Finishing up the front seats of Mustang and putting them back in the car. Yes, I know I should have gotten all the new carpet and the heat and sound deadening but I didn’t. They are easy enough to remove so not really a big deal. I did notice while the seats were out just how thin the carpeting actually was, there is nothing between it and the floor pans, I’ve got to get those done…soon…soon.
Here’s some shots of the final production.
Drivers seat
Passenger's Seat. This is the one I just finished.
It is 1922 and the car industry is moving right along. Small start-up car companies pop up here and there in the 1920’s.
Here is how they stacked up for 1922.
Top spot was Ford producing 1,147,028 cars.
Dodge was a very distant second with 152,653 car rolling off their assembly line.
Chevrolet ran in third place with 138,932 cars made.
And finish up the list were Buick with 123,152; Studebaker with 105,005; Williys-Overland with 95,410; Durant with 55,300 and finally Maxwell/Chalmers 44,811.
Total passenger cars produced were 2,274,185 with 269,991 truck being made.
Rickenbacker was a new upstart beginning production in 1922.
Durant produce a car priced at $319 . Ford reduced prices to $298.
Balloon tires were introduced.
Hey fuel gauges began being installed in dash in 1922.
1922 Durant Star - An attempt to undercut Ford's prices
I was just reading about the 2015 Mustang (yeah..they are planning it now) in the Oct 2011 Motor Trend.
It’s going to look great with a lower angled windshield and it will be lighter, but it will begin to lose it’s muscle car images, at least
underneath.
From the Motor Trend web site. 2-15 Mustang
The live axle will be gone, replaced with an independent rear suspension. Not really what you want to take to the track. There was talk that the live axle might live on in factory drag packs, but the tooling would be expensive and perhaps not cost-effective. We’ll see what actually happens.
Ford Live Axel
Independent Suspension.
But this is not focus of this blog entry. What I really want to mention was a side bar in the article. It is entitled “Icons on An Icon” “What should the next Mustang be?” Those interviewed were Jack Tenack who was a designer for Ford and global design vice president ( He actually drew the first proposal for the 1965 Mustang); Chris Theodore who was chief of Ford Motor Company’s North American product development (he left after a disagreement over the
suspension for the 2005 Mustang with Phil Martens); Tom Gale who had nothing to do with Ford at all, he was Chrysler design chief (now retired).
Generally Mr. Tenack stayed true to form, basically wanting small changes to the next issue of the Mustang, reinforcing the muscle car
image. He thinks all-wheel drive should be added as an option…that’s not horrible.
Mr.Theodore wants the new Mustang to have a 4 cyclinder…WHAT??? Yeah, get this, he’s like the V8 engines reserved for ‘specialty models”…can you say …hiss…boo??? “Hey, the 70’s called they want their paradigm back!!” Of course he led the charge to replace the live axle.
Mr. Gale thinks that we need to copy Europe and thinks the Mustang needs to be smaller. He says the Camaro is more similar to is predecessor then the Mustang is to its predecessor.
Drop me your thoughts. No V8? Live axle? Smaller ‘Stang?
As I’m sure you’ve heard or witnessed first-hand, Hurricane Irene threw her wrath against the eastern seaboard with initial landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1. Although predicted to be a Category 3 at landfall, this storm was still nothing less than a monster. This major hurricane realeased havoc from Myrtle Beach up to Maine as it churned along leaving major paths of destruction behind and massive amounts of rainfall. Power outages became widespread up the east coast, (includes my family in Pennsylvania at this current moment). Streams and creeks became raging rivers taking out roads, bridges, one being a 156-year-old hand-hewn bridge in upstate New York. It destroyed houses and stranded people in or away from their homes. Evacuated people are now stranded wondering the fate of their homes and personal belongings. Washed-out roads and bridges have left complete towns stranded without a way to get to or out like these towns in Vermont that have over 260 roads closed.
This storm has caused massive destruction and that has effected some of our own Mustang enthusiasts. Member, RobTRoma from PA, joked about getting a photo of his car next to a hurricane in our Mustang game thread. Featured above, what looks like a very nice ROUSH S-197 Mustang is sinking in a Subway parking lot in North Carolina during Irene’s throw-down. It almost has an ambience of Jaws coming out of the water before Roy Sheider exploded it.
I want to cover two more cars in this part. The first will be the TVR S3..?? ..yeah…me too! The second will the Caterham Seven.
TVR S3 was put up against the Triumph TR4 and frankly there is nothing I know about a TVR S3..so here we go.
TVR S3 C
TVR engineering started back in England in 1947 with the first TVR being produced in 1949. Here’s the 2nd TVR built:
#2 TVR
Through out its history it used all types of engines include the Ford Kent engines and even a Buick engine (3.5 litre Rover V8).
The S series was produced between 1986 – 1994. The TVR in this article had steel spaceframe chassis and a fiberglass body. The engine was an iron, overhead valve, 2936cc 12v V6 with electronic fuel injection. This power plant cranked out 168 hp and 170 lbft of torque. The suspension was an independent double wishbone with rack and pinion steering. This all combined to let the car reach its top speed of 135 mph.
In the comparison, the TVR S3 beat out the Triumph TR4 in Driving, Practicality, Character, Value and Usability 42 to 32. The price of the TVR S3 is about 4000 Euros with the Triumph at 13,000 Euros.
The company was sold to a Russian buyer in 2004 and after a not so great start the company halted production.
For a full history on the TVR – check out http://www.tvrsseries.com/
Next up is the Caterham 7:
Caterham Seven
The Caterham Seven is a kit car – you can still buy and build them today. Interesting enough it started out as the Lotus Six. The next version was the Lotus Seven, however Lotus dropped the production and Catherham purchased the rights to build the kits. The components are flexible with such pieces as Ford axles and de Dion-axles being used. The engines used is very expansive from the Lotus Twin Cam engine to Ford’s cross flow engines. Even Cosworth BDRs appeared around 1983, in 1600 cc 140 bhp (104 kW) form, followed by 1700 cc 150 bhp (112 kW) versions three years later. In the ’90’s the common engine had become the 2 litre Vauxhall HPC, as fitted to the Vauxhall Calibra, putting out 165—175 bhp. Motor cycle engines have been also used with the likes of the GSXR1300 engine used in the Suzuki and the Honda CBR1100 engine.
These are favorites for the SCCA and other grass-roots racing.
When you work with and/or drive classic cars there is a never ending battle between old school and technology. Do I leave the points and condenser in or do I go all electronic? Do I update the suspension with coil-overs or go with stock suspension? Upgrade the interior to cloth or go with the vinyl? Many of us face those battles all the time. But there’s one clash between old and new that we just can’t to anything about and that is when new non-car technology clashes with old cars.
Back in ancient times the man went out to gather or kill something to bring home for dinner. That hasn’t changed much, especially in my household. Every week I strike out into the jungle to visit the local gatherers’ spot and cart home something for dinner. The only killing going on is my checking account balance.
Today was the day for our weekly shopping, so I fired up the ’70 Stang and headed out, ready for the hunt. After I was done scouting for “sales” and had enough provisions to last seven moons, the clerk (oh, they don’t call them that anymore…’associate’ is the correct term) took my hard earned provisions(HEY!!!..its tough shopping at the mega grocery – carts speeding around like herds of prehistoric lizards, tar pits of jelly on the floor, ill tempered rival tribes in the gourmet isle…yeah…it’s tough!!), stuffed them in to about 20 plastic bags and dumped it all into a cart. On the way out of the store a couple of clerks….excuse me…associates…said have a ‘nice day’ and ‘thank you’, as I tried to push the squared wheeled cart to the parking lot and my car.
As I popped open the trunk on the Mustang, I remembered the floor of this cavernous opening is covered with the new vinyl (original material) I installed a few months back and nothing else (I don’t carry a spare for drag strip purposes and it wouldn’t work with the tire size anyway). I looked at the contents of the squared wheeled cart and realized that by the time I got home, my gatherings will be all over the place, even if I didn’t drive like I normally do. If I tied them shut, the bags are still going slide everywhere, including into the quarter panel wells, creating a dripping plastic bag full of wine that just moments ago were grapes.
My next option was putting the bags inside, on the vinyl bench seat in the rear and the on front bucket set. Still the vinyl was going to let everything slide side to side and drop down on the floor.
Then I remembered back to when I shopped with my mother as a kid and the vinyl seats in our old Chevy Biscayne. The saving grace there were the old school paper bags that stood up straight and were packed heavy to stay in place. Their square shape allowed for the use of effective load master techniques that kept them on the seat or upright in the trunk. Then I thought,”I should have gone with the cloth over the vinyl.”
The Roaring Twentys – a great time in US social and economic history. 1928 things still looked pretty good and no indication of the tough economic times that would lead to the terrible 30’s.
1928 saw 8 car companies fighting it out for market shares.
Chevy lead the way with just over a million units at 1,193,212 cars. Ford was a distant second with 607,592 vehicles.
Surprisingly Willys-Overland/Whippet were in third with 315,000 (well behind Ford). Hudson/Essex produced 282,203 for fourth spot with Pontiac/Oakland at fifth with 244,564, Buick was next with 221,758. Chrysler and Nash grabbed sixth and seventh place respectively with 160,670 and 138,137.
Notes for 1928:
– Chrysler was getting its new brand ready for the next year – the DeStoto.
– Ford business coupes came with a rubberized roof.
Some people are visual creatures and some are more in tune with the mechanics of life. I am a visual creature. The shape and colors of things are what I see first. So the whole idea of designing and drawing cars just fascinates me. Since this is a Mustang enthusiast website, thinking of what the next Mustang will look like is a mini obsession of mine.
Back in September of 2009, I started following a blog on the design of the new Mustang for 2014. And what appeared on that blog just blew me away.
Now I realize that Area 51 exists for more than just concealing a crashed alien space ship. It is also a test area for military vapor ware that we may see 20 years or so after it is new, you know, after it becomes obsolete and is no longer top secret. Well, getting a glimpse into the design studios of a major car company is like getting a tour of Area 51. You may see things that amaze and confuse and things you may have thought only existed in someone’s twisted imagination.
So how would it feel to get a whole truck load of sketches of the 2010 Mustang, drawn by one of the designers, just months after the new design was introduced? Yeah, it was pretty special. Rob Jensen was one of the designers of the 2010 Mustang, specifically, the GT500. Now, maybe you have seen these sketches before. Maybe they amazed and confused you back then, as they were way too “artsey” for a production car. But some parts and pieces of them made it onto the 2010 cars and some of them were left on the drawing board, literally.
For the Mustang Enthusiast in the crowd that leans towards the visual, stunning design side of cars, please enjoy the collection of sketches in our gallery below. Some are from Rob Jensen, some are from others on the Ford Mustang design team. Still others are designs by professional artists and amateurs that put together some very impressive Future ‘Stangs.
One thing to keep in mind, if you are seeing it here, out in the open, then most likely it looks absolutely nothing like the next Mustang will look. Think of this as the Area 51 Museum of Mustang design. If you like something you see, give the artist some love as I will try to provide links to as many of the artists as I can. If there is another artist out there that we need to know about, definitely put them in the comments or drop us a line.
I thought I’d take a minute finish up the write-up on the very first upholstery job. I finished it up a two weeks ago and really missed driving the Mustang, but that’s what happens when you do your own work and you can only fit it between all the normal life stuff that needs to get done.
Yes, as I was reminded twice by a couple of car acquaintances, I used a kit, some say they aren’t much different from slip covers, but as you can see in my shots here that’s a bit of an understatement.
Now these next two videos are not all that great but I think you can see the removal of the back and the fasteners. I’ve worked with these type of fasteners before in my father’s body shop (back in the early ’70s) nearly all door panels and seat back were fastened in that way. They work really well but bend them (and they do bend easy of they aren’t aligned with the hole and pressure is applied) and you’ll have to spend sometime reshaping them, even then they might not hold properly, or replace them.
Check out the videos:
Here are a few more photos and the finished product. Not to bad for my first one. I have the passenger’s side to do.
With the plastic seatback removed.
Needed to remove the back release
2 piece
release removed.
Helpful hint: All the hardware and fasteners have to pass through upholstery. Rather than try to cut holes, I made X cuts and pressed the screw or hardware through. This made it as tight as possible.
Markings on the Foam
Good shot of the cloth sleeve with the wire passed through.
Here you would pass the hog wire while in the hog-nose pliers through the cloth between the upholstery and the wire. You then have to shove this down between the two pieces of foam and grab a spring.
Finished product.
Replacing the seat track was done before I married the bottom and back. Placing it back in the car was a little tricky..until I figured out that moving the set on the track was the way to get the studs to drop back in to holes in the floor board.
Over all this was not as tough as I thought it would be. The passenger side will be quicker. I’ll post the final product on that side.
