Last month, we began restoring the interior in Ed Zoellner's '72 Mustang convertible, a car that's a father/son project with his son, Kaleb. Those of you who remember that first story may recall that we began with an interior that was as worn out as one can get. Everything needed replacement or refurbishment, and we're continuing on that path here.
In this second installment (the third and final story will show the interior being reassembled), we're focusing entirely on the rebuilding and reupholstering of one seat. Both front seats in the car were in rough shape, and the driver seat being redone here was about the worst we've ever seen.
Upon removal of the completely toasted original upholstery, the expert interior-restoration crew at Mustang Country International discovered the seat-bottom frame was completely rusted and broken in several places. In short, we thought the bottom frame was a hopeless case. But not Mustang Country. The guys there took on this project and welded the seat-bottom frame back together to perfect repair; repainted the seat tracks, bottom frame, and seatback frame; and finished the process by re-covering the seat with handsome new upholstery from CJ Pony Parts (CJPP). In between, Mustang Country installed new seat buns, also from CJPP, put new burlap over the seat springs, and reused the original seat cover's listing wire in the new upholstery.
Be advised that this isn't an easy project. It took several hours to redo this one seat, and we don't have room to detail every step. If the seat frames in your car are in better shape, then figure a day's work for doing two front seats and the rear. Fixing the rat's nest that Mustang Country started with took nearly two days of work to rebuild and re-cover both seats and re-cover the rear seat. If you're good at automotive interior work, then more power to you. Otherwise, you'll need to find a good upholstery shop near you.
New seat covers from CJ Pony...
New seat covers from CJ Pony Parts make this driver seat for our '72 convertible project look, well, new. After a full day's work taking the seat apart, welding the frame, cleaning and painting parts, re-covering the seat, and putting it all back together, we were rewarded with this impressive result.
Not much to say here. This...
Not much to say here. This driver seat is absolutely worn out and needs everything. The broken frame was so useless that it had been swapped to the passenger side so the car could be driven using the only slightly less, but still totally worn-out passenger seat. It takes some real effort to go from junk to jewel, and as these first two photos show, the effort was clearly worth it.
CJ Pony Parts stocks complete...
CJ Pony Parts stocks complete upholstery kits for all vintage Mustangs. These are the covers for one front seat. Of course, complete kits include covers for both front bucket seats and the rear seat.
New seat buns are a must for...
New seat buns are a must for any seat-restoration project, and as you'll see, the old buns are definitely ready for the dumpster.
1 Disassembly begins by separating...
1 Disassembly begins by separating the seat back and bottom.
2 Next, the seat tracks are...
2 Next, the seat tracks are removed from the seat bottom.
3 A razorblade makes short...
3 A razorblade makes short work of cutting the old upholstery off the seat bottom.
4 Before the top of the cover...
4 Before the top of the cover is removed, the bracket for the seatback latch is removed.
5 A big pair of scissors...
5 A big pair of scissors also helps to remove the old upholstery quickly. We couldn't wait to get the old covers off so we could toss them into the dumpster.
6 As we said, the seat buns...
6 As we said, the seat buns are also junk. The hog rings are pulled with a pair of side cutters, and the buns quickly followed the covers into the dumpster.
7 With the upholstery and...
7 With the upholstery and seat buns removed from the seat bottom, we are greeted with a badly rusted and broken frame. Mustang Country offers used replacement frames if you want or need one, but we decided to repair this one, which, as it turned out, was possible.
8 This is the broken corner...
8 This is the broken corner of the frame and also the reason the seatback would no longer stay up, preventing anyone from driving the car.