Mike in Chicago's 1965 Futura Hardtop BLOG

tffnguy · **Posted:** Sun May 11, 2008 8:11 pm

Discuss it here:

See it at: http://tffn.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=69&t=16289

albrntt · **Joined:** Tue May 06, 2008 11:57 pm **Posts:** 22

I really like your 65. I have a lot of questions about the interior, front seats particularly. I want to put power buckets in mine and my son's 65s. Really like the colar as well. Anyway, very nice job.

tffnguy · **Posted:** Mon May 12, 2008 12:49 am

Mike, it don't seem like over a year ago that you were talking about the new family addition. (The new baby) Now it looks like you're going to have to get another falcon of your own because he's taking over. ;-)

mike_in_chicago · **Posted:** Mon May 12, 2008 11:52 am

tffnguy wrote:

Mike, it don't seem like over a year ago that you were talking about the new family addition. (The new baby) Now it looks like you're going to have to get another falcon of your own because he's taking over. ;-)

Yeah that year ago is 3 years ago now.... "The Beast" is already 40 something inches tall!

albrntt, thanks for the kind words - seats came out pretty good. They're very comfy but if you're over 6' 3 I wouldn't go with these seats - they are about as tall as the stock bench, which is kinda tall for me. I'm getting used to it tho. I used to have Mustang II seats in it and it was like sitting on the floor. These are touring seats ... nice and comfy. If you want to take some corners/drive aggressively I'd go with power seats from a smaller 2 door sporty car. if you're like me watch for small headrests or shave the headrests: One of the reasons I went with Taurus seats was because of the shape of seats (look like stock buckets) and the headrests look good in the car.

Basically seats are out of a round body Taurus ... Shop around and find a car with driver's and passenger power seats. Tauruses are everywhere up here in Chicago, and seats were cheap. Then use the Thunderbird/Cougar parts and recover them. A little dye on the plastic base pieces and you're good to go.

Mike

jpleslie1 · **Posted:** Mon May 12, 2008 12:46 pm

mike_in_chicago wrote:

Then use the Thunderbird/Cougar parts and recover them. A little dye on the plastic base pieces and you're good to go.

Mike

Mike, what Thunderbird/Cougar parts are you referring to?

mike_in_chicago · **Posted:** Tue May 13, 2008 11:14 am

jpleslie1 wrote:

mike_in_chicago wrote:

Then use the Thunderbird/Cougar parts and recover them. A little dye on the plastic base pieces and you're good to go.

Mike

Mike, what Thunderbird/Cougar parts are you referring to?

You use the tilt mechanism for the upper part of chair off of Thunderbird/Cougar. Its basically the "hinge" mechanism that bolts to bottom part of seat and then to the upper part of seat.

Mike

jpleslie1 · **Posted:** Tue May 13, 2008 12:30 pm

mike_in_chicago wrote:

jpleslie1 wrote:

mike_in_chicago wrote:

Then use the Thunderbird/Cougar parts and recover them. A little dye on the plastic base pieces and you're good to go.

Mike

Mike, what Thunderbird/Cougar parts are you referring to?

You use the tilt mechanism for the upper part of chair off of Thunderbird/Cougar. Its basically the "hinge" mechanism that bolts to bottom part of seat and then to the upper part of seat.

Mike

Ah, so that would be if you were putting seats from a 4 door Taurus into a 2 door Falcon. Wouldn't need them if installing into a 4 door. But that's good info to know as I probably wouldn't think of it ahead of time and then woudn't know what to do. So a late model T-bird/Cougar just like a late model Taurus?

albrntt · **Joined:** Tue May 06, 2008 11:57 pm **Posts:** 22

I have a 92 Cougar I'm using as a donor car, I'm going to try and get the seats to work. I hope I can get it to turn out half as nice as yours did. It's really incouraging to see people actually get their cars running again, It gives me hope for all my projects. Keep up the good work. Keep posting the inspiring pics as well.

ckelly · **Posted:** Wed May 14, 2008 9:48 am

That's a nice ride there. Good work!

mike_in_chicago · **Posted:** Wed May 14, 2008 3:24 pm

jpleslie1 wrote:

Ah, so that would be if you were putting seats from a 4 door Taurus into a 2 door Falcon. Wouldn't need them if installing into a 4 door. But that's good info to know as I probably wouldn't think of it ahead of time and then woudn't know what to do. So a late model T-bird/Cougar just like a late model Taurus?

Yup I found out about it because I couldn't turn down the $30 for both seats.... Just to figure out they don't flip forward..... :oops:

Knowing Ford rarely builds custom stuff that often I figured a large 2 door car of same time period might use same frames.... And they did.

The seats are a little different tho: The Cougar/Tbird seats are a little wider because of the foam. Same seat frame is used for Taurus, Tbird, and Cougar tho - when I stripped the foam off of top of Tbird seat to get tilt mechanism there was a white sticker on upper frame that said "Taurus"

Go figure...

Mike in Chicago

jpleslie1 · **Posted:** Wed May 14, 2008 4:29 pm

This is really good info to know along with seeing what they look like in your 65. So if I ever want to put buckets in either of mine, I know what cars to look for. Thanks Mike!

David Conwill · **Posted:** Fri May 29, 2009 8:28 am

I'm planning to use the Modern Driveline conversion and I must say I like where the shifter comes out. That should work out well in my '61.

Kudos to you for using 1960s seat covers on your modern buckets. People rarely take this step, and it makes a big difference.

How do you like your Moon tach? Is it one of the plastic, half-sweep models? I love the styling, but reports on the HAMB have been decidedly mixed regarding the quality.

-Dave

mike_in_chicago · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 10:06 pm

SO far so good on the tach, Dave - I wouldn't use it in a serious race car but for a period looking cruiser works fine

Yup plastic half sweep model. Not too deep so I could mount it to defroster duct/speaker grille just fine. I think only caveat was needed to do a little work to get it to talk to MSD ignition correctly.

Mike in Chicago

David Conwill wrote:

I'm planning to use the Modern Driveline conversion and I must say I like where the shifter comes out. That should work out well in my '61.

Kudos to you for using 1960s seat covers on your modern buckets. People rarely take this step, and it makes a big difference.

How do you like your Moon tach? Is it one of the plastic, half-sweep models? I love the styling, but reports on the HAMB have been decidedly mixed regarding the quality.

-Dave

Mike in Chicago's 1965 Futura Hardtop BLOG

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