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Author
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Topic: Quality parts/ what brands?
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David
Journeyman Posts: 36
From: CA
Registered: Dec 2001
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posted 12-20-2001 11:47 PM
   
Hey everybody.
Getting ready to suck down the eggnog(rum)yet?
Q: I need to buy interior parts for my car and wondering what company to use and who to stay clear of...any suggestions?
Q: Can anyone reccomend a book for correctness and originality? Thanks------------------
65 GT Fastback(original owner car)
65 2+2 Fastback
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mellowyellow
Gearhead Posts: 5518
From: So. Fl.
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 12-21-2001 12:29 AM
The major mfrs of seat covers, door panels are Distinctive and TMI. I prefer Distinctive but many will say TMI. THe best carpet is Auto Custom Carpet, sold by most dealers. Paint for your particular interior is available from all the Mustang Parts dealers. Unless you have the Pony interior in your 65, there is only one shade per car. Reading MMonthly will give you colors on cars featured. M&M member cars may be of some help. There are some publications that show interiors, too. What color are you interested in?
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71RESTO
Gearhead Posts: 1252
From: Oregon, USA
Registered: Oct 2000
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posted 12-21-2001 12:30 AM
Howdy David,
As for interior parts, are you looking for upholstery, door panels, etc. or are you looking for trim items and are you wondering about manufacturer names or parts houses to contact?
Seeing as how you are in the LA area (correct?) you're best bet is to get ahold of National Parts Depot in Ventura or Mustangs Plus in Stockton. Both will have almost anything you need. If you are looking for upholstery, stick with TMI manufactured products.------------------
Duane
71 Fastback (his) under resto (351C-4V C6 auto)
73 Mach 1 (hers) (351CJ 4 speed)
66 289/2V coupe (daughter Ashley's)
89 LX 2.3 convertible (daughter Amanda's)
M & M Member #730
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David
Journeyman Posts: 36
From: CA
Registered: Dec 2001
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posted 12-21-2001 01:14 AM
the color is black (easy enough)and yeah basicly all upholstery. Dash pad, carpet, seats, door pnls.,etc. I have tried N.P.D. but found certain parts leave alot to be desired. So I guess I would be interested in manufactures as well as parts houses. I really want to stay with parts that will pass in a show. Some pieces are afordable NOS but some you have to give your first born (in some cases that would be plausable)
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mellowyellow
Gearhead Posts: 5518
From: So. Fl.
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 12-21-2001 08:13 AM
Sometime back, MMonthly did a comparison with NOS 65 door panels and repos. I'll take the repo, thank you very much!! Repo has more padding. You'd have to be in thoroughbred concours to be looking for that stuff. FOr driven or even trailered concours, doubt if you would have a problem with repo interior parts. A fresh black interior is sharp. The new dashpads are now available-made with orig. Ford molds. Some of the repo dash bezels are not too good. You should be able to have a nice interior with repo parts. Sure you'll get more feedback.
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71RESTO
Gearhead Posts: 1252
From: Oregon, USA
Registered: Oct 2000
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posted 12-21-2001 08:35 AM
David,
For upholstery stick to TMI (MCA approved), for dash pads try Dashes Direct, for door panels try Auto Crafters (they have high quality reproductions) and for carpeting stick to ACC (Auto Custom Carpets). These are all the finest quality reproductions. Call your local Mustang Parts supplier and find out who his products are made by and if not one of the above try another.
In Southern California try Larry's in Anaheim or The Paddock in Redlands (if not satisfied with NPD). If all else fails call Virginia Mustang, they always have the best stuff and are very helpful, but you'll have to pay shipping.
Good Luck!!! ------------------
Duane
71 Fastback (his) under resto (351C-4V C6 auto)
73 Mach 1 (hers) (351CJ 4 speed)
66 289/2V coupe (daughter Ashley's)
89 LX 2.3 convertible (daughter Amanda's)
M & M Member #730
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RICKS
Gearhead Posts: 213
From: Ocala, FL
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 12-21-2001 09:17 AM
All good advice, the repro interior stuff really is nice, there's no real need to hunt n.o.s. except for maybe the gauge bezel and scuff plates. And the bezel is a real coin-toss, because the quality of the original Ford bezels varies WILDLY. Each production run that was done for Ford (they outsource everything you realize) over the past 30 + years is different in detail and plating quality, and the quality also varies from box to box within a single production run. I've got a dozen obsolete n.o.s. Ford '68 deluxe woodgrain bezels sitting here with the woodgrain shrinking and lifting up BADLY at all the corners and holes. Luckily I got them as part of a bulk purchase of material from Ford, because they're relatively worthless fresh out of the box. Also, 50% of most Ford bezels have a flaw or noticeable blemish in the plastic chrome, or scratch or blemish in the black paint. So you see, some original Ford parts can be very slap-dash, and some are lousy quality compared to repro. Plated mirrors and bezels and emblems for instance are FAR nicer in repro than the ones in Ford boxes. It's just a matter of "purity" of the direction you want to go with your restoration. Anyways, I always end up sifting through a dozen Ford bezels to come up with the best one to go on one of my cars. Last time we looked at Distinctive '65 upholstery, they had the incorrect amount of pleats in the inserts of the seats. TMI is MCA approved, which always helps for showing purposes (I think, although MCA doesn't really have the slightest idea what they've approved and what they haven't due to poor record keeping, nudge-nudge-wink). Lastly, I would love to know what parts exactly left "alot to be desired". In many cases there are repros that are poor quality, but..... many times they are the ONLY repro available to ALL suppliers. It's that, or your old beat up and broken piece. In those cases we carry what we must and we lean on other manufacturers to produce a better competitive piece. But maybe the items you were dissatisfied with do not fall under that catagory, so I would like to know. None of the Mustang parts retailers are manufacturers, a huge misconception by many consumers. We strive to carry the finest quality "available", but sometimes what's available isn't all you wish it would be. We keep the pressure on, and our eyes open, and as soon as a better piece is offered to us, we switch. If the price is considerably higher, then we carry both, retaining the cheaper reproduction for our daily-driver-starving-student clients who are much more "function-over-form" by necessity, than the restoration/club set. Anyhow, that's my spiel for today. Hope everybody is enjoying the Season!
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David
Journeyman Posts: 36
From: CA
Registered: Dec 2001
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posted 12-21-2001 10:26 AM
the parts I had a problem were the exhaust trumets on my GT. opened up one box and the product looked very nice, opened the other and the same(nice) but put them together and they were made from different people slates and spacing were different. Also their "best" repo mirrors were awful. The bead of rubber holding in the mirror wwas coming out and the chrome was very poor. But don't get mee wrong. I have bought alot other stuff that is just fine.
This time I'm just looking for the best for my money spent.
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mellowyellow
Gearhead Posts: 5518
From: So. Fl.
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 12-21-2001 11:51 AM
I've always done pony interior on 65-6 and have the correct # of pleats and on my 68 stuff. My deal with TMI was getting a box of their seat covers, taking them to the trim man to put them on and....NO LISTING!! NO PLACE FOR THE WIRE. I used to use Colomco 'til they got out of the Mustang market. I liked them. Still have a pair of new Colomco dark red door panels in standard for 68. Chrome on mirrors {Pro} is terrible. GT light bezels, also. Also, grille surround mldgs. for 68, Lot of the other stuff is good. What's the best quality deal on bumpers, these days??
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RICKS
Gearhead Posts: 213
From: Ocala, FL
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 12-21-2001 04:56 PM
Well, your bad experiences all revolve around what USED to be Pro Products. Ed Neumann (the former owner of Pro) had stepped away from his business a bit, allowing employees to run it, and things got really weird. What had traditionally been a company known for outstanding quality U.S. made product soon was faced with plating issues (Ed's manager completely abandoned Ed's tried & true plating process, and had allowed the plating to be done using a cheaper procedure) and all sorts of other quality issues. Serious mis-management. The mirrors used to be like jewelry and well-built, but then things just got bad. Ed tried hard to jump back in and straighten things out, but he ran out of cash and gave up way to much market share to Drake before he could turn the queen mary around. So he basically folded and sold his tooling to Scott Drake. How a mismatched set of trumpets got to us from Pro is a mystery I can't answer. They're bought by us in pairs and sold as pairs. If they were mismatched, that's the way we got them. If you ever get an item that is defective, blemished, or below your standards, we'll gladly take them back for exchange or refund. But we try not to break into the factory packaging before shipping items to customers. That's nothing but a good way for hardware to get lost, parts to get dropped on the ground, and for you to receive a box full of "supposedly" new parts that look more like they came from a yard sale. If you unwrap a new part out of the package, and there's any type of problem, THEN we'll get it back and be certain to inspect the part we exchange it with to ensure you don't get burnt twice. But it's a rare occurance. Maybe one in 5,000 items comes back defective or blemished from a customer. Yes, Colamco was the best, but unfortunately, that's history. No listings?? I assure you that was a total fluke. The repro grille moldings are made by only ONE manufacturer overseas, Corvex, they currently have the monopoly on moldings, very difficult to convince them to spend thousands re-tooling items when they sell so incredibly well as they are. Best DEAL on bumpers, as in best value for the $$ has ALWAYS been and continues to be Nordan. A fantastic bumper for the lousy $83.95 they cost (that is peanuts for a chrome bumper, if you've paid to have any plating done lately). No, the chrome is not concours quality, but it's a great "value" and that's what the vast majority of the Mustang market really is looking for. For a concours resto, only a TRUE original Ford bumper (i.e. not a Ford service bumper, which are trash) sent off to a quality plater for show plating will do. Plan on a $400-$500 bill per bumper. We spent over $4,000 on plating alone having a '63 Impala SS409 restored recently.....Ouch!!!!!!
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RICKS
Gearhead Posts: 213
From: Ocala, FL
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 12-21-2001 04:59 PM
Time for me to get my X-mas shopping done. Hope everyone has a relaxing and great Holiday!!
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SteveLaRiviere
Administrator Posts: 30756
From: Saco, Maine
Registered: May 99
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posted 12-21-2001 06:23 PM
Rick, thanks for the insight. I always find it interesting hearing things from the other side of the counter. Happy Holidays! ------------------
'70 Mustang Mach 1 M code 351C 4V/FMX/3.25 open
'72 Mustang Sprint Coupe 351C 4V/FMX/4.30 Trac Lok
'94 F-150 XL 5.8L/E4OD/3.55 Limited Slip
'97 Probe GTS 2.5L DOHC
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David
Journeyman Posts: 36
From: CA
Registered: Dec 2001
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posted 12-21-2001 08:18 PM
thanks "Ricks", I agree I did not have a problem on returning the product and getting a satisfacory set at all. Very good customer skills. Don't know if I should feel better that I was the 1 in 5000? Maybe I'll go buy a lottery ticket.
Speaking of Scott Drake though I ran into a problem with the fender letters "MUSTANG". Take in account this is an original owner, original fender. When the letters were installed they came out crooked. The pins in the letters were off a little?
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