I’m so glad Gyrhead took the time to document his journey on restoring his '71 droptop. I just spent the last 10 years doing similar (but not as in-depth) rebuilding of my '72 droptop. I’m 76 and a Vietnam vet and can do in one day what a good healthy person can do in 10 minutes. My journey with my car started in a field back then. The car needed everything except the sheetmetal. Cathouse, WCCC, and dozens of parts dealers sold me the stuff to put it back together. Thanks to all of you.
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Glad you are enjoying our restoration saga Alleycat.
I really like the 71-73 convertibles.
The journey is a big part of the fun - and this community and its supporting vendors help keep it that way!
While the bodywork is progressing, time to turn attention to the seats.
New upholstery and foam ordered today.
I disassembled the passenger seat this afternoon and found surface rust, cracks on the rear corner of the bottom frame, and some rather disgusting stains on the foam. 50 years of accumulated farts and god knows what else I guess. 
Overall the seat frames are solid and should clean up well. I’ll MIG weld the cracks tomorrow.
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Lol - yeah that’s gross! Gotta wonder about that green racing stripe in the middle 
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Sorry folks, hard to unsee that I guess…
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Here’s some pictures of my journey…
2F94H509730_dlxrpt.pdf (285.7 KB)
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Looks like a solid starting point Alleycat. I never understood why people leave cars to rot like that.
I like the way you used the engine crane to help with the dash work. Dash installation is a big and very unpleasant job on the 71-73. The crane idea is quite clever.
alleycat,
I am glad that I was able to help you out. I would much rather see the parts that I have sitting being put to use instead of just sitting around. I do have a question for you though. What is up with the quarter panels on your car? It looks like either someone cut the roof off a hardtop to make a convertible or they used hardtop quarters as replacements or perhaps it is just a custom touch. Just curious.
Randy Goodling
CCOA #95
Randy
As Darth Vader once said “Your insight serves you well” If you look at the “as found” picture, there is something odd about it…I took pictures of it a few weeks before I purchased it, and, like you, it hit me!
So, I hustled back down to it, and carefully examined the rear. Yes, it was a real xr7 droptop, but how in the h*ll did that body work happen? A trip to the local DMV reflects that there were only 2 owners prior to me, and all were local people. Seems the original purchaser made a deal with the dealer to leave it in the showroom for a couple of months (during the winter months) then drove it for a shy under 3 years, wrecked it without reporting it, and had the same dealer repair it. The dealer couldn’t (or wouldn’t) find the proper replacement parts and had a wrecked hardtop on the lot (a '73) and some bright body guy figured out how to marry the two pieces together. It was sold off the back lot to a local guy in the next town over (can you dig the frenched antenna?) who proceded to put on the Cragar wires, wide whites, curb feelers, headlight eyebrows, and cut up the steering wheel with a hacksaw and kid’s tricycle grips. Then, while in an upholstery shop (that went belly-up) it got stolen. Now, the car has no interior, the original 351 went with the thieves. Owner #2 found the car on his own, put in a 302 Mustang cop car motor, didn’t realize the firing order was slightly different, couldn’t get it started, so it ends up where I found it. That’s why I call it the Alley Cat.
Gyrhead, are your seat bun foams still solid enough to reuse, or starting to crumble apart from below? What supplier has the correct replacement seat foam buns in stock for our Cougars. Looking for some for Decor optioned seats on a '69 Standard hardtop.
They are not crumbling, still very flexible and intact, aside from some small rips in the foam that probably could be re-glued.
The original seat back foam carries a D1ZB (Mustang) engineering number - so it appears the foams are the same for Mustang and Cougar.
The seat cushion foam has a D1WB (Cougar) engineering number. I don’t think ANYONE makes the correct Cougar cushion foam. I simply bought Mustang foams and covers.
The Mustang seat cushion foam is VERY different than the Cougar XR7. I don’t think it would be easy to adapt the Mustang foam to an XR7 seat cover.
Thanks for the compliment. Sorry to be so slow to reply. I really like the way you are doing things. If my alley cat had better bones to start with, I would have gone in your direction. However, she’s only going to be a driver that somehow looks stupid. But, ya know…I can dumbly claim that it’s one of one! Ha Ha!
Making good progress on the seats.
New foam and covers ('71 Mustang for cost and unavailability of Cougar specific foam) from TMI
I’ve never tried seat upholstery before, but with good wire cutters, hog-ring pliers and patience, it’s not too difficult.
To make the seat cushions a little firmer, I hog ringed a few of the seat springs together, much like x-bracing makes floor joists less bouncy…
There are a few wrinkles that should flatten out in the sunlight or with a little extra batting installed from the bottom.
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A few wrinkles that hopefully will settle down after use and some sunlight - but overall I’m satisfied with the outcome (especially for my first upholstery job)
This is NOT an easy job - but I wasn’t willing to pay someone else to do it.
And yes, the upholstery is '71 Mustang, but this was a necessary compromise as the repro Cougar XR-7 upholstery is EXPENSIVE and the Cougar specific seat cushion foams aren’t available.
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Gyrhead
Used the same (med. blue met.) for alleycat. The TMI repros do not have the leather inserts like original, so for the price difference, what the heck!
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Gyrhead, looks great, very nice work! And you have the satisfaction of knowing how it was done.
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