Before you get too excited pull your headrests up and see how they are supported. Are there 2 round tubes? Or 1 flat bar? 1968 headrests are very hard to find. 1969 headrests are very easy to find as every car received them.
Randy Goodling
CCOA #95
Wow! Only one post on ours… you guys are geniuses!!! The knowledge on this site CAN NOT be over stated!!!
Hmmmm… so, do we have a rarity with the single bar head rests in the 68’ or, are we run of the mill… keep in mind this isn’t the original interior!
Those are ‘69 seat frames in your ‘68. I have the same in mine.
Looking at your photo it appears that none of the interior panels is correct for the car. With the car being a GT-E it is valuable enough that you can probably justify buying a '68 standard Cougar to use as a donor for a correct / good condition saddle interior.
The 1968 headrests are tough but the good thing about them is that the headrest brackets can be bolted to any standard 1968 Cougar seat frame. Also the headrests are not XR-7 specific - all are the same other than color. They can be dyed or recovered successfully. The same headrests could be optioned in a 1968 Mustang - even rarer than Cougar.
Royce,
According to the numbers from Kevin Marti’s “MUSTANG…by the Numbers (1967-1973)” and “COUGAR…by the Numbers (1967-1973)”, substantially more 1968 Mustangs were equipped with headrests 64,053 than 1968 Cougars 5,341, even as a percentage of production (~20% vs ~5%).
Another part we should be looking to canabilze from Mustangs for our Cougars instead of the typical other way around.
Are the seat frames themselves the same in a mustang as the cougar? Or is it just the headrests attachment point?
Also how much should I expect to pay for the headrests? I found a set of black ones for $350 and that seems high to me
Make sure you also get the (4) mounting brackets, and the (4) chrome plastic escutcheons. That’s a good price if they are complete.
I’d pass on this. You’ll spend another $350 for the rest of the parts, and it’ll take another 6 months to find them.
That’s crazy - I’ve owned several '68 Mustangs and never have seen a set of headrest seats.
Yes the seat frames are the same but the foam and the upholstery are different as far as '68 Mustang vs '68 Cougar. There is a factory defect on the frame inner and outer pivots. Both have been known to snap off. Repair / recall kits are on eBay. They have a D7 part number.