Ok, it's getting on for time to put the T-Bird to sleep for the winter, and when it wakes up in Spring I'd like to surprise it with some upgrades. I can't seem to find anything locally, perhaps somebody east of Montreal may stumble across this plea and have what I need:
- Red TC cloth front seats in good condition (no tears). XR7 or '88 Sport seats will do as well. Power or not, it doesn't matter. I may want the back seat too if the pattern doesn't match my current one. If you have red leather I may want that as well, as long as you have front and rear and there are no tears. I may also take a set of the two-tone dark grey/light grey seats as a last resort.
- TC header panel and inner lights. Bumper cover not required, but if you have one I may take it. Hood too.
- TC front spindles, rotors, calipers, etc
- TC rear axle
Ideally, if somebody has a complete TC that they're junking I would be interested in that, as long as the parts noted above are good. Drivetrain and body do not matter, so long as the seats, header panel, front susp and rear axle are intact.
I'm curious, what would you plan on doing with red seats? Most that I know of would need to be reupholstered anyways so color wouldn't matter. Dirt or sun bleaching really damage the looks of the seats. Know something I don't about restoring the color without new fabric?
On a side note, I had mine out over the last 2 days and shampooed them and the carpet. Seats look the same but a ton of dirt came out. Carpet looks brand new. Also found a quarter in the motorized track and a thick pen torn to shreds (explains why the motor sounded like it was struggling at the end of the track).
I would re-dye them. I did it successfully before in my old Sport, and I've got two cans of dye waiting for a new set. If I got the two-tone grey/light grey seats I would dye the light grey sections red. I figure the two-tone red/grey seats would match my (factory) two-tone red/grey dash well enough to get away with it.
The ripped driver's seat in my '88 T-Bird is driving me insane. It is literally the only noticeable blemish on the whole ed car (a small crack by the left dash speaker being the other blemish, but it's not noticeable). A seat cover would cover it but I have yet to see a set of decent quality seat covers. Of all of the parts I listed above, the seats would be the parts I most desire. Heck, I'd even take a good red base 87-88 Thunderbird (non-sport/TC/XR7) driver's seat back (upholstry only, frame or foam not needed) if I could find one...
just a red dye? How close it is to the factory color? What I'm curious about is if there's some way to get the seats to a "brilliant" white/light red and redye them to factory color. Would sure beat having them reupholstered with something that doesn't look as good as the factory's job (which surprisingly is good compared to some reupholstered seats I've seen). The back seat would redye well (mainly at the heads) but I'm unsure on the driver's/passenger seat as they're a bit...well, dull in color.
My driver's seat is busted on the right hand side though and I think the fabric has to come off to try to repair it. It leans back further (inch overall or so) than the rest of the seat, but only noticeable when sitting in it. I think I should just look for a replacement red seat around washington/oregon
Were you looking for me? :evilgrin: :giggle: :giggle:
What you want me to do to help?
Check for those parts and list you where they r or do I need to get them?
PM me....
If you could find 'em it'd be great :bowdown:. I have aaccess to a half-ton with a cap, so I could pick 'em up. If you could find a whole TC for cheap with good parts I'd look at that too, of course.
No Problem... ill give em a call....
What Yr should I look at? 87-88 only?
NovaScotia is quite a ride from here.... What is it? 8-9hr? :shoothead
You surely love your TC...
Carmen: I have a set of inner lights available for $40 plus shipping. They are in pretty decent shape, not fogged up or all sand blasted, the studs are intact and also in good shape. I have a header panel also, but shipping something that large from the states would probably be too costly. Post here or email me: gtbird50@yahoo.com if you're interested in the lights.
Rick
Hey Carmen, I fell asleep here. I may be getting a set of black vinyl tuck and roll seat covers for my car, but am still unsure of which seats they fit. I know a guy who stripped a t/c and put the engine in to a hot rod to run at the salt flats and he kept the red cloth seats (just fronts I believe) since they were in really good shape.
So basically what I'm getting at is if I can use the seats and I'm re-covering them, I can send you the covers if they're as good as I'm told they are. Somehow I don't think you'd want to ship a set of seats from MA to where you are.
Crystal, that'd be great. I know they wouldn't fit my base seats but they'd certainly open up my options for finding TC seats since the color wouldn't matter. I would much appreciate it!!!
I'll see what's up with everything as soon as I can, and considering the holiday, that's probably next week.
What US state are you closest to? Depending, I may be able to bring something up your way.
I'm a 5 or 6 hour drive from eastern ME. I'm one of the few Canadians who don't live within 100 miles of the US border.
When I was kid I used to go on family vacations all over the eastern US (ME, VT, NH, MA, upstate NY)
Eh, it figures. I think the top of ME is like 4 hours from me. I guess I'll see what's what and get back to you. If you don't mind the drive, I could probably meet you around there somewhere If I need to move anything heavy.
Sorry, Rick, I didn't even notice your post! I'll have to let you know on the lights - I have gotta find a header panel before I commit to lights (who knows, the header panel may even include 'em!)