Photo by HanH

95 VT - passenger

95 VT - driver

Infant/toddler seat

It's an Eddie Bauer model that I had a Lamoborghini patch ironed on. It matches my interior perfectly. It looks like a car seat that Lambo would specially make for the Diablo. The seat itself is manufactured by Cosco (Dorel Juvinile Group).

Jim Painter

I have a custom tube chassis and trying to fit a aftermarket seat. The problem is the angle and the height of the aftermarket seats.

I have only 32 inches from the floor pan to the roof. I am also 6'2 so you see the problem. I lowered my floor pans 2 inches and put in a set of Sparco roadster seats in at a angle I like the fighter better in the pics but the roadster had more side clearance.

Let me say the pictures do not give theses seats enough credit. Sweet is the best word to descibe these seats. I like theses seats so much better than covering those shells that come with the kits. The seats look like they were made for this style of car.

Nathan

I didn't go for original seats purely because of cost. New seats are simply horrendously priced but even secondhand ones can easily hit £800 for a pair and if they weren't in the colour I wanted I'd have trimming or colouring costs to add to that. It's a shame because the originals would look nice but as with anything you have to draw the line somewhere.

After a huge amount of searching websites, catalogues and adverts I finally came to the conclusion that I wanted one of the first seats I came across, the Cobra 'Roadster 7'. They are a fixed back seat and just look like they suit the car to me, having an integral headrest with shoulder and thigh bolsters. I was originally put off this seat by both Cobra themselves and a couple of Cobra agents because, and I quote, 'the seats need to be mounted with a bulkhead directly behind them' ie like in a Caterham 7 type car.

I had decided at the start of the build that I didn't need runners as a: headroom is a priority for my 6'1" frame, and b: no other bugger would be driving the car anyway. So, they probably would be mounted near or next to the bulkhead but I wanted to be able to have the choice of being able to mount them a few inches away if needed. Cobra themselves said that the Roadster 7 was not suitable and I asked why. Surely the back of the seat did not have to actually touch a fixed bulkhead, and if it didn't, who was to say that the seat should be 'x' amount of distance from it? The answers I got from Cobra were vague and hardly understanding to say the least. I decided that Cobra must have designed the seat to be in a two seater car, and therefore was why it needed a bulkhead, to prevent the seat from breaking and sending the occupant into a rear passenger. The seat clearly does not need permanant external support. I believe it's more for the fact that it is not strong enough to contain and hold an occupant on it's own in the event of a heavy rear shunt.

So, after looking at God knows how many alternative seats, I eventually came full circle and ordered the Roadster 7's. The deciding factor apart from the above mentioned style was the fact that they were about as small as you could get without being uncomfortable. On top of this, they are actually a good price too. Expect to pay about £140.00 per seat excluding VAT on average.

To add a little detail, I ordered them with both yellow piping and the 'COBRA' logo embroidered in yellow too. This didn't cost much extra (about £15 per seat) and just adds a little flare if you see what I mean. I had been a bit undecided about adding garish yellow inside the cabin but in the end thought 'what the hell' and went for it. I'm glad I did as the cabin would be mainly all black otherwise which is a bit bland for the type of car it is. The seats themselves were ordered in black vinyl as they can be trimmed in leather anytime and thus keep the initial costs down. The finish on the vinyl looks very similar to real leather anyway.

A word of warning- for those who like the look of the 'rally style' seats with broad shoulders and deep thigh supports remember that the Diablo not only has a (surprisingly) fairly narrow cabin but getting in and out of the thing isn't exactly easy either. With ultra-high thigh supports the act of entering and leaving requires some fair amount of skill and dexterity. Something to bear in mind for those that may have significant others with short skirts.....

The dimension picture shown above is from Cobra themselves and as such I cannot guarantee it's accuracy. I did not check the sizes against my seats when they arrived but they appear to be correct.