1973 Mach 1 Interior Seat Material Oddity?

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My Car
1973 Q code Mach 1 blue glow C6 auto
1973 Q code Mach 1 blue glow, 4 speed
1973 H code Convertible ivy glow, FMX
Both of my 73 Mach 1's are late production cars (one in late June 1973 and the other in July 1973). Both of them have the Mach 1 interior option. I am trying to figure out why my Mach 1 interior front seat material seems to be different from other Mach 1 interiors I have seen. My Marti report says the seat material is Black Sebring Knit/Levant/Corinthian Vinyl. I understand that the Levant vinyl is a coarse grain vinyl - that matches up with the silver stripe material in the seat. The Corinthian vinyl grain matches the material outside of the silver stripes. Here is where things don't make sense. My car has no signs of the Black Sebring Knit material mentioned in the Marti report in between the silver stripes. Both of may cars have the black Corinthian vinyl material in between the stripes instead. There is no sign of any "knit" material on the front seats at all. Other Mach 1's I have seen have the Sebring knit material in between the stripes on the front seats. Both of my cars have their original seat material. Does anyone else have this type of Mach 1 interior seat material? I am wondering if Ford ran out of Sebring Knit material late in the 73 production run and just substituted Corinthian vinyl instead. If that's the case, I wonder when that occurred (Maybe only affects June and July produced cars?). Here is a photo:

a9pji8.jpg


 
That does not appear correct matetial for the center section. Should be knitted vinyl. It probably was replaced at some point over the years. The seams appear crooked, another clue.

 
That does not appear correct matetial for the center section. Should be knitted vinyl. It probably was replaced at some point over the years. The seams appear crooked, another clue.
It was not replaced - on either car. Like I said, I have two Mach 1's and both have the same material. I got my 4 speed car from the original owner who had plastic seat covers (still in place) installed over the front seats the day he got the car in July 1973. This material is under those plastic seat covers. That is why I said it was the original material in my first post.



Have any pics of the back seats?
Mark - here is a photo of the back seat:

2hrzfnl.jpg


 
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Very odd. There is no documentation that combo ever existed as original equipment that I am aware of. Interesting.

 
You mite wanna pull the back pannel from front seats and see if the tag with the codes are still in place......And you can see if it been put in diffrent or change.

"wondering if Ford ran out of Sebring Knit material late in the 73 production run"

Mine is a late production run too..and still got the knit...But you never know what been orderd or changed...My cousin has a good example of this..He owns a 2001 mach 1..But his interior is diffrent than all mach 1's we seen..Come to find out his got a standerd interior and one of only 50 ordered without mach 1 interior..lol.."Which mach 1 interior was free of charge..but some one must of not liked it and orderd plain..lol

 
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I know you claim they have never been altered or repaired, but how sure are you of that? What is your documentation of originality? Those seat bolsters do not look close to anything the factory would have normally produced, especially the light colored thread in between the bolsters.

It is strange you say you own two 73s with the same seat configuration...

If you take the back cover off the seats, you should be able to examine the inside of the covers and see if they have been altered in some way. Are there extra holes in the material where the hog rings have been off and reattached?

This one is perplexing...

 
You mite wanna pull the back pannel from front seats and see if the tag with the codes are still in place......And you can see if it been put in diffrent or change.

"wondering if Ford ran out of Sebring Knit material late in the 73 production run"

Mine is a late production run too..and still got the knit...But you never know what been orderd or changed...My cousin has a good example of this..He owns a 2001 mach 1..But his interior is diffrent than all mach 1's we seen..Come to find out his got a standerd interior and one of only 50 ordered without mach 1 interior..lol.."Which mach 1 interior was free of charge..but some one must of not liked it and orderd plain..lol
Ford did not bring back the Mach 1 until 2003

 
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OK - I took the seat back off of the drivers seat for a look. I found a metal tag attached to the spring like hyena shows in his photo. The Ford part number on the tag is D3ZB-6564700-AD. Sounds about right for a 1973 Mustang. There is no evidence of extra holes in the vinyl underneath - it all looks quite untouched. I have had this car for 33 years. The car was 7 years old when I got it and there was no evidence that the interior had ever been replaced at that time. It certainly hasn't been touched since.

2eulh94.jpg


Hey Hyena - remember that post of yours from September 2012 about your seat back part number being a 1974 version - I have the same ones on mine! The part number on the seat back is D42B-6561633-AWA. My car was built on July 5th 1973.

xfrdpk.jpg


So - I have two Mach 1's, purchased 32 years apart, originally built within a week of each other, and both with the same interior that seems to be different from anyone else's car. Surely there has to be another one out there like this if I ended up with two.

JBMach - our cars were built on the same day - do you have your original interior that I can compare to?

 
OK - I took the seat back off of the drivers seat for a look. I found a metal tag attached to the spring like hyena shows in his photo. The Ford part number on the tag is D3ZB-6564700-AD. Sounds about right for a 1973 Mustang. There is no evidence of extra holes in the vinyl underneath - it all looks quite untouched. I have had this car for 33 years. The car was 7 years old when I got it and there was no evidence that the interior had ever been replaced at that time. It certainly hasn't been touched since.

2eulh94.jpg


Hey Hyena - remember that post of yours from September 2012 about your seat back part number being a 1974 version - I have the same ones on mine! The part number on the seat back is D42B-6561633-AWA. My car was built on July 5th 1973.

xfrdpk.jpg


So - I have two Mach 1's, purchased 32 years apart, originally built within a week of each other, and both with the same interior that seems to be different from anyone else's car. Surely there has to be another one out there like this if I ended up with two.

JBMach - our cars were built on the same day - do you have your original interior that I can compare to?
wow!! that is too cool...Makes me wonder if my white ones are original to my car..lol...Or maybe both our cars had insurance claims and they was reproduced for our cars maybe? Who knows...But my numbers are the same..One is numbered D42B-6561632-AWA only one numebr off..but i other back is locked up in my car so i have not checked it yet..but one still in my storage room says one number off of yours..lol..and i bet money other one matches yours...Funny thing is..I looked and looked for matching backs like ours with out any luck.

 
D42B = 1974 PINTO part

The seat backs look the same EXCEPT the release lever slot is cut all the way down

 
that seat material looks like the older Repop stuff from the late 1990s before they started to stamp them with the fake comfort weave pattern that the concourse guys went nuts over.

i don't know the history with your car but that seat material isn't original.

the photo of the back of the drivers seat has white plastic clips in addition to the hog rings holding the seat material on.

my original seat material did not have these they just used hog rings to hold the seat material onto the frames.

this would also lead to the seat material being a early replacement covering offered a few years ago.

now most people when they swap the seat covers forget to take the seat badges off the front seats, in your case they did remove the seat badges and place them on the replacement material.

to dig deeper you would need to pull off the seat covers and inspect the area behind the seat badges.

ford originally punched the badge through the vinyl then put a backing plate and hot riveted the badge studs holding it to the backing plate.

when the seat covers are replaced most guys will unthread the material in the center where the badge sits, insert the badge with backing plate then by hand restitch the material. you will be able to see this repair on the backside.

another method is cutting the backing plate popping the rivets out and then you can get away without restitching things but the backing plate will show a repair was done.

cheapest method is they pull the backing plate completely then drill a hole in the studs of the badge and hold it to the seat with a knot, or they glue the badge to the material, but usually it comes off.

they never made reproduction seat covers with the badges so the reproduction will always show a repair behind the badge.

the deal with the tags on the seats:

the tags are part of the seat frames so they never touch those. they are suppose to have the part number and a small piece of sample material attached to them.

sometimes the badge is also painted to the original interior color.

so for example my car is originally red vermillion interior: when i striped my seats down i found the original tags were also painted Red and they had a small piece of vermillion attached to the part number tags.

the tags were also painted red as were my front seat tags and the lower seat frames were also painted red.

I converted my car to black interior

so i took the seat tags off, repainted them black and cut a small piece of extra seat material in black and hog ringed them back onto the seat frames.

I also sand blasted my seat frames repaired cracks and broken springs and spray painted them Black as well.

then i rebuilt the seats back up using musklin and canvas like original I even went as far as recreating the canvas with wire insert supports like original that held the foam in place on the seat bottoms.

took me 3 weekends to rebuild all 3 seats in the car and i used all reproduction parts except for the seat backs and the chrome front seat release levers.

you would swear my seats are original to the car but they are not and a good eye can see the comfort weave is fake as well.

I also replaced all the original red pieces in my interior that were all ruined with new black interior pieces, Don at Ohio sold me the rear quarterpanels that i used.

Also at the time, i did not have the Front metal seat badges on my car, both my originals were long gone, i had finished the front seats and just ignored the missing badges.

5 years later a mustang club member gave me seat badges from seats of old junk, he just cut the badges off the seats so they had original comfortweave material behind them.

i did nothing with them for about a year because i was scared about how to install them. I figured out by carefully cutting the backing plates i could make it really easy and require no stitching, i had both badges installed in less then 3 hours.

So it was kind of funny that it took me like 6 years to finish my front seats.

but now if you pull my seats out , the tags even look correct on the surface, unless you read the part number, which states they are suppose to be red vermillion :D

 
D42B = 1974 PINTO part

The seat backs look the same EXCEPT the release lever slot is cut all the way down
aww that must be it..Still makes me wonder if ford just stuck them on cause they ran out of parts..Being both our stangs are late stangs..and both got the same pinto back seat year...maybe they ran out of parts and car was still under warranty and figured no one would tell the diffrence;)

Mustang 2's must of got a diffrent front seat than a pinto? Cause my 74 mach 1 rear seat pannels are not even close to the same.

 
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that seat material looks like the older Repop stuff from the late 1990s before they started to stamp them with the fake comfort weave pattern that the concourse guys went nuts over.

i don't know the history with your car but that seat material isn't original.

the photo of the back of the drivers seat has white plastic clips in addition to the hog rings holding the seat material on.

my original seat material did not have these they just used hog rings to hold the seat material onto the frames.

this would also lead to the seat material being a early replacement covering offered a few years ago.

now most people when they swap the seat covers forget to take the seat badges off the front seats, in your case they did remove the seat badges and place them on the replacement material.

to dig deeper you would need to pull off the seat covers and inspect the area behind the seat badges.

ford originally punched the badge through the vinyl then put a backing plate and hot riveted the badge studs holding it to the backing plate.

when the seat covers are replaced most guys will unthread the material in the center where the badge sits, insert the badge with backing plate then by hand restitch the material. you will be able to see this repair on the backside.

another method is cutting the backing plate popping the rivets out and then you can get away without restitching things but the backing plate will show a repair was done.

cheapest method is they pull the backing plate completely then drill a hole in the studs of the badge and hold it to the seat with a knot, or they glue the badge to the material, but usually it comes off.

they never made reproduction seat covers with the badges so the reproduction will always show a repair behind the badge.

the deal with the tags on the seats:

the tags are part of the seat frames so they never touch those. they are suppose to have the part number and a small piece of sample material attached to them.

sometimes the badge is also painted to the original interior color.

so for example my car is originally red vermillion interior: when i striped my seats down i found the original tags were also painted Red and they had a small piece of vermillion attached to the part number tags.

the tags were also painted red as were my front seat tags and the lower seat frames were also painted red.

I converted my car to black interior

so i took the seat tags off, repainted them black and cut a small piece of extra seat material in black and hog ringed them back onto the seat frames.

I also sand blasted my seat frames repaired cracks and broken springs and spray painted them Black as well.

then i rebuilt the seats back up using musklin and canvas like original I even went as far as recreating the canvas with wire insert supports like original that held the foam in place on the seat bottoms.

took me 3 weekends to rebuild all 3 seats in the car and i used all reproduction parts except for the seat backs and the chrome front seat release levers.

you would swear my seats are original to the car but they are not and a good eye can see the comfort weave is fake as well.

I also replaced all the original red pieces in my interior that were all ruined with new black interior pieces, Don at Ohio sold me the rear quarterpanels that i used.

Also at the time, i did not have the Front metal seat badges on my car, both my originals were long gone, i had finished the front seats and just ignored the missing badges.

5 years later a mustang club member gave me seat badges from seats of old junk, he just cut the badges off the seats so they had original comfortweave material behind them.

i did nothing with them for about a year because i was scared about how to install them. I figured out by carefully cutting the backing plates i could make it really easy and require no stitching, i had both badges installed in less then 3 hours.

So it was kind of funny that it took me like 6 years to finish my front seats.

but now if you pull my seats out , the tags even look correct on the surface, unless you read the part number, which states they are suppose to be red vermillion :D

72HCode - thanks for all of the information on seats. I appreciate you taking the time to respond and I respect your opinion. I am going to have to disagree with you on this though. You say that my seats were replaced with some late 1990's repop material. Since I have had the car since 1980, the seat material would have had to have been replaced in 1979 or earlier. I can't imagine someone ripping out all of the upholstery on a six year old car and that's assuming replacement material was available at that time. Either it was replaced prior to 1980 or someone broke into my garage in the late 1990s and reupholstered my seats with repop material without me knowing about it. The fact that I have another Mach 1 (6/30/73 build) that I purchased from the original owner with 53K miles with the exact same seat material (and still has the plastic seat covers installed in July 1973 leads me to believe that these cars came from the factory this way.

jb73Mach has a car that was built on the same day mine was (7/5/73). A quick look at his garage indicates that he also has the same type of seats that I do. Maybe we all had the same re-upholsterer:shrug2:

http://www.7173mustangs.com/xthreads_attach.php/2060_1353555717_6f91ba3b/6c72dbe1757c3a1f1df834f474e42d99/IMG_2464.JPG

 
or could of been replaced early on. comfort weave would split.

take the covers off the seats and start looking for out of factory work on the covers it would confirm what it is.

anybody could of come along and either replaced the comfort weave or replaced the covers.

any upholster could of done the work as well, would need to start taking the seats apart to learn more.

look for the Rod inserts in the seats covers being missing, or if you spot multiple hog ring holes , without hog rings, in the material then you know those covers had been removed before, then reinstalled.

could of been a outsourced ford licensed replacement seat covers.

possible Dealer option for Leather inserts. Dealers would do all kinds of things in the way of aftermarket options to make a sale.

just offering possibilities.

 
Have you tried to contact the original owner and see if he remembers anything about the seats?

With multiple cars having close build dates with the same covers appears to me Ford had a parts/material shortage or issue with the seat covers that should have been used. I work at Ford and have seen this happen over the years. They will do what they can to get the cars out the door.

How close were your cars built to the end of the years run?

 
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Mine was built june of 73 also and it has the comfortweave.
If you can..Pull your rear seat pannel and check the numbers for me ;) Be neat to see if you got mustang rear seat pannel..Or a pinto number like mine...Im starting to wonder if alot of late models got pinto rear seat covers...Or maybe just some? Find it a bit odd another late mustang showed up built around the same time with the same pinto rear seat pannel..Which are rarer than mustang pannels to find on ebay..lol

 
How could a smaller Pinto-sourced rear seat panel be fitted into a Mustang from the factory?

 
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