Topic: 1973 Mach 1 Interior Seat Material Oddity?

[Steve73QMach1]

I have two late production 1973 Mach 1 Mustangs (6/29/73 and 7/5/73).  Both have the Mach 1 sports interior option.  My Marti report says the seat material is Black Sebring Knit/Levant/Corinthian Vinyl. I understand that the Levant vinyl is a coarse grain vinyl - that matches up with the silver stripe material in the seat. The Corinthian vinyl grain matches the material outside of the silver stripes. Here is where things don't make sense. My car has no signs of the Black Sebring Knit material mentioned in the Marti report in between the silver stripes. Both of may cars have the black Corinthian vinyl material in between the stripes instead. There is no sign of any "knit" material on the front seats at all. Other Mach 1's I have seen have the Sebring knit material in between the stripes on the front seats. Both of my cars have their original seat material. One of those cars still has the plastic seat covers that were installed by the original owner.  How would these cars be treated by MCA judges as far as originality of seat material?  I know of three other late production Mach 1's that have the same all vinyl (no comfortweave) material. 

[J_Speegle]

................  How would these cars be treated by MCA judges as far as originality of seat material?  I know of three other late production Mach 1's that have the same all vinyl (no comfortweave) material.

IF they didn't match what their (the judges) experiences have been you would likely get a deduction or a comment on the sheets with no deduction if they were unsure. How We've handled "new discoveries" in the past when I was an Assistant Head Judge in charge of a class is that the new info was introduced at the judges meeting, on forums where the judges for those cars participate or at least lurk   and ask that the owner offer the documentation and information during the introduction of the judges at the show.

At MCA and SAAC teams have been asked to, during their introduction  and before starting judging, to ask the owner/representative if there "is any thing unusual or different about their car that would like to mention"

This was designed for this reason and should allow you to respectfully offer your findings before the judges get about their task of judging.

Just my suggestion based on what has worked for me and many owners I've talked to over the years.

[Steve73QMach1]

Jeff - thanks for the response.  Sounds like there is a logical way forward for this issue as far as judging goes.  Producing documentation for this type of seat material would be tough.  I have the original order form and bill of sale for my car and it makes no mention that the Sebring knit material would be substituted with Corinthian vinyl.  It is likely that there was some kind of extenuating circumstance at Dearborn during the last week of 1st generation Mustang production that led to the use of this material.  We may never know what that was but there is evidence that Mach 1's produced after 6/27/73 and through 7/5/73 had this configuration seat material - regardless of color used.

[Don61]

I have a 73 Q code, 63R with GA seats built on 06/11/73.  They are not the knit fabric.  I read that there was a fire, or something, at the factory where the knit fabric was produced.  Ford then substituted a different vinyl fabric.

[midlife]

I'm going from memory here, but the late 1973 Mustangs had 1974 Pinto seats installed.  There's a thread about this in the 7173Mustang forum somewhere...

The members were able to document things pretty well into a tight time frame when the changeover occurred.  If you look closely at the back of the seat (somewhere), the part number is a D4 number.

[jeff8877]

Don61,

Here is the thread that Randy mentioned. Very interesting read.

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-1973-mach-1-interior-seat-material-oddity

[Don61]

Jeff8877,

Thanks, I have read and contributed to the thread.  Pictures of my seats are on page 15 of the thread.