TLBREWER
Windy B Ranch
Well as part of my daughter's "extreme truck makeover", the truck required a new seat. A PO had unsafely rigged a bench seat out of some kind of mini van that had to go. The truck is a '91 XLT that originally came with factory buckets and center console in tan (mocha) that some less than sharp individual removed at some point in the past. My search for tan factory buckets and console began. After more than 2 months, I still had nothing. So off I go to salesco.com which many on here have used with good results. I pick out the seat I want, which is nearly identical in style to the originals, and the color I feel is correct, and I order. Four weeks later the FedEx man brings me my seats to the tune of $800. In the meantime I have installed new carpet from ACC which is a near perfect match to what came in it. I'm getting excited now. I put the new seats together and have my buddy help me position it into the truck. What the hell! They don't match anything and the color doesn't look anything like I thought. I'm thinking OK *******, now what do I do. Can't return it...I still need a seat and this one was custom made.
So a couple days and a few phone calls later, we load up the seat and head to a very reputable (concours quality) automotive trim shop in Albuquerque. It's Saturday and Steve, the owner is there to meet us. He's been in the business for 35 years. He takes us to the back to start our quest for 1991 Ford Camden fabric in tan color. He has collected literally tens of thousands of pieces of fabric. Pull any one out and he can tell you the make and model of car it's for. Simply amazing. But he doesn't have what we need. He has gobs of that fabric in grey, but no tan. Off we go to the books. In the 1991 Detroit automotive fabric catalog, we find the material and it's code. Now he has to find it so we go home.
Mind you we could have selected any tan material that better suited the plastic and carpet, but I'm kind of a stickler for restifications and getting my trucks as close to original as possible, cosmetically. And I want it to match the door panels as well.
After 3 days of exhaustive research, we get the call on Wednesday that they have located the last 1 1/2 yards of tan Camden material in the US. IN THE WHOLE UNITED STATES! He had to get our approval to order it because the supplyer that had it was very proud of it. It's just enough to do the seating areas on the seats and it will be here in 4 days. And it will cost me another $800 to get it right.
Moral of the story is. If you have an 87-91 truck with the tan Camden cloth interior and you like it, guard it and protect with your life. There is no more. You can't get it recovered back to stock. And if you have any factory bucket seats and/or center consoles that you want to get rid of. Let me know, I'm gonna start collecting them.
Tom
So a couple days and a few phone calls later, we load up the seat and head to a very reputable (concours quality) automotive trim shop in Albuquerque. It's Saturday and Steve, the owner is there to meet us. He's been in the business for 35 years. He takes us to the back to start our quest for 1991 Ford Camden fabric in tan color. He has collected literally tens of thousands of pieces of fabric. Pull any one out and he can tell you the make and model of car it's for. Simply amazing. But he doesn't have what we need. He has gobs of that fabric in grey, but no tan. Off we go to the books. In the 1991 Detroit automotive fabric catalog, we find the material and it's code. Now he has to find it so we go home.
Mind you we could have selected any tan material that better suited the plastic and carpet, but I'm kind of a stickler for restifications and getting my trucks as close to original as possible, cosmetically. And I want it to match the door panels as well.
After 3 days of exhaustive research, we get the call on Wednesday that they have located the last 1 1/2 yards of tan Camden material in the US. IN THE WHOLE UNITED STATES! He had to get our approval to order it because the supplyer that had it was very proud of it. It's just enough to do the seating areas on the seats and it will be here in 4 days. And it will cost me another $800 to get it right.
Moral of the story is. If you have an 87-91 truck with the tan Camden cloth interior and you like it, guard it and protect with your life. There is no more. You can't get it recovered back to stock. And if you have any factory bucket seats and/or center consoles that you want to get rid of. Let me know, I'm gonna start collecting them.
Tom
