The Corbeau Sportsman: A Compact Recliner For Compact Cars
Corbeau Sportsman, properly measured
The question comes in most weeks in one shape or another: something narrow, something old, something a driver built themselves, and not much room either side of where the seat has to go. Cameron reaches for the same answer most of the time, and it is not a big seat that happens to be adjustable. It is the Sportsman.
Garreth’s addition to that, every time: tell them how small before they order it, not after. This page is that answer written down properly, with the actual numbers and some of the cars we have put it in.
- The Sportsman is 41.5cm at its widest point, one of the narrowest reclining seats we sell
- Base 40cm, backrest 37cm across the shoulders, headrest 24cm, from £468.00
- Bolts to the same 291mm x 330mm pattern as the GT4 and GT8, its only bolt pattern
- Cloth, vinyl or leather, standard black piping or blue, red, white and yellow
- The narrow cushion that makes it fit tight cars is the same reason it suits a slighter driver best
How small is properly small
41.5cm, at the widest point of the frame. That is the number that matters, and it is what Corbeau built the seat around: a cockpit that will not take a standard reclining seat at all.
The drawing below is the same seat, drawn to the numbers Corbeau publish. The headrest, the shoulders and the base each get narrower as you go down, which sounds backwards until you remember it is the base that has to clear the door card and the transmission tunnel, not the headrest.
Depth front to back is 54cm, and overall height with the headrest fitted is 79cm. Take the headrest off, which is an option on this seat and not a modification, and it sits lower again. If that height figure matters to your build, ring the showroom on 0115 9893488 and we will talk you through it rather than guess.
The pad you actually sit on
Everything above is about getting the seat past the door card. This part is about what happens once you are in it, and it is worth being straight about.
27cm across the cushion at the hip, 28cm at the thigh, 37cm across the backrest at the shoulders. Those are narrow numbers next to almost anything else we sell, and the seat does not pretend otherwise. Corbeau list it as suiting waists up to 36 to 38 inches, and it will take that, but the top of that range will feel the bolsters. It is not a complaint about the seat. It is a seat built to be small, and being small is exactly the point of it.
So the honest steer, Cameron’s and Garreth’s both: if the driver is a slighter build, or the car is being built around them specifically, the Sportsman is close to perfect. If the driver is a bigger man in a bigger coat, this is not the seat to force it, whatever the cockpit needs.
Left, the seat with somebody actually in it, which is the only honest way to show how much room is there. Right, the same seat side on, where the narrow base and the recline handwheel are both visible.
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Cars we have put it in, and what it comes in
This one is a cream, cycle-winged period-look two seater, red leather Sportsman pair fitted to match the cabin. We do not have the full story on this build on file, only the photo, but it makes the point on its own: an open, pre-war-styled cockpit with next to no width to spare, and the seats sit in it as if they were drawn for the car.
The other end of the same idea is the yellow kit car at the top of this page, a customer’s Marlin Sportster with the Sportsman in black vinyl and red piping, on Willans harnesses. We wrote that one up properly at the time: Customers Marlin Sportster With Corbeau Sportsman Reclining Seats.
Trim is the other thing those cars show. Cloth, vinyl or leather, and any of them can have contrast piping in blue, red, white or yellow instead of the standard black.
Prices from £468.00 in black cloth, £480.00 in black vinyl, £806.40 in black leather, with the coloured piping options a little more on top. The headrest comes fitted as standard but can be left off if that suits the car better, and a spare is available on its own if you ever need one.
Left, a customer car in plain red leather. Right, green with yellow piping. Same seat, and about as far apart as the trim options go.
How it bolts in
One bolt pattern, 291mm by 330mm, which is also the narrower of the GT4 and GT8’s two patterns. If a kit car maker has already specified either of those seats for your build on that pattern, the Sportsman goes onto the same mounting without a rethink.
One thing worth knowing before you order a pair, and it catches people out: the Sportsman is handed. Driver side and passenger side are separate listings, so a pair is one of each, not two of the same. The GT4 and GT8 are the other way round, sold as a single universal listing where a pair is just quantity two.
We covered that same GT4, GT8 and Sportsman comparison from a different angle recently, for a customer rebuilding a Magenta: Seats For A Magenta Kit Car: The GT4 Recommendation And The High Back Answer.
And if you want the Sportsman weighed against other narrow seats for the same kind of cabin, we did that for a Marlin Cabrio owner here: Customer Query: What Seats Are Suitable For My Marlin Cabrio?
Common questions
Is the Sportsman FIA approved?
No. It is a road and track seat, not a competition shell, and it is not sold as one.
Will it definitely fit my kit car?
We cannot promise that from a page on the internet, but at 41.5cm it clears more narrow cabins than almost anything else we sell. Send us your cockpit width and we will tell you honestly.
I am a bigger build. Should I avoid it?
Corbeau list it up to a 36 to 38 inch waist, so it is not off limits, but the cushion is genuinely narrow and you will feel the bolsters at the top of that range. If you have the cabin width to spare, a wider seat will suit you better.
Can I order just one, for the passenger side?
Yes. Driver side and passenger side are separate listings, so order the one you need. Just check you are ordering the correct side, since a pair is one of each, not two of one.
Does it come with a headrest?
Yes, as standard, though you can choose no headrest at the point of order if your build suits it better. A spare headrest is also sold on its own.
What is the difference between this and the GT4 or GT8?
The GT4 and GT8 are fixed back seats, wider than the Sportsman and not handed. They bolt to two patterns, and only the narrower of the two, 291mm x 330mm, is shared with the Sportsman. The Sportsman reclines and is narrower, which is the trade you are making for the extra width room.
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Not sure it will fitSend us your cockpit width before you order
Tell us the car, the width you have to work with, and roughly the driver’s build, and we will tell you plainly whether the Sportsman is the right call. Ring Garreth and Cameron on 0115 9893488.
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