Ford Mustang - How To Restore An Interior

After a considerable amount of hard work, the results speak for themselves. With the interior finally completed on this '72 convertible, Ed Zoellner and son, Caleb, have a foundation and some inspiration for other projects with the car. New upholstery for '71-'73 and older vintage Mustangs is available from CJ Pony Parts.

We've done it. After three trips to Mustang Country International where we shot photos all day during three 10-hour stints, the interior in this '72 Mustang convertible is finished.

Keep in mind, though, that all the work wasn't completed while we were there. Mustang Country's restoration shop probably spent another two days working on this project to redo the seats, get both new door panels built, restore and repaint the console, repaint the rear trim panels, and generally do all sorts of other tasks.

For those of you following along, this is the third and final installment of this undertaking. The best way to get a clear idea of what was done is to go back and reread the previous two stories in the Sept. and Oct. issues.

To summarize, we began with redoing the door panels, installing a new dashpad, and putting new carpet in place. While the car was getting new floor pans installed at Crook Brothers Body Shop, Mustang Country rebuilt the seats using new upholstery from CJ Pony Parts. That second how-to, presented last month, focused entirely on rebuilding the car's driver seat since it was totally worn out.

Once the car was back from Crook's, we jumped right into the work shown here. The interiors in '71-'73 Mustangs are complex and some items might require special attention. But once they're done, they look nice. Take a look at the finished results and see for yourself.

In the beginning, the interior in our subject car looked like a bomb went off in it-a big bomb. In reality, time and leaving the convertible top down too often is what contributed to its dramatic wear. This is the same photo you'll find in the first part of the three-part series on restoring this car's cabin. We thought it the best way to describe what we started with-no further words needed.	With everything removed, thoroughly vacuuming out the car was the first order of business before installing the new and restored bits.	All cleaned out, the car benefits greatly from new floorpans installed by Crook Brother's Body Shop. Mustang Country supplied the new floors and has others in stock, or they can get them for less common Mustangs such as the '71-'73 convertibles.
With the new upholstery and door panels, the interior would have looked terrible if we hadn't done something about the inner rear quarters. They had to be cleaned and repainted. Removal began by carefully prying off these small covers over the window cranks and removing the cranks with a screwdriver.	Once several small screws are removed, the panels easily come out of the car.	After a thorough cleaning with a solvent-based cleaner, we used a matte-black interior paint on the panels and let them dry in the sun.