1971 convert interior pieces

[Pastel Blue]

Seeing more "WTB" adds lately, decided to put one in too.

My car will come home from the shop at then of the month and I get to have fun finishing it mechanically and astechically...

My challenge will be the standard white (1W) vinyl white interior. If you know the AZ sun and heat in the summer, you know what I need to replace on this car's interior....

I will consider everything, especially original standard white interior pieces and I will pay a fair $$ for the right pieces... For me, I took on this challenge of trying to restore this rare vert back to its former glory days knowing the costs involved. Obviously, I would like to keep my expenses in check, but some parts I will have to pay based on rarety, supply and demand. Some parts will wind up being repo, but I would like to put Oem where possible.

Living in Canada presents additional challenges in sourcing parts also.

My goal with this thread is to ask members to put the word out for me to anyone that may have nice '71 interior parts for this car. Putting this rare car back on the road to showcase the '71-3 body style and some of the rare options available back in the day is something I would like to accomplish when all is said and done. This is a car that needs to be finished right. I will never see my money out of it, but that is not why I bought this rare vert.

I admit it, I have that sickness... I prefer to call it passion. Cheers

 

[sdstang]

Seeing more "WTB" adds lately, decided to put one in too.

My car will come home from the shop at then of the month and I get to have fun finishing it mechanically and astechically...

My challenge will be the standard white (1W) vinyl white interior. If you know the AZ sun and heat in the summer, you know what I need to replace on this car's interior....

I will consider everything, especially original standard white interior pieces and I will pay a fair $$ for the right pieces... For me, I took on this challenge of trying to restore this rare vert back to its former glory days knowing the costs involved. Obviously, I would like to keep my expenses in check, but some parts I will have to pay based on rarety, supply and demand. Some parts will wind up being repo, but I would like to put Oem where possible.

Living in Canada presents additional challenges in sourcing parts also.

My goal with this thread is to ask members to put the word out for me to anyone that may have nice '71 interior parts for this car. Putting this rare car back on the road to showcase the '71-3 body style and some of the rare options available back in the day is something I would like to accomplish when all is said and done. This is a car that needs to be finished right. I will never see my money out of it, but that is not why I bought this rare vert.

I admit it, I have that sickness... I prefer to call it passion. Cheers

If your rear interior trim panels are shot they will be very hard to come by. Clean ones that is. Must are chucked up at the top from the sun. Took me forever to find then clean. Vert top bezel is another hard one too. I think the dash repro stuff is pretty good too. With your car you might want to send yours out for new chome and paint. Will cost you about 3X the reproductions ones. I'v been at this for 3 years as I was missing a lot of stuff. Hopefully yours was mostly there.

 

[Austin Vert]

Hi Ken,

I see what you are up against. I restored the interior of my '73 Vert a couple of years ago. I have the white interior same as yours. I can give you some key tips here right now, but if you want to reach out and talk more about what i did, just PM me.

OK - I was kind of fortunate when i bought the car back in 2011. It had the original interior complete. But, the two door cards were shot, along with the two quarter trim panels. The black carpet had faded to some degree.

The great thing was that all the seats were in top condition, along with the dash pad. The dash plastic was ok, except the chrome trim was looking tired with age. I ended up buying new repro door cards, and a new black carpet. Left all the seats as they were, and got the original quarter trims upholstered in a matching white vinyl instead of trying to buy bad fitting new repro ones and respraying them. If your original qtr trims are shot, you will have devil of a job trying to refinish them properly at all.

To finish i went to the expense and trouble of installing a full length center console,with new dress trim, and replaced all the dash trim for new repro stuff. I think the whole thing came up well and looks pretty good.

See my pic -----------



Cheers,

Greg.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

On the seats and well liner it should not be an issue. SMS Upolstery has about any NOS upholstery material you need. They had the exact material for my 73 CW white deluxe woven interior and the white that goes around that. It is either left over material from production or they make new materials. http://www.smsautofabrics.com/

Request a sample online and they will send you a swatch for free and you can compare yourself before purchase.

You can buy the material and send to the company that makes the repo upholstery, name escapes me, and have them sew them up. Other members have done so. They will be exact copies. You can even send the plastic tabs from your originals to reattach them to the new. If you do find some good used I have tried every cleaner know to man and believe it or not lacquer thinner works the best. Use a micro fiber towel and tooth brush to get into the cracks. I works on the door panels and seats as well. I have two cars with the White CW deluxe interior and it was night and day difference after the lacquer thinner and it did not harden the vinyl.

They even had the correct material for the super rare Towne Top removable hard tops I have for 1965 mustang both the exterior vinyl cover and the interior headliner material.

On materials for older cars if they do not have it they have the original looms and will make the material.

The door panels are never out there. I think the only way you can get a good set of deluxe white door panels is for someone to crash a really low mile one like the Ginger interior I got from a one owner that was crashed. I have two near perfect but need two more so I am always looking.

David

 

[Austin Vert]

David,

WARNING! PLEASE USE WITH CAUTION!

You quoted: If you do find some good used I have tried every cleaner know to man and believe it or not lacquer thinner works the best. I have two cars with the White CW deluxe interior and it was night and day difference after the lacquer thinner and it did not harden the vinyl.

What you say here is correct, and is a VERY WELL KEPT SECRET out there, but an even better product to use (very carefully please) is a good leading brand of 2 Pack reducer.(like PPG 2 pack reducer for example) It's solvents are more passive and less stringent than Lacquer thinners are, and therefore are more gentle on the vinyls. I have gotten fantastic cleaning results from using 2 pack reducer on my original white interior seat vinyl only, and it hasn't damaged the vinyl in any way. Always use a white cotton t shirt to carry this out, and don't go overboard with using too much reducer too often. Little is better than more with this product(once a year). I have not tried using 2pack reducer on any other colored vinyls than the white, so i don't know how you would go there. In any case, with any other colors than white, it doesn't make sense to use a heavy, stringent chemical like a 2 pack reducer for cleaning purposes. It's not needed.

Lastly, ALWAYS test a very small out of the way area first to see if your vinyl sheds any color straight away onto your white rag, or softens the vinyl straight away. If that happens to you, STOP using the 2pack reducer straight away. It's not for you. For example, my original factory white seat upholstery responded well to the reducer, but the new repro white door cards i bought, started shedding white color onto my white t shirt straight away. I STOPPED USING THE REDUCER ON MY DOOR CARDS STRAIGHT AWAY.

Use 2 pack reducer only, IF YOU FEEL THE NEED AS YOUR WHITE SEATS ARE THAT BADLY SOILED, to clean your white interior vinyl every now and then,(maybe once a year) not on a regular basis. There are other quality products out there on the market that will clean and protect your vinyl on a ongoing regular basis, AND WON'T HARM THE VINYL. I would never use 2 pack reducer to attempt to clean a white convertible vinyl roof. This 2 pack reducer works very well to clean and bring up white ORIGINAL interior vinyl, but please use it very carefully and not on a regular basis.

I am genuinely warning folks out there that if they try using this 2 pack reducer, please be very careful how you use it. It does bring cleaning results but has the potential to react and damage some types of vinyls. I would hate to see anyone's vinyl end up getting damaged in any way by using either auto thinners/acetones/ g p tinners/ or 2 pack reducers of any description. On that basis, please be careful and act wisely if you choose to use these products. ULTIMATELY, IT'S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!

Greg.

 

[Pastel Blue]

......

 

[sdstang]

Lots of good feedback here, thanks. Just to be clear, my interior is the standard white interior, not the deluxe. This is what makes my car a 1 of 1 car as the other 3 Pastel Blue BB cars had the deluxe interior...

I will post some pictures one day to show you what I am working with. The rear interior 1/4 panels have been cut for speakers and are filthy, but probably could be refurbished to a point. I know these are hens teeth... But I have to find an original set at some point in time. The dash pad is still nice except for the 6" gash caused by years of heat and sun, too bad. Apparently there is a nice pretty authentic repo out there, will investigate.

An interesting fact with my car is that the previous owner removed the front buckets in the 70's and put in Mustang 2 front seats, I kid you not. They have remained since that time until I bought the car last year. They have since been replaced with an original set of '71 bucket seats.

The chrome and stainless will have to be gone through and the header piece looks like it will need some form of restoring. All new seat vinyl for sure, new carpet, door panels, center dash bezel piece (bought the repo seems to be a nice piece), repainting the front dash (have discussed this previously on this board re: charcoal black paint), etc.

It is all doable, the rear 1/4 panels are the key to a successful interior restoration. Thanks

On the 1/4 panels it's not uncommon to find one side in great condition and the other side totally shot. Basically how they would park the car year on end. If you get a chance to buy a pair where one is in really good shape you might want to take advantage of it. If nice full set comes up you can always sell them again.

 

[Austin Vert]

Hi Guys,

If i could chime in here and give my 2 cents worth. Trying to find a nice decent set of original quarter trims in very good nik is like trying to find the holy grail. Really, really don't like your chances, but hey you never know your luck in the big city.

As i said, mine were shot with age (the previous owner kept the car garaged from 1973 to 2009, and they still ended up shot) That's why i went the upholstered look way in the end. The repros were too cheap, thin, bad fitting and nasty as well. Sorry, can't get my hand on any pics right now to prove my point, but my upholstered quarters turned out absolutely gorgeous.I truely think that they look much, much better than the el cheapo colored vinyl used by Ford back then. Shout out if you want pics, and i'll hunt them down.

Greg.

 

[Pastel Blue]

.....

 

[Austin Vert]

Ken,

That trim piece looks reasonable, but tell me, when you scrape your fingernail over the top surface of the top of the trim panel, does it chalk up or go powdery, or shed a powder type dust at all?

If it does, then your in for trouble to try and refinish the panel.Remember, age alone does get to this material even if the car was never in the sun.Also, i found those pics of my upholstered quarter trims - whatcha think? Better than factory i reckon.











Greg.

 

[Pastel Blue]

......

 

[Austin Vert]

Those turned out nice. Another option to consider. The tops of mine are still in pretty good shape, not 100%, 90... I guess if I scraped hard enough there would be some residue , but it is not obvious.

They are filthy and covered in spray bomb...

How would you suggest I try and clean these and prepare for paint? If that doesn't work I could look at the vinyl option.

Q. Your front seat belts, attached to the rear quarters at mid level. For ease of use?

Hi Ken,

If the original surface is powdering to any degree, then trying to apply any paint over that is a problem, because even though you are sealing the very top layer when you apply the paint, underneath that remains soft and unstable. It's like spray painting over quicksand if that could be used an analogy. The more powdery the substrate is, the worse the problem becomes to remedy.

In your case, it appears that a previous owner has spray bombed the trims. That could be acting as a sealer so to speak, and offering some protection to the substrate. But as well, not revealing what condition the substrate is in properly for you to determine what's going on there.

Chemical strippers are completely out of the question. I would try using dry rub sandpaper, say, 320 or 400 grade, and test a small area on the top of the trim, to rub back the spray bomb paint and reveal what's underneath. Once you've sanded through the spray bomb coat, try then to find out what condition the original substrate is in. If it's healthy, you're in for a show to refinish the trims. If not, then you have issues.

Also, your potential problem as well, is you don't know how well the guy that spray bombed the trims, prepared the substrate before he painted them. Paint adhesion is very important, and you don't know how well that paint will end up sticking to the substrate.Trying to sand it all off is a very big job. If you take a gamble and leave his paint on, you may get reaction problems when you come to spray over the paint bomb paint, or, if the adhesion is not good with the spray bomb paint to the original substrate, then any paint you apply might not stay stuck on the trims. It's the old story, once someone has stuffed a job up, trying to come back and remedy the initial stuff up can be a nightmare.

Lastly, my State Government laws insisted i install lap and sash front and rear seat belts when i bought the car. There is only one effective anchor point you can use to tap into for a sound and strong bolt connection. Where you see mine - that's it. Let me know if i can be of any further help Ken.

BTW - Glad you like what i ended up doing. My original trims were powdering badly, especially around the top areas. That was the only way to get around my problem, and i think it's worked out very well.

Greg.

 

[sdstang]

Ken

I would just finish yours for know. The maybe start calling some of the vintage mustang parts places. You don't see the come up on ebay very often. That's how I found one of mine. You might also find someone one the site that maybe doesn't mind the speakers and has a good set of unmolested ones they will trade you for. Plan on $200 a piece minimum. These where the hardest things to find but they are out there. I have a few numbers you can try but you should start a thread to get numbers for car parts people. There a lots of hoarders out there that don't advertise.

jim

Ken

I would just finish yours for know. The maybe start calling some of the vintage mustang parts places. You don't see the come up on ebay very often. That's how I found one of mine. You might also find someone one the site that maybe doesn't mind the speakers and has a good set of unmolested ones they will trade you for. Plan on $200 a piece minimum. These where the hardest things to find but they are out there. I have a few numbers you can try but you should start a thread to get numbers for car parts people. There a lots of hoarders out there that don't advertise.

jim

I just realized that the 71 panels are a 1 year only. 72/73 have seat belt cutouts. I'll PM you a number.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Like everyone is telling you they are going to be one tough find especially without the seat belt slots. I believe I cleaned mine with lacquer thinner and that sometimes will remove paint especially if it was lacquer. TEST ON THE BACK SIDE OF THE PANEL OR HIDDEN SPOT TO SEE IF IT REMOVES THE PAINT. 71 could be a different material.

Now the CONSOLE is different I think ABS plastic and lacquer thinner will eat it up.

This is a tough part to repo. You don't really have a good way to get one scanned to get the 3-D data. They are all warped and twisted. If someone could get the original Ford drawing I might be able to get a friend to draw in 3-D and we could maybe get a temporary mold built. You could roto cast low volumes an injection mold would he huge and expensive even in Taiwan. The grain on the surface of the tool is done in a photo etch process similar to how they make newspaper printing plates.

Then you have the added cost of the model changes might be able to leave the 73 slot out and cut in later.

Without an original drawing or original CAD of the part you are just reproducing a twisted ill fitting panel and that is what the repo is now.

David

 

[Pastel Blue]

.......

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

We are having a heat wave will hit 70 deg. F. today or above. I am working on my 73 rear panels right now. Will spray with satin white but just like yours they have the speaker holes. Convertible with top down needed more speakers for sure.

Where did you find the wind lace for the rear panels? Mine cracked at top and worn.

I have a near perfect set out of a 72 with power windows. The po sanded them with 36 grit to get the vinyl interior material to stick to them. If they had not sanded them there was no chalking or deep scratches just lots of 36 grit marks. I am thinking about covering them again with white it will look better than the scratched up plastic. Not original but not ever going to get into that money pit.

Austin Vert

Do you happen to have the pattern they used for your covered rear panels? I have sewing machine and could play with it until I get one that fits but a pattern would help a lot. The black I took off these was shrunk by the sun and was pulling loose so not a good pattern there.

David

 

[Pastel Blue]

David, NPD for the wind lace.

 

[Austin Vert]

Austin Vert

Do you happen to have the pattern they used for your covered rear panels? I have sewing machine and could play with it until I get one that fits but a pattern would help a lot. The black I took off these was shrunk by the sun and was pulling loose so not a good pattern there.

David

Hi David,

I don't have any patterns myself, as my motor trimmer did all the work. If you want, i could make enquieries with him to see what's what.

Greg.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Austin Vert

Do you happen to have the pattern they used for your covered rear panels? I have sewing machine and could play with it until I get one that fits but a pattern would help a lot. The black I took off these was shrunk by the sun and was pulling loose so not a good pattern there.

David

Hi David,

I don't have any patterns myself, as my motor trimmer did all the work. If you want, i could make enquieries with him to see what's what.

Greg.

Don't spend any time on it but if you are by ask if they have a pattern or did they just cut their own.

David

David, NPD for the wind lace.

Well darn I just placed an order with them yesterday, somehow did not see the wind lace. Finding a crimping stapler to put them back on is next search.

They are close by just 100 miles away is why I use them most times. I also order from Don some. They have the best interior paints & dye I think. I ordered SME paint for console restore yesterday. I use the Krylon Fusion for plastic Satin white #2420 for the rear panels. They come out looking pretty good just all the deep scrapes are still there.

David