1973 Mach 1 Interior Seat Material Oddity?

[Steve73QMach1]

Mine is also two digit GA (black). The build sheet does have an A in position 26 of Row A (at least as far as I can tell because the sheet is in very bad condition). Maybe that was the only indication?.

Hi JB - First, let me say a big Thank You for following up with Ford on these seats. It is great to have some confirmation that this seat configuration is what was produced at Ford on the very last of the first generation Mach 1's. Like yours and jbojos car, both of my cars have two digit trim codes (GA). I wonder if they meant that an "A" was added to the seat part number as a suffix? My seat has this tag:

Below the Ford part number is another number that may be a vendor number SK-168-3-A. Maybe that A on the end is the "A" they reference?

At any rate, I couldn't be happier with this information A big thank you to all who contributed to the eventual outcome of this thread. I certainly learned a lot about seats and gained some insight as to what may have been happening in Dearborn at the end of Mustang production. One last thing - this forum is awesome! What a valuable resource for the cars we love.

 

[Don65Stang]

Awesome work guys!

 

[hyena429]

Mine is also two digit GA (black). The build sheet does have an A in position 26 of Row A (at least as far as I can tell because the sheet is in very bad condition). Maybe that was the only indication?.

Hi JB - First, let me say a big Thank You for following up with Ford on these seats. It is great to have some confirmation that this seat configuration is what was produced at Ford on the very last of the first generation Mach 1's. Like yours and jbojos car, both of my cars have two digit trim codes (GA). I wonder if they meant that an "A" was added to the seat part number as a suffix? My seat has this tag:

Below the Ford part number is another number that may be a vendor number SK-168-3-A. Maybe that A on the end is the "A" they reference?

At any rate, I couldn't be happier with this information A big thank you to all who contributed to the eventual outcome of this thread. I certainly learned a lot about seats and gained some insight as to what may have been happening in Dearborn at the end of Mustang production. One last thing - this forum is awesome! What a valuable resource for the cars we love.

I will check my seat tags in the morning and see if i got the same A on them...Plus when John checks his too..Hopefully see if his tag matches my tag..Sence we both got white intrerior mach 1's and close to the same build time. Big thanks to JB {Thumbs up} Glad we did not give up..Even with some nay sayers saying impossible..but that is what this Forum is about...Do not have to take the first anser as proof positive.

 

[HighOctane]

I will check my seat tags this weekend to see if I have the A also.

 

[jbojo]

So I went to storage today to get the info off the seats.

Tag on back seat DZB-63613A38-A

Panel on passenger seat D42B-6561632-AWA

Mike (hyena429 ) You can see on the back panel it does not have the piece across the bottom where the seat release lever is at. Let me know if you need anything else.

-jbojo

Seems a little odd..But not that odd nor impossible....Cause april, june kinda little late for 73 production...And i bet they was getting ready for 74 pinto which was a hot market at the time... pinto was in full swing sence 71 and was not going to end till 80..Im bet they was well stocked in Pinto parts compared too 71-73 parts by the end...And 1974 was the biggest production year for pinto.. "1974 saw the most Pintos produced in a single model year with 544,209 units"..Could mean alot of spares..lol

Im having a hard time finding a pinto back seat pannel to compare...Picture or anything..Seems to be rarer than our stang seats pannels..lol

You don't have to find anything

Your seat back has part number

D42B-xxxxxxxx-xx some have D$2B as they held the shift button

D42B = Pinto

D3ZZ = Mustang

By this I have the Pinto seat panel.

-jbojo

 

[hyena429]

Wow!! That confirms it too me..I know you rolled your car new from the dealership...And with the same funky rear seat pannels...Thanks alot John!!..I think the seat pannels are kinda a clue to who has vinyl seats...And both our cars were built not far apart with same white interior...And my seat code just about the same besides serial number..But has the same 8-A{or 4} hehe on end...Maybe we can contact with Ford again...Marti mite of heard about this too..But i know alot of parts guys on here have not....i had so many restore guys say those pannels are not original....When i think they rolled out of the factory with them on late model 73's.

 

[Steve73QMach1]

I would like to get some additional data to figure out when the all vinyl Mach 1 seat material usage actually started. So far, we have the following cars/build dates confirmed:

jb73mach - black interior, build date 7/5/73


HighOctane - ginger interior, build date 7/3/73


jbojo - white interior, build date 6/28/73 (original owner)


Steve73QMach1 - black interior, build date 7/5/73


Steve 73QMach1 - black interior, build date 6/29/73

My theory is that the all vinyl Mach 1 seats started in late June and lasted until the end of production (somewhere around 7/6/73). If you have a 1973 Mach 1 that had a build date after May 30, 1973 and you have original Mach 1 sport seats, I would like to hear from you on what material you have and what seat backs you have. I think that all of the non-comfortweave cars probably have the D42B seat backs simply because they were late in the production run. Based on input I have heard so far, I think the use of the D42B seat backs started before the all vinyl interiors. Four of the five cars listed above have the D42B seats and the fifth (HighOctane) might - just haven't heard yet. I will update the list I have above with new info as I get it. The eventual goal here is to determine what percentage of 1973 Mach 1 sports interior equipped cars got the all vinyl interiors (5%, 0.5%?)

 

[hyena429]

When i first posted about the D42B seat pannels..I was told they was non original. http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-calling-all-71-73-mustang-decoders-another-mystery-too-my-car?highlight=seat+pannel ..The guy i got my car from said they was original and he replaced what he called the "funky white interior" with black comfortweave skin....Left original seats just recovered them ..They could be the same vinyl seats....Im going to have to ask him..But even if i do..i guess it is his word i have to trust against the norm...He was right on the back pannels being orginal thou..lol..I have not seen any comfortweave guys stepping forward with D42B pannels on original seats yet...But does not mean they are out there.but up till i posted my back seat pannels last year, you guys are the only ones to post simular pannels...Lets see some pannels...Any normal 73 pannels out there? lol.

Could be 3 diff combo's for our cars.

1: Comfortweave with regular seat pannels.

2: Comfortweave with D42B seat pannels...Could be a rare combo too...When did ford stop using normal pannels with comfortweave? ..How many comfortweave seats got these D42B pannels?

3: Vinyl seats with D42B seat pannels....Again big question..When did it start? ..Did Ford start using D42B pannels with Vinyl seat stangs or a bit before?

Dates we will have to nail down with snooping...Cause we all just guessing....For all we know it could of started early or mid June....Which is still pretty late in production......Some folks could be getting rid of original 73 mustang pannels just cause the code does not match the books, same with vinyl seats...I almost did, thinking these were just replacements.. But after John's seats..I believe they are my original seat pannels like i was told 20 years ago.

 

[72HCODE]

awesome work

 

[Steve73QMach1]

When i first posted about the D42B seat pannels..I was told they was non original. http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-calling-all-71-73-mustang-decoders-another-mystery-too-my-car?highlight=seat+pannel ..The guy i got my car from said they was original and he replaced what he called the "funky white interior" with black comfortweave skin....Left original seats just recovered them ..They could be the same vinyl seats....Im going to have to ask him..But even if i do..i guess it is his word i have to trust against the norm...He was right on the back pannels being orginal thou..lol..I have not seen any comfortweave guys stepping forward with D42B pannels on original seats yet...But does not mean they are out there.but up till i posted my back seat pannels last year, you guys are the only ones to post simular pannels...Lets see some pannels...Any normal 73 pannels out there? lol.

Could be 3 diff combo's for our cars.

1: Comfortweave with regular seat pannels.

2: Comfortweave with D42B seat pannels...Could be a rare combo too...When did ford stop using normal pannels with comfortweave? ..How many comfortweave seats got these D42B pannels?

3: Vinyl seats with D42B seat pannels....Again big question..When did it start? ..Did Ford start using D42B pannels with Vinyl seat stangs or a bit before?

Dates we will have to nail down with snooping...Cause we all just guessing....For all we know it could of started early or mid June....Which is still pretty late in production......Some folks could be getting rid of original 73 mustang pannels just cause the code does not match the books, same with vinyl seats...I almost did, thinking these were just replacements.. But after John's seats..I believe they are my original seat pannels like i was told 20 years ago.

Mike - I went up to Ohio Mustang today for a visit with Don. He has a 1973 Grande there with an avocado interior. The Grande was produced in April 1973 and guess what? It has the D42B seatbacks. So this info it is apparent that Ford started using the D42B seatbacks as early as April 1973 and not just on Mach 1's but likely on every car. Now the question is, when was the start date for the D42B seatbacks? So far, we are back to April 1973 for those. I'm pretty sure Comfortweave was still being used in April of 1973 so there are likely D42B and comfortweave combos out there.

 

[jeff8877]

Steve,

My car is a 6/12/73 build with comfortweave so you can start from there and see what you find.

I will check the seatbacks for you and let you know on them.

Jeff

 

[bkdunha]

Congratulations to all and thank you for validating for all to know. Looks like Ford even uses Marti. Just another indication that this forum os the premiere forum for the 71 - 73 bodies. This is only second to the great teamwork we all can accomplish.

 

[mweeps]

I checked Dad's Q Code today and it has comfortweave and I knew that I just wanted to check the build date to see how late it was. It was built in April of 73. Can't get to the door codes on my H Code to check it but it has comfortweave as well and I think it was in February of 73 if memory serves me.

 

[hyena429]

And another question i was thinking... did more popular colors have seat backs longer than others or ran out faster? Cause i dout they just ran out of every color at once...Same with the weave...I dout they ran out of every color of weave right away..Due to other colors being more popular...So this mite be a really hard one to nail the dates down..We mite be able to get close thou....Some color combo's mite still have original seat backs late produced...Just cause they had plenty of stock in that color.

Jeff do you got original seat pannels still? Be interesting to see if you're has some D42B Pannels.

I checked Dad's Q Code today and it has comfortweave and I knew that I just wanted to check the build date to see how late it was. It was built in April of 73. Can't get to the door codes on my H Code to check it but it has comfortweave as well and I think it was in February of 73 if memory serves me.

Check that seat pannel too if you can

 

[OMS]

Here is an interesting one

The april of 73 grande has the D4 seat backs

Metal seat tags inside of the seat say they are D2 frame / seat numbers

 

[mweeps]

Can someone post the Pinto seat back and the Mustang seatback pics in this thread for comparison of the bottoms?

 

[hyena429]

Can someone post the Pinto seat back and the Mustang seatback pics in this thread for comparison of the bottoms?

Sure thing...Green one is regular mustang seat backs...White ones are mine...On the bottom where the release latch should be....There is a tiny bit of plastic on bottom on regular mustang back seat pannels.....On D42B seat backs..This is missing..It is the only way to tell them apart "besides the code inside" that i know of.

 

[mweeps]

Can someone post the Pinto seat back and the Mustang seatback pics in this thread for comparison of the bottoms?

Sure thing...Green one is regular mustang seat backs...White ones are mine...On the bottom where the release latch should be....There is a tiny bit of plastic on bottom on regular mustang back seat pannels.....On D42B seat backs..This is missing..It is the only way to tell them apart "besides the code inside" that i know of.

Thanks!

 

[mweeps]

Look closely at this ad are those the oddball seats?

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/4041852276.html

 

[Steve73QMach1]

Yes! Those are the odd seats. I would love to know the last six digits of the VIN on the car. I'm sure it's a late one.