Geez what is with the prejudice against bench seats

My Barracuda had a bench seat from the factory. But I found correct buckets in the junkyard and put them in when I first got it, and used the mint bench as a couch in my apartment. Then a neighbor talked me out of the bench -- he needed it for his car. Years later I started looking for another split bench with armrest, since I decided the column shift looked lame with the buckets, and they desperately needed reupholstering. I couldn't find one anywhere local, and nobody wanted to ship the monster. I finally ran into a guy at a show that had just finished a restomod -- he had had the bench recovered, then changed his mind and put in buckets. So I bought his newly restored bench for his cost (which was considerable -- it was a big-budget project).

But here's what I found out -- with beaten-down factory buckets, even though I'm 6' 1", I could have worn a ten gallon hat when driving. With a brand new overstuffed bench seat, my hair is grazing the headliner with the seat all the way back. That is not acceptable. I fabbed up some adapters to move the seat tracks 3-1/2 inches back, but I think I'm going to have to take it back to the same upholstery shop and have them take some stuffing out, because it's only going to be maybe 3/4 inch lower -- it's hard to drive when your eyes are level with the rearview mirror -- it blocks a huge swath of your vision. I haven't installed the adapters yet because the car went to the body shop while they were in progress.

I am 5`5". When I started driving my Dart I could not understand why I could not reach the peddles very well even with the seat all the way forward.

Then I got to thinking. The guy I got it from was 6'9". So I looked under the seat and sure enough he had some spacers under the front mounts to kick the seat back and give him more head and leg room.