdf and Giallo.
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She was wearing them already?
Wow!! She must be a short ass! 328's have a small cab as it is. A 456 is a nice family touring saloon. It may have to be the way to go mate. Unless you sell off the 328 and get a F1 355 or onwards? That way, you can leave the kids at home.

 

2x4 and black duct tape. the black tape adds a classy touch.

 

**shudder**.

 

That would be my fix. Only I'd use a piece of 4X4. Bob Wassam

 

All funny comments aside, have you had her start the car in neutral and see if the clutch disengages enough for her to get into reverse? The clutch does not have to go fully to the floor to disengage, perhaps not really much more than half that far. And seriously, driving with those shoes would be an automatic disqual for me. If she cant drive with normal shoes, she shouldnt probably drive it. Additionally. In three different 308's, two of which I own, these cars all had sticky and dirty seat tracks. I could NOT get the seat in either of my cars to extend back far enough to drive comfortably. No amount of pressure would get it to slide fully back. Once cleaned and lubricated, they slide back so far now I cant really drive comfortably and need them up a few inches. But they also slide much father forward than before. So far forward I cant get in. Unless she has like a 20 inch inseam I cant imagine the car seat wouldnt come forward enough.

 

There was a 308 I looked at recently that Eugenio's shop had moved the rails forward on the car so the owner's wife could drive it. Makes it very difficult for a 6 foot or above driver to drive though because it won't go back far enough. Unfortunately, I don't have that problem! Of course that doesn't move the steering wheel back away from her if that's your concern.

Jeff

 

Use a full size seat pad. My wife is only 4'11" and has used one at times. In fact I am going to have a 2" thick seat cusion made to match the interior of the 355 so she can see over the dash a bit better.


Darrell.

 

Agreed, I have seen seat pad (and back) sets that will take up the space and increase her reach and height a bit.

 

How about a 2" thick wood block tie-wrapped to the pedal? It's kinda 'ghetto', but it should work!

 

How are the pedals for your fit?

Looking at the spare parts catalog, the throttle pivot appears to be bolted to the floor, and the clutch and brake are suspended from a rod bolted somewhere.

On an ABS car, the brake pull appears to be downward, so you're pretty much stuck, but the non-ABS brake pull seems horizontal, so moving the whole pedal assembly forward would mean a longer adjusting screw.

Of course, this would be quite a project, and not something you could slide back and forth between drivers. But it looks like it might be possible for a well equipped shop with a good machinist to move the pedals closer to the driver.

But maybe she just needs to learn the Italian Driving Slouch -- slumped down, partially reclined.
FWIW, F16 pilots also "drive" from a semi-reclined position. (It improved "G" tolerance.)

 

I had the same problem with the 328 I bought 3 years ago. We had the rails adjusted so my 5' tall wife could push the clutch in while in a normal sitting position. Problem is with the seat that far forward, the side mirrors are located so far back that she practically had to look behind her to use them. Solution: sold the 328, bought an F355. Power seats, power steering, lighter clutch, better side mirror placement. Much easier for her to drive.

 

I'm only a bit over 5' and find that if the seat is back even by a notch I have a problem so make sure it really is fully forward; also that the back is more upright. Hope she enjoys driving it!

 

I made 1" spacers to raise the driver's seat in our Mondial so my wife (5' 3") could see out better. I'm not exactly tall either, so it didn't bother me, in fact I liked it too.

I used 1" square aluminum tubing, the same length as the seat rails, then I strengthened it where the seat mounting bolts go through with rounded aluminum spacers inside the tubing that I fabbed on my lathe. Very lightweight but strong. Then I got my buddy Verell to powdercoat the whole thing black. They look factory.

Birdman

 

Check toy stores - seriously. My boys got some jumping shoes last year for Christmas. They slide on there feet like a sandal but are at least 6 inches tall. They put them and jump around. They may work for you..