Poll: Who's still on the original headliner?

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

Just curious, how is everyone else doing?

You all know I treasure this car, but the headliner seems to fall apart if you just look at it the wrong way...

 

[theterminator93]

Mine's fine. It's not perfect but it's in good enough shape that I don't think about it.

 

[MadMikeyL]

The one in my 97 was in horrible shape. I tried to recover it, but wound up making it worse. Ultimately I had a buddy of mine who is an exceptionally talented body man use my old one as a mold to make a new backer out of fiberglass, then we covered that, and now it looks great!

 

[XR7-4.6]

So this is a kind of complicated answer for me because I do not have the original headliner in my car, but the original was perfectly fine when I removed it, AND the headliner in it is original(from a 93) and it’s in excellent shape Therefore I picked option A.



BUT I never got rid of my old headliner and kept it in the crawl space in the basement for 10 years and the fabric’s deteriorated pretty bad where it got wet from a few minor flood events(the tear in the middle was self inflicted, I wanted to repair the backer for a possible recover)

 

[VicRattlehead]

last I looked mine was good. --A--

 

[Jae 'Bird]

Luckily even in Canada with the cold my Dad never had to touch it and it has stayed good, i dont know why headliners are all either prefect or completely falling apart even if the conditions they face are relatively the same. It's like Schrodinger's headliner

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

Damn...I'm starting to think that my headliner is the lone problematic one...

 

[Ericv8thunderbird]

Mines pretty mint, I have a tiny split you really need to look for at the front left A pillar.

I’ve toyed with the idea of changing it to match the suede inserts on my seats though.

 

[XR7-4.6]

Mines pretty mint, I have a tiny split you really need to look for at the front left A pillar.

I’ve toyed with the idea of changing it to match the suede inserts on my seats though.

I was going to do that as well to my old one this year, I gave up when what arrived in the mail was folded in a box rather than a roll, it would have been a disaster!

It’s a shame Joanne fabrics went out of business when they did they used to have foam backed faux suede sold by the foot.

 

[Ericv8thunderbird]

I was going to do that as well to my old one this year, I gave up when what arrived in the mail was folded in a box rather than a roll, it would have been a disaster!

It’s a shame Joanne fabrics went out of business when they did they used to have foam backed faux suede sold by the foot.

I wonder if Michael’s or Hobby Lobby carries a similar fabric?

I ordered some off of Amazon for my Turbo Coupe, and it was folded, my wife steamed it with her steamer and it came out real nice.

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

These two places I have purchased from before. They have any fabric you could possibly need:

East Coast Fabrics

eastcoastfabrics.com - Wholesale Upholstery Fabric, Vinyl, Supplies in NYC

Select Brands

eastcoastfabrics.com

Fabric Empire

Fabric Empire Store -

Online wholesale fabric store selling vinyl fabrics, faux fur fabrics, and suede fabrics.

www.fabricempire.com

For faux suede, I recommend Synergy II brand material. It's extremely sturdy, but note that it does not stretch a lot.

 

[XR7-4.6]

I wonder if Michael’s or Hobby Lobby carries a similar fabric?

I ordered some off of Amazon for my Turbo Coupe, and it was folded, my wife steamed it with her steamer and it came out real nice.

I tried the Michael’s by me(which was actually in the same strip mall as JoAnne) and no luck. I heard they absorbed a lot of their inventory but no dice on the big fabric rolls

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

The places I purchased from, the rolls are 5 or 6 ft. wide, and then you purchase by the yard. I think they fold once, then roll it up, but I never purchased more than one yard at a time.

 

[Ericv8thunderbird]

These two places I have purchased from before. They have any fabric you could possibly need:

East Coast Fabrics

eastcoastfabrics.com - Wholesale Upholstery Fabric, Vinyl, Supplies in NYC

Select Brands

eastcoastfabrics.com

Fabric Empire

Fabric Empire Store -

Online wholesale fabric store selling vinyl fabrics, faux fur fabrics, and suede fabrics.

www.fabricempire.com

For faux suede, I recommend Synergy II brand material. It's extremely sturdy, but note that it does not stretch a lot.

View attachment 17325

That blue in the bottom right corner looks very close to my suede seat inserts.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

That blue in the bottom right corner looks very close to my suede seat inserts.


View attachment 17328

That’s beautiful! I love the matching seam stitching.

Please tell the story of having those seats made.

 

[MadMikeyL]

I wonder if Michael’s or Hobby Lobby carries a similar fabric?

I ordered some off of Amazon for my Turbo Coupe, and it was folded, my wife steamed it with her steamer and it came out real nice.

I got my headliner material at hobby lobby.

 

[Ericv8thunderbird]

That’s beautiful! I love the matching seam stitching.

Please tell the story of having those seats made.

Unfortunately, it was a bad experience. I wrote about it on SCCoA.

Auto Custom Leathers

This is the custom interior supplier for SCP, I decided to deal with them directly to save some money, which I did. I put an order in on Sept 7th, Jerry the owner said it would take about 3 weeks. A month went by and I didn't hear anything, so I sent them an email, I was told there was a...

www.sccoa.com

 

[Kenz]

On my first replacement. Still looking good but it is detaching a bit in the corners by the sunvisors. It's not bad enough to bother me but I know it is there. Make sure to pay extra attention to that area if you refinish it yourself.

The original was in good shape but starting to detoriorate at the rear windshield. The sunlight degrades them over time. If the car was tinted with a quality UV film when it was new it would have never worn out.

 

[Grog6]

I drive fast with the windows down, and it kills headliners.

 

[Green T]

Mine is in good shape but I know it is 30yo and fragile; I try not to touch it or even look at it too hard. If I ever do have it recovered, I would like to use a grey leather and cover the door inserts/ rear speaker grills with the same material. I figure It will be needed at some point in the future, and I think/hope the leather would last for a long time.

 

[Kurt K]

All of my SCs (90, 92 & 95) have good headliners that won't need replacing any time soon. My 95 XR7 daily driver, on the other hand, was in bad shape when I bought the car.

I do agree that windows-down driving is rough on the headliners and my 95 XR7 sees a lot of that since the A/C leaks and there are stretches of 280 air (2 windows, 80 mph).

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

I do agree that windows-down driving is rough on the headliners .

I do that a lot, which may be part of the problem...

 

[XR7-4.6]

I got my headliner material at hobby lobby.

Checked the one nearest to me today because I’d been curious (for some reason I never thought to look there) and unfortunately no dice YMMV.

I do that a lot, which may be part of the problem...

I’ve always done that a lot, but my headliners are fine. Even in cold temps I usually have the drivers window cracked a little

 

[Vicinity]

Here is a March 30 data point of about 10 years and 30,000 miles with the windows down almost always, but I will roll the windows up above 55 mph. 170,000 now. What I figured was the first stage of sagging is the contour of the structure near the visor. Scratches were always there, idk why. I think the small tears are more prominent as of a few years ago

I’ve always done that a lot, but my headliners are fine. Even in cold temps I usually have the drivers window cracked a little

Same here. The weatherguards are great with rain