26-27 Coupe upper interior fabric?

[AaronR]

Hey all,

It's been quite a while since I've posted... I'm working on finishing a restoration for a widow and am at the point of ordering an interior kit from Clastique. According to the books, the coupe should have gray with green pinstripe and gray upper/headliner fabric. I was caught off guard when Mike asked me which upper fabric I wanted to use... He carries three different types because there are different opinions of which one is most authentic. I'll probably open a can of worms here, but is there someone here that can guide me to which would be most accurate for judging standards? The gal I'm doing this for told me to pick.

Is there any info out there that covers weave, color shade, pile, etc that could help me decide which one to use?

Thanks!
Aaron

[Humblej]

Aaron, is it a 26 or a 27?

[MichaelPawelek]

I would get samples of each fabric and have the customer choose…..

[varmint]

The profile says early 1926.

We have a late 1926 (October) and are about to explore interior ourselves. So, all correct answers are appreciated.
Thannks

[Steve Hughes]

I am interested in the same information regarding a late 27 Tudor. I have the samples that Mike sent and have chosen what I want, but would be interested if it, or any of the fabric samples are actually correct.

[BLB27]

I recently had to pick one of the three options for the upper fabric for my 1927 coupe. I chose the one that has a small pattern because looking real close at my fabric I saw a pattern as shown in the attached photo. The top material in the photo does not seem to have the pattern. I think you have to pick one material for both the upper and headliner. I might be wrong, maybe you can pick one for the upper and another for the headliner. You might ask Mike.

I also picked the white stripe material for the seat because that is what my coupe had as shown in the other photo. My understand is that the green stripe was used on the 1926 green cars and red stripe for marron cars but then a white stripe came to be used for the 1927 cars so it would be compatible with any color car. This information is page 403 from Bruce McCalley's book,

[BLB27]

I have correction to make regarding the headliner in my earlier post. I just found a photo of the same location that shows it to be the same material as the material just above the door. Here is the photo.

[Scott C.]

I was looking into new interior for my 26 Coupe but, have not ordered it yet. Here is a link to my old post. It shows the fabric choices that Mike offers.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=17275&p=135370#p135370

[AaronR]

Thanks everyone for the info.

According to the engine and frame numbers (they actually match for once) it was built sometime in September of 26.

Bruce, your pics are very helpful. It is neat to see there is still fuzz in the corner of the fabric that was hidden behind the window trim.

Scott, thanks for pointing us to the fabric sample pics. Based on your sample pics and Bruce's pics, I'm thinking the light or dark gray fabric might be the two to choose from. The third doesn't look close.

[Craig French]

A few years ago I purchased a 1926 Coupe from the estate of a local member. The interior material was pretty faded and dirty. I bought the entire kit from Mike and chose the white stripe material since the green and red stripes didn't have much of a contrast. My car is green so the green stripe would have been correct. The instructions for the kit noted that the head liner needed to be installed after the entire top material was removed. Since my top was in good shape, I decided to not remove it and try to install the headliner from below. There was no way to tack or staple the sides of the headliner to the wood boarders from outside the car. I was able to buy a sheet of 1/8 inch thick masonite and cut out three pieces, one 2 feet by 4 feet and two that were one foot by four feet. I laid out the location for each top bow as it related to the 2 foot by 4 foot masonite as it was located in the center section of the top running front to back. I then used some similar fabric that I purchased from the local fabric store that was intended to be used as a trunk liner. The material was the exact color of the headliner but much heavier/thicker. I glued the material to the good side of the masonite and wrapped it up around the edges of the masonite. I cut back a small triangle section of material on the top of the masonite where the bows are located to allow the top bows to contact the entire board. I then glued the entire piece of masonite with the material attached up to the top bows. I held it in place overnight with supports while the glue dried. Each smaller section of masonite was used for the two outer sections of the headliner. I installed the material in the same manner as the center section and added small pieces on top to offset the edges between the top bows and the side trim wood pieces. These side pieces needed to be cut to shape along the sides of the body. The end result looks very nice with two seams running front to back where the three pieces meet. I also used the 1/8 inch masonite material instead of the cardboard that was supplied in the kit to give me a more stable foundation around trim for the windows and doors. It is not a show car, but the interior looks much better than it was when I bought it. I could have saved some money by just buying the seat material and door material and not getting the complete kit. I hope this helps in some tips for installation if you don't want to remove the entire top material.

[ModelTWoods]

I don't claim to be an expert, nor do I have an original unmolested original interior to photograph, but from my investigations, the striped gray cloth was only used on the seats; red stripe on maroon cars; green strip on green cars, and white stripe on gray cars. This is especially true on 1926 vehicles. In 1927, early production followed this trend, but sometime during 27 production, Ford apparently eliminated use of the red and green striped seat material and standardized on one material for economy reasons and, possibly to speed production, with the white stripe as it was a neutral color that could be used with all exterior colors. My Grandfather's 27 coupe may very well have been green, originally, but either the original paint (if green) darkened with age, as I have been told it often did, or the car was repainted at some time. Since one of my Grandfather's trades was painting barns for people, painting his car with a brush, certainly wouldn't have been out of the question. Because the exterior color, when removed, appeared to be black, that is what we repainted the entire car.What was left of the original interior, that mice and rats hadn't destroyed, was removed back in the mid 1960's when my Dad and I first restored the car. The remnants removed were gray with with the white stripe. The upholstery we replaced it with was not authentic. Not knowing any better, we had it upholstered in rolled and pleated black naugahyde, similar to what an open car would have had. When I started doing an update restoration to correct original errors, I chose the white striped material. As for the headliner and the fabric used from the 'belt line' to the headliner, I got the replacement kit from Cartouche,and it included a brown material for both areas. As I don't intend to ever have the car judged, so I am not concerned as to whether all colors are 100% correct. Replacing the black naugahyde was my main concern when doing the upgraded restoration.