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.
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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.
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