Interior Restoration

I remember the day I bought my mustang. it had just about 38K on the clock. It was a stone stock GT/AOD and I loved it. I remember loving how new it felt. It wasn't new but it was new enough for me. Plus at the time, a brand new Mustang GT had the exact same look except for the wheels. My car has always had red interior. it's not the 'porno red' you hear about sometimes, as it is red with black accents. I have seen pics of the that kind of red interior and it's pretty shocking on the eyes.

Fast forward to now. I have had the car a little over 10 years, and it has been through alot of changes. Improvements have been made to the engine, tranny, rear, suspension, body, brakes... Pretty much everything has been updated or modified. yet the original red interior strangely remained, complimented only by a BBK white faced dash and an assortment of Auto Meter gauges. Its a testament to Ford quality I guess, as most of it is in very good condition, except the carpeting which has surely seen better days. It is worn in some areas, cut for roll bar clearance, stained in some areas.. its feeling 'not so fresh' after 15 years of dutiful service.

I remember seeing an advertisement for 5.0 Mustang restoration parts about a year and a half ago, and it really got me thinking: "Restoration? My Mustang? It's not old enough!" But alas, despite the fact that some of our steeds still feel new to us the harsh reality is that they are getting up there. Heck, a 93 Cobra is 10 years old already! Boggles the mind! The 82 GT that exclaimed "The Boss is Back!" in advertisements is now 21 years old. Doesn't seem logical when you first think of it, but it is the truth.

Recently I started thinking of tackling the interior project. What would I do? What parts would I use? Who can I get the parts I need from? Well, I started looking for parts all over the place. Classified ads on stang sites, ebay, magazines, friends, word of mouth, you name it. The reality of the project is that it can be completed within a reasonable budget.

I would have loved to purchase a nice set of aftermarket seats like a Recaro or Corbeau, but thats not in the cards for me. Instead I targeted the SN95 seats of 94-98, as I like the way they look, have the lateral support (if not a tad better) than the 87-93 GT seats, and they are a somewhat affordable alternative to aftermarket pieces. Plus they bolt right in.

I decided to change to a gray interior, but soon found there are three colors between 87 and 93. 87 through 89 used a dark gray, called "smoke gray", 90 through 92 used "titanium" a lighter color that seems to have a touch of tan in it, and "opal gray" in 1993, which is a little darker than titanium with no hint of tan. I chose smoke gray both for the authenticity of the car (car is an 88) and I generally like this color best of my particular car. Within a month, I had pretty much everything I needed. Once you start piecing an interior together, you realize all the little parts you need to make it work.

I collected pretty much a full assortment of interior parts, some from ebay, some from local people, some from Mustang Magic. I also was lucky enough to score a set of 1995 Mustang GT seats (thanks Rob!) which are actually a darker gray and will work perfectly. My computer room soon looked like a parts warehouse:

I have decided not to put a back seat in, as I removed the red one a few years ago for room to bring stuff to the track, but I will recarpet the area with standard automotive carpeting. But I still needed a few things, like new carpeting for the passenger area, a few odds and ends and paint. Yes I said paint. Instead of swapping out my original dashboard, I will replacing nearly everything on it with OEM gray pieces. Whatever is left will be dyed gray using special Ford OEM color interior dye.

But where to procure these parts? One call to Late Model Restoration Supply and I was rewarded with a catalog. It is unbelieveable. The 2002 catalog is 146 pages of restoration parts, accessories and some performance parts as well. Immediately I started folding pages for things I would need. I have been told thier 2003 catalog is even bigger. A quick call to LMRS and my parts were on the way.

What we're starting with:

As I said before, the interior is in good to excellent condition. The drivers seat was slightly worn on the edge from all the exit and entry over the years. I had contemplated painting more of it, but since I had been able to pick up most of the parts I need in the correct gray, I didn't need to.

Next