For as long as I can remember, I have wanted a sports car. I am a fairly large bear and while a two-seater was out of the question, I did find a used small convertible that seemed to fit my needs.

Except, I didn’t fit!

I had enough room with the seat back to be able to reach the steering wheel and the pedals. I was able to shut the door comfortably. But, since baby’s got back, - I couldn’t imagine sitting it the bucket seat more than about 10 seconds. I think those bucket seats would have been extreme for anyone.

I asked the used car dealer if he had any suggestions. His only suggestion was to buy a seat from a different model car that would fit. He made a few calls to the new car dealers and the cost was going to be over $1,000 for each seat.

I was getting ready to walk out when I noticed the calendar of classic cars on his wall. It was from a nearby auto upholstery shop. On a lark, I asked if I could take the car over to have them see what they could do. For $150, they said they could cut down the extreme bucket seat cushions and give me a flatter sitting area. The auto upholstery guy was no lightweight either and perhaps this was one of the reasons he was so respectful and able to meet my needs.

They also told me that the car had been repainted and I was able to get the used car dealer to knock the price down enough to cover the retrofit.

The car is now fun to drive and the work was perfect. I did have to take a trip back to the shop to adjust the extreme wings on the seat back however. It turns out that when the seat cushion was flattened out; I sat a bit lower - so the lumbar support had to be adjusted to be less extreme and in the right place (this cost less than $100). One more trip was needed to do the same work on the passenger side - so I could sit there when I finally let my partner drive my dream car.

While not all cars can be made to fit all people, that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun cars to drive.