My 1987 Two Door Crown Victoria AKA THE BROWN BLOB

[gadget73]

sort of interesting how tastes change over time. More and more I like the near-stock look. doesn't have to be as it came from the factory, but I want it to look like it could have been that way.

[packman]

What a difference from then and now! Not only the change in style; but that paint makes a huge difference.

Like Gadget73 said; at least with me; when I was young I liked the things kids like. At that time big exhaust tips were in; so that's what I put on the Malibu. But now; I like a plain and quiet boulevard cruiser.

[DerekTheGreat]

I was so damn happy with it. I was around 20 at the time. I seen others put it lower on the fender but I was not fond of that placement. I am happy with none nowadays.

LoL. I somehow resisted many an urge during that timeframe of my life. Still wish I never hacked up the dash in my Fireturd to put aftermarket 4x6's in there, but some things just couldn't be resisted I guess.

Older I get, the more I appreciate stock or stock like, much like gadget said.

..what's inside that trailer? I saw some pretty sweet surveillance vans in scrap yards before, can only imagine how sweet that thing might be inside...

[87gtVIC]

sort of interesting how tastes change over time. More and more I like the near-stock look. doesn't have to be as it came from the factory, but I want it to look like it could have been that way.

Yes yes and YES. Hence why I went back to a stock like headunit. Done mind the gauges...You know but others may not that the piece above the glove box is a factory ford piece!

What a difference from then and now! Not only the change in style; but that paint makes a huge difference.

Like Gadget73 said; at least with me; when I was young I liked the things kids like. At that time big exhaust tips were in; so that's what I put on the Malibu. But now; I like a plain and quiet boulevard cruiser.

Definitely more shine in the paint nowadays.

LoL. I somehow resisted many an urge during that timeframe of my life. Still wish I never hacked up the dash in my Fireturd to put aftermarket 4x6's in there, but some things just couldn't be resisted I guess.

Older I get, the more I appreciate stock or stock like, much like gadget said.

..what's inside that trailer? I saw some pretty sweet surveillance vans in scrap yards before, can only imagine how sweet that thing might be inside...

That particular trailer is named TITAN.

http://www.allmobilevideo.com/mobile/titan/

Audio room, production room, tape/evs room, engineering and video.Much more involved than a surveillance van.

[DerekTheGreat]

Oh yeah, that's pretty radical alright. You kids and your tech.

[87gtVIC]

Picked up some seats from Slack's 89 last week. They were complete, tear free and in the color I was looking for. SOLD SOLD SOLD...now the fun began of cleaning them and swapping on all the good bits from my seats.

Before cleaning:







This is what they are replacing:





Seat covers over my tearing leather seats.....it worked well for many many years...since at least 2008 or so but I wanted something better...stock looking...

These are what the covers are hiding:

Drivers side:



Passengers side:



and rear:



And the "new" to me seats after cleaning and installed:

Drivers side:



Passengers side:





They cleaned up just fine using super clean, a drill brush, a steamer and a bissell spot cleaner professional. Quite happy.....

Rear seats were a simple r and r.

Passengers side seat I had to swap on my power seat track, swap the two door hinge on as well as swap on my fancy trim bits.

Drivers side took 6 hours to swap over everything.... lol

I ended up using my stock 87 seats upper and lower frame and installing the new to me covers onto them. My lower frame had a bunch of mounting provisions for "cassetter" and fire extinguisher mounts that I did not want to recreate. The upper frame was also straighter...the one from the 89 was bent backwards toward the passengers side of the seat. I also swapped over a thick piece of padding that was under my 87's lower seat foam...I also added some foam to the side of the 89's bolster from the 87 and shaved and glued it into place to help give it some life again on that side just above the power seat controls. Again, I am so happy with how everything turned out.

More pictures in the video below:

[gadget73]

this is why I'm not a big fan of leather. Still kicking myself for not harvesting those cloth Conti seats years ago when I found a parts car. Stupidly I didn't since the rear seat frame had been bent, didn't even consider that I could simply transfer the cloth over to my frame. They were the correct color and all.

[Tiggie]

Agreed on the no leather. It just doesn't age well in the 1980+ stuff. Read an article yesterday about a barn find 1960's Continental Limo and they were able to revive the leather. I guess the newer stuff is thinner. It just seems to rip.

David, these look much better. I don't see many Vics with them. It's always great when good parts can go on a good car to continue to be used. I like this way of being green instead of the Prius route.

[Mainemantom]

Your "new" seat look fantastic. Good job cleaning. The seats really refresh the car.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

That swap looks like it went over quite well. Certainly fit the interior nicely. Like the '88-'89 headrests, definitely more usable for comfort and maybe a bit more for safety if anything bad ever did happen.

I'll admit I enjoy leather as both of my cars have them, but maintaining it properly is the biggest thing most folks don't do. They definitely need regular cleaning and conditioning to keep them in good shape.

[gadget73]

Agreed on the no leather. It just doesn't age well in the 1980+ stuff. Read an article yesterday about a barn find 1960's Continental Limo and they were able to revive the leather. I guess the newer stuff is thinner. It just seems to rip.
.

I don't know that its so much thinner as that its not good quality. I'm not completely sure its really proper leather in the sense that its the skin of a dead cow. It seems more like a semi-synthetic "pleather". Whatever it is, its awful if not extremely well cared for.

[slack]

Seats look great. Again, glad you could save them and find a use for them. I wasn't aware your original seats were in such bad shape. I swore off leather for good around 10 years ago with my 87 Fleetwood. The leather was starting to get crunchy but on top of that, it's always hot and sticky in the summer if you don't have AC (which probably doesn't help the leather not get crunchy... baking at 150 degrees... ).

[DerekTheGreat]

Yep, I dislike leather too. Have since I was a kid who endured two hour drives with grandparents while passing time by peeling my legs off the leather seats of their '93 Crown Victoria.

[Arquemann]

Yeah, I've had to come to terms with leather seats on my Beemer. It's the hottest summer right now and the car and seats are black... Though for leather seats they are definitely not the worst, it seems to breathe just a bit and I'm not too sunken into them.
My parents new car's nappa leather seats are absolutely horrible, you get sweaty in 10 minutes.

I feel like there's a difference between newer leather, old leather and old old leather. You folks probably know how leather seats feel in like 60's cars, leather feels thick and not very supple and as if it might be brittle. (box panther leather seems to be in the in this category).
Then there's the newer old leather, 90's and so on, Grand Cherokees, big Mercedes, those pillowy, soft and supple leather seats that are really well cushioned.
And finally the "new" leather, kinda hard and almost rough feeling, firm seats and so on.


You went with your old armrests (covers?), any reason? Those armrests from slack's seats looked fine to me. Or are the armrests hard to remove from the top part fo the seat frame you mentioned?

[Mainemantom]

Speaking only from a USA perspective. The EPA changed the way leather was processed. Less toxic chemicals have to be used. The standards defining what "leather is" has changed. If you are sweating on leather seats, it is not real leather. Bonded leather which are leather scraps mixed in with vinyl is the cheapest leather available and widely used. It should not be called leather. It is crap, does not last long and cracks. The underbelly of the cow is the best hide and most expensive. The other parts of the hide are tougher. Hides that are not even cows are not being used and marketed as "leather" most of that comes from overseas. So the quality due to mass production and how long we keep vehicles has made a difference in accountability with auto manufactures. The prices of leather interiors are not worth the cost for the quality you get.