Guys,
Where do I get new and accurate 1968 XR7 leather upholstery and seat cushions? I see that WCCC has 67 and 69 leathery upholstery, but not 68. Are 67 and 68 absolutely identical??
Kens Cougars and Johns cougars also produce their own upholstery.
Is any upholstery set better quality than the others?
Mike
Maybe there are some of the upholstery that is identical between 67-68, but there are more choises in 68, not sure on the seat cushions, but i think the one on wccc is the only one availible.
I know AutoKrafters have correct upholstery for 68, and other years, but not sure if they have in leather.
Also SMS carry the 68 line. Have you checked with any of your local upholstery shops, wether its car or furniture shops, if they can make the cushions and covers ?
Might be an option, had one here that got his interior made and reupholstered by a local shop, and it turned out beautiful
John’s Classic Cougar lists the 67-68 XR-7 upholstery as being the same. I’ve owned both and the only difference I’ve ever noticed is that the 67 has a different map pocket from the 68. But the seats are the same.
I’ve never purchased the seat cushions. I’ve always had a good trim shop install the upholstery and let them build up the seat cushions.
67 & 68 upholstery is not identical. While the patterns are sewn in the same fashion, the grain of the leather/vinyl is different between the two years.
I’ve heard a lot of guys say they were very pleased with kits they bought from Johns. I’ve also heard just as many say they refuse to do business with Ken.
For John’s. I bought my 69 XR7 covers from him in 2001. They fit perfect, look original and still look great after 13 years.
CatVert68,
Given that you own both 67 and 68 XR7s, Can you resolve this for us please? Are the seats identical? Is the grain pattern the same?
Maybe post some photos of the grain patterns?
If they are the same, I will be able to get a set from WCCC.
Mike
I’m going to defer to Jeff on this one. Suffice to say that I’ve never noticed a difference nor has anyone who’s ever judged my cars. And there is only one grain available through JCC to cover both '67 and '68.
You may want to check with Ken’s or SMS. I’d be hesitant about Ken’s given what I’ve heard over the years, but I’ve done business with SMS and been satisfied. If they have a different upholstery for '67 and you’re going for concours level originality, that would be the one to buy, IMO.
The seats are absolutely not identical. The '68 seat has additional padding that rolls over the top of each front seat. The 68 also has seat back releases and a slightly different pivot arrangement. The material may be a bit different, but the generally available reproduction material is not exactly the same as either one of the originals. I do not believe anyone will be able to tell, as the remaining 46 year old covers are all turning into dust any way.
I have now stripped down one of my front buckets (except for the cracked and split leather, they look like they were built yesterday by the way, fantastic condition).
What I found was that the backrest covers I got from John’s Cougars are missing the short tube for the listing wire that goes across the top of the ribbed panel. The rest of the cover is basically identical to the original XR7 leather seat cover.
Has anyone installed a set of Johns Cougars leather covers without the horizontal listing? Does it look right? Do I need to get a tube stitched on to replicate this listing?
No way it can look right without that. You should get it repaired by a local shop.
Mike - anyway you could post a photo so I could see what you’re talking about?
Phillip, I dont have the seats with me right now.
On the original backrest covers there are three wire listings - two long ones that run vertically on each side to pull the cover and cushion back on to the frame and create a sort of groove on the surface. Then there is a short horizontal listing wire that runs horizontally behind the top edge of the ribbed section. So the effect would be that the top edge of the ribbed section is pulled tightly on to the frame to create that groove.
On my new set of leather ipholstery from Johns Classic Cougars, it has the cloth pockets for the two long vertical listing wires but does not have the cloth pocket for the short horizontal listing wire.
I dont know why Johns Classic Cougars would have left off this cloth pocket, so I was checking if anyone had fitted them without the short listing wire.
Mike
Here is a pic of an XR7 seat. The long vertical grroves on each side of the backrest are pulled in by listing wires hog ringed to the frame. The original seat covers have a short listing wire the runs horizontally across the top of the ribbed section of the backrest and pulls to back tight on the frame. The upholstery sets from Johns Classic Cougars are not set up for this short horizontal wire.
I think I am going to have to add a kisting wire pocket, otherwise it could not sit correctly.
I take it all back! I just peeled open the seam trying to figure out if there was enough material to attach a new listing pocket, and there, buried right down in the seam, was the listing pocket. Apologies to Johns Cougars!
Ha! Thanks anyway for the post and the info Mike 
I will be ordering 1968 XR-7 upholstery soon too.
Phillip, Johns has both the XR7 leather/vinyl upholstery and the cushions.
Mike