Cars that an upright will fit in

[dirk]

Hello,
I'm interested to know if you any of you guys drive a car, and if so do you trasport your upright in it. I had an SUV but it got wrecked, so I'm trying to find a car that my upright will fit in. Obviously I'll have to get a car with a folding back seat, so I can put the body of the bass in the trunk and the neck protruding into the back seat. I know that the Honda Civics and Accords have the option but is this safe? Does anyone else do it? Or should I just get a truck/SUV?

Dirk

[Monte]

I'm in the same situation as you. Until 2 weeks ago, I had a Ford Explorer, that is now in a junkyard after an encounter with an idiot who thought the right lane of I-44 in Oklahoma City was an acceptable parking spot.........

Anyway, I used to do the neck between the seats thing with a Dodge Colt hatchback, and if you can see out the passenger side mirror, it is perfectly safe. I prefer not to do this method any more, and I just bought a '98 Volvo V70 wagon that does the job nicely, with more room than you will likely need. Honda Accord's and Toyota Camry's came in the wagon form, but they can be hard to find without a million miles on them.

My personal opinion is that you can fit a bass in any vehicle known to man. First, decide how much you carry your bass. For me, unloading and loading a bass more than 5 times a week meant that I prefer something EASY to get it in and out of. This is why I didn't look at minivans; the seats are too much of a pain to deal with on a regular basis, and why I don't mess with sedans; too much manipulation to get it in and out. With my former Explorer and now the Volvo, two small easy moves lay the seat flat, throw in the gear, and I'm off.

Monte

[Chris Fitzgerald]

This thread - although littered with a fair amount of Plankage - should give you some good lunchtime reading:

your ride?

[Mike Goodbar]

Check out:

your ride?

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Originally posted by MIKEY WAY
Check out:

your ride?

Two crusty old minds with a single thought!

[Hortense&bow]

Any (even very small) hatchback car will do, with back seats that are easy to fold down. The neck of the bass sticking out over the passenger seast or better between the two front seats. A small hatchback is much more convenient than a big sedan where you might have to put the bass in the front passenger seat.
I have used a Pontiac Firefly (Suzuki swift), Peugeot 104, 205.Good luck.
Patrick.

[Bob Gollihur]

Surrender and buy a van (or wagon)!!

I've been thru a 62 Ford Falcon wagon, 70 Opel Wagon, 68 Volkswagen Bus, 79 Ford Fairmont wagon, 82 Ford Econoline, 92 Ford Aerostar, and now a 00 Honda Odessey. The Honda rules, good mileage and pickup for such a big box, comfortable car-like ride and handling, and it will carry a whole lot of bass and PA stuff, not to mention a 4x8 sheet of plywood or 10' 2x4.

[Andrew Noury]

A Hearse. :)

[dcardon]

My bass fits perfectly in my '99 VW Golf... I bought it primarily for this reason (secondary reason: f***ing cool dashboard lights). You can even get a back seat passenger in - the back seat is 2/3 split - if you only fold the wider side of the seat down. Depending on the size of your bass (mine is almost a 7/8), the neck will protrude into the front cabin about 1'. VW hasn't changed the basic design of the '00, '01, or '02 models, so I'm sure they'll work just as well.

[arnoldschnitzer]

I've gotten 3 basses in my Ford Focus ZX3 hatchback. (One had no bridge on it) By the way, the car's for sale cuz my wife needs a pickup truck...(don't ask)

[dhosek]

I get around just fine with a Dodge Spirit. Fold down the passenger seat and slide it all the way back and the bass fits in fine. It's also been in the Saturn 4 door, a Volvo convertible and a host of other cars. I'm leaning towards a civic hybrid as my next car.

-dh

[superjew]

Saab 9000 hatchback

You can even fit a bass with its flight case in that car (just did that last month)! there's so much room in there.

The smallest car i ever put my bass in was a Fiat 500 (Cinquecento). A really small but wonderful car.

BTW this is my first post here. Hello everybody!

Sharon

[Jeff Bollbach]

I mentioned it once before in a similar thread- but I was able to get 3 db's in my friend Paul Nowinski's Saab. The Saab must have been designed by a bass player!

[Don P]

I put three also in a Pacer! My current 740 Volvo wagon can also handle three, even a hard case without moving the seats up ,all Volvo's can handle bass rigs even 122' & 240 sedans. The trick there is to load the bass endpin first to the back.

[jaybo]

My half size bass is a no go in my 2 door cavalier. It would probably fit if I took the bridge off but that's not usually very practical. I have to borrow my girlfriends corolla and it still doesn't fit too well. Teachers should go over proper bass loading into small cars.

[Wil Davis]

Originally posted by jaybo
My half size bass is a no go in my 2 door cavalier. It would probably fit if I took the bridge off but that's not usually very practical. I have to borrow my girlfriends corolla and it still doesn't fit too well. Teachers should go over proper bass loading into small cars.

er, um - here it is again (photos in the other thread mentioned earlier, if you want to see what it looks like...)

Toyota Corolla:

Move passenger seat as far forward as it will go, but remove headrest and fully recline seat. The Bass lays on the seat with its scroll in the footwell, and its end-pin facing the rear of the car. The neck and the scroll aren't touching anything, so all the weight of The Bass is on its back. I fasten the seat-belt across the bass to stop it sliding forwards. This method works for three-quarter sized basses - I don't know how it would be for larger basses.

- Wil

PS: If it's sunny, I put a couple of large white towels over The Bass to stop it getting hot in the car (black case getting very HOT = very BAD for The Bass)

[MEP]

I am buying a Toyota Matrix and it will hold my upright just fine.

The problem with trying to use the trunk and get the bass neck to go in the cabin is that there is usually too small of a passageway between the trunk and the cabin. I had a Honda Accord and could make it fit in the cabin but it was a pain.

[Blackbird]

I have a 4 door Honda Civic. The bass fits in without much trouble. The only problem is that it'll lurch forward if I stop abruptly, setting the transmission(?) on neutral.

[BigWig Will]

I know this is a little off the subject, but I find this bass pretty cool.

[BigWig Will]

And a demonstration pic.