Hello Everyone; John here in British Columbia.
I just acquired a 1970 XR7 Convertible (M code) that I had owned previously…33 years ago!
I am fortunate that the guy I sold it to in 1983 wanted to restore and drive it and so its been out of the
wet since that time. The body appears rock solid after all these years. I was the second owner of the car.
The gent I sold it to passed away 10 years ago.
My initial problem is my driver’s side door panel; it’s a white (leather) interior and a “restoration” of the panel due
to “pillow” cracking around the arm rest seems to have taken place way back in time. It looks terrible now, the cracks are re-appearing and the color of the repair is off.
What do you think it the best solution here? Should I find a suitable panel and vinyl-prep and paint it? My chances of finding
a good white original seems quite remote. The car is going to be a nice driver, not a competitive show car. Arm rests are worn too.
Any ideas for a new-this-decade owner? Please point me in any direction that makes sense and I apologize if this has been covered off some time in the future. And does anyone know if white seat upholstery is still available?
Thanks for the assistance!
John
Cool story. There’s nothing like reuniting with an old friend.
70 XR7 door panels can be hard to find and as you noted, white isn’t the easiest color to find. Dying one is certainly an option but you may find the color difficult to match and may end up dying all four interior panels so they match.
John, where in BC are you?
We have an active club here and a few members do have parts they sell.
E-mail me at President@Fordnutz.org and I will put you in touch.
White will be hard to find. I have a pair in ginger / medium brown for $500. You will also want to let us know if you have power windows or stereo. Welcome, post some pics when you can.
Hi, Scott; I’m in Kelowna, about 4 hours from your location (as you probably know).
Just getting my feet wet again in the classic car world. I imagine things are much harder to find now than
they were 10 or 20 years ago. I’ll shoot you an email and say hi.
John
Hi, Don; I’ll have to consider the panels a last resort for now as I can “live” with the panel for the time being.
That being said, I’m getting a long list of new parts together.
Do you carry any white front seat upholstery for the XR7? Please let me know. Vinyl is fine. BTW, It’s a power window car (yay!).
I would hold off on the seat covers, our current supplier Distinctive Ind.) does not have the right shade of white, too much pearl. We are working with TMI and hope to have a more correct color next year.
