Center console - different materials

[DKheld]

In my never ending quest to add A/C to my car (maybe next year) I bought a used front center console piece to drill the holes in for the A/C pull controls rather than cut up my original. (I don't know why)

Much to my surprise the pattern of the material is different on the one I bought out of a '58 with leather interior and my '60 with vinyl interior.

May be common knowledge but I had no idea the console coverings were different between different interiors. Makes sense though - the one from the '58 with leather looks more like leather.

Going to use it anyway - only the sharpest eye will catch it once it's in the car under the dash.

Eric

top '58 with leather - bottom '60 with vinyl


reversed here - top '60 - vinyl..... bottom '58 - leather

[jopizz]

58's didn't come with leather interior. I'm not sure if the vinyl was different from '58 -60. It may have been redone. The 58's I've seen have the same grain as 59-60.

John

[DKheld]

I know for sure my '60 hasn't been re-covered.

The console was sold as a '58 but could have been a later car - they did say it had leather seats (which also could have been re-covered). Just going on what the flea bay seller told me.

If the "leather look" console was re-covered the trim shop did it EXACTLY as original right down to the 1/4 inch trim folded and glued on only the bottom edge. It has all the same gaps in the corners and around the edges, no glue residue etc. Guess it's possible that it was re-covered but it sure looks original.

Eric

[YellowRose]

Center console - different materials

John is correct regarding no factory installed leather interiors in the '58 Squarebird, according to Automotive Mile Posts. Here is the link.

http://automotivemileposts.com/tbird...eriortrim.html

[DKheld]

The console was pretty grungy when I got it - some rust on the back etc. Thought I remembered washing a tag off the back when I was cleaning it - sure enough - there it was still in the back yard where I washed it.

So it is from a '58 - don't think any trim shop would go to the trouble of replicating the cuts on the material - maybe Ford was just using different material in '58 and '60 - my guess anyway.

Eric



I painted the back of the console from the '58 black after wire-brushing the surface rust off but you can see how close the material cuts are.

[jopizz]

After looking at the pictures again the grain pattern on the '58 looks more correct to me than the '60. It's certainly the same as on my '59. Maybe they changed it slightly in '60 or maybe the company that supplied it just ran out of material and used what they had hoping no one would notice. Anything's possible I guess.

John

[DKheld]

Yep - agree.

The pattern on the '60 is the same throughout my car. Door panels, seats, rear seat trim etc. And of course - I've been in that same back seat "since I wuz born"

My car is an Aug '60 mfg.

I remember a fellow getting knocked a point at a show one time for having the wrong material pattern on his console. He was furious because he knew it had been in the car since new too.

Interesting......

Eric

[partsetal]

The pattern is the same for 58-9 and different for the 60. This applies to all surfaces that have the vinyl material bonded to metal, i.e console, seat skirts, package tray, dash extensions and so on. The vinyl pattern on the sun visors is also different. There may be others items that I haven't listed or that I haven't discovered yet.
Carl

[DKheld]

Thanks Carl !!!

[jopizz]

I didn't know that either. Thanks Carl.

John

[Dan Leavens]

Carl now you have me thinking. I am going to check my wife's 58 and then my 60

[simplyconnected]

I get a kick out of hearing discussion about 'quality'.

Ford never made the consoles, Arvin did, for many car companies. Ford simply purchased and assembled them. In fact, most of the parts that make up your car were made miles apart, at different locations and at different times.

Vinyl is made (again, not by Ford) in batches and sent out in rolls. The console company (Arvin) may use vinyl that Ford supplied (and at Ford's price) but the door panels and various other parts were not from the same roll or possibly not from the same batch.

The vinyl pieces used are 'die cut', which is how you would know if an aftermarket trim shop did them. (Leather is die cut as well.) Is it even possible that Arvin ran short on 'Ford' vinyl or somehow by mistake, the vinyl used for your application was 'Chrysler' or 'GM vinyl'? It happened more than you know.

Many folks cannot describe their modern car's inner door panels because they simply don't pay close attention to fine detail. Now, you guys got poor Dano running out to compare his Squarebirds that were built two years (and thousands of rolls of vinyl) apart, fifty years ago. Yes, suppliers have 'standard samples' to go by but tighter tolerances make parts cost more. Ford vinyl came from different manufacturers.

[Dan Leavens]

Mr. Dare " not running around " as I had BOTH Birds out yesterday to fuel and for perhaps their last " chooch " before putting away for the winter and checked it out
Thanks for the explanation and that's why I always say to anyone who will listen to me, this is the best TBird site on the PLANET Where else could we get details like this?

[DKheld]

Got the new/old console modified for A/C and installed. Carl Heller sent me some used knobs. When cleaned up they match the rest of the interior perfectly - thanks again Carl. Decided not to paint the bottom rings white but left them natural.





Ok - lets see who notices what's different about my system....
Knobs look off centered but just the angle of the pic.


And thanks Greg for the A/C control plate - I finally got it installed!

Eric

[jopizz]

Ok - lets see who notices what's different about my system....
Knobs look off centered but just the angle of the pic.


And thanks Greg for the A/C control plate - I finally got it installed!

Eric

It doesn't say Select-Aire. That's what I noticed.

John