I just bought a nice low milage 68 XR7 with aqua interior. I had a 67 back in college and the wife always wanted another one. The XR7 console was removed, but everything else looks okay. There was an aqua colored console in the trunk but it is for the standard Cougar. They installed the proper “without console” floor shifter for the automatic. It has aqua interior but now has black colored carpet. I’m assuming that they changed the carpet when they removed the original console. Should it have aqua colored carpet? If so, who should I turn to for a quality replacement carpet?
Welcome, Rusty…
One of the “more experienced” hands can answer you more accurately than I, but I do believe you are correct, should be aqua. ACC has pre-molded carpets. Just got black for mine not too long ago, went with West Coast CC “mass-backed” option. Seems pretty nice, but compared to the chewed up, ratty stuff I had, anything was an improvement!
Welcome!
my first '68 had light blue or aqua carpet (too long ago). Got a high qualitys) pre-moulded carpet for my new cat, but in light blue. my second '68 has a black carpet, ratty and feels cheapo. Previous owner sais he “thought” the carpet was original, but i do have my doubts.
Everything aqua for a '68 is getting quite rare.
I believe the ACC color code I used for my aqua interior was #883
Thanks all, for the input. I guess I’ll be purchasing an aqua carpet to brighten up my already bright aqua interior. The black carpet wasn’t bad because it did match the black dash panel, but I would like to put the car back to the way it was delivered. Johnboy was correct when it came to the rarity of the aqua color. Out of the 32,709 1968 XR7’s only 78 were made Polar White with aqua interior. The majority of the aqua interiors went into the dark and light aqua colored cars, but even those numbers are low. So reproduction parts are limited or special order. But that’s all a part of the car restoration hobby.
WCCC has a neat video for changing a carpet by the way
There was a carpet color called Aqua in 1968. This is verified by the 1968 Dealer Order book. ACC has a replacement, but the color is not an exact match. It looks pretty good, and to the best of my knowledge it is the only possibility short of NOS.
Heres the Aqua #883 in my 1969 XR7.
exquisite, Don!
MercuryDon, Who did you purchase your carpet from? It looks great!
Sorta off topic, but to make a reference point in this thread, 2 questions: 1) how many original colored carpets were there? 2) are they all being reproduced by ACC?
Did parchment and saddle interior get black carpet sometimes? I’ve seen Saddle interior with black seat belts belived to be original.