1956 Interior

G

GAR64

Senior Member
I have been looking at the interiors of many 56 Fords I see online etc. I am confused by all the different interior patterns. I know that you could get vinyl with cloth inserts or all vinyl but I see different patterns. Some door panels with horizontal ribs, some with no ribs. Attached is a pic of the interior on my 56 Victoria. I have not seen others with the same door panels. Also, there are ribs on the seats as well. Any comments as to whether this looks to be an original style pattern?? It appears to me that the door panels are original...but maybe not. The rear panels are smooth. Also, I need to re-do my rear seat completely. I need all new padding and upholstery. I have been told Lebonny interiors makes the best but I am not building a show car ...any advice?? Thanks.
 

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I am by no means an expert but just an old guy who has seen a lot of cars and once owned a 56 Fairlane. I haven't seen a pattern like that on one either. If its not a redone interior, could it be a Canadian car pattern?
 
Look on your data plate and check what trim code you have. I can check to see what you originally should have but I won't be able to verify what pattern it looks like.
 
The trim code makes sense. BS = white vinyl with blue cloth. As I said, just not sure how many different patterns they used. Perhaps it has been changed at some point.
 
To my knowledge, there were only two patterns offered in '56. The door panels you have are the Fairlane/Victoria model upholstery and trim.
The second pattern, used on the Mainline & customline series cars did not have bright metal trim at all, but it was a two-tone design with horizontal pleating 3/4 way up from the bottom.
Usually, if the car was blue for example; the upholstery colors might be a light shade and dark shade of blue. Same for green.
They also had two different pattern styles for the seats. One for the Fairlane/Vicky and the second for the Mainline/Customline. The seat covers you have look more like the Customline pattern.
 
Thanks Dave. The seats seem to match the door panels so I would expect that if the door panels are correct, so are the seats. Where is a good source to look for the seat material for the rear seat?
 
You could also try SMS Fabrics in Oregon.
For some reason I don't think the interior is original. I haven't seen a pattern like yours before either. Even the way the areas with amount of vinyl versus cloth don't look quite right.
Try spending some time searching the web to see what other Fairlane Victorias look like.
Even though my car is a Town Sedan, it still shared the same look on the door panels.
The interior is completely original.
P1020248.jpg
 
Very nice Mr. Munster. The door panels you have are the ones I have seen. Yours do have the chrome trim but the vinyl is different. Your car looks great.
 
Thanks for the complement Gar but the credit should go to the previous two owners who managed to preserve it so well.
 
GAR64 said:
Thanks Dave. The seats seem to match the door panels so I would expect that if the door panels are correct, so are the seats. Where is a good source to look for the seat material for the rear seat?
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Sure! my seats and door panels match too. But they are not original material or color. I redid them myself.
If you have a Concours catalog that is a couple years old, they used to have some nice illustrations of the duplicated '55 and '56 seat and door panel upholstery patterns. Their newer catalogs don't have those illustrations anymore. You can see color and material type photos only now. Way to expensive for me.
I re-did mine on the CHEAP with material that came from JC Whitney & Co.
 
GAR64, I can see the webbing of the original seat covers underneath in the photo. They just hog-ringed new seat covers over the old ones.
 
Daves55Sedan said:
GAR64, I can see the webbing of the original seat covers underneath in the photo. They just hog-ringed new seat covers over the old ones.
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Good eye! I can see it now you pointed it out and compared photo with Herman's.


Herman Munster said:
Thanks. As far as I can tell even the carpet is original.
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Thanks, Herman. The reason I asked is I don't have carpet in mine right now and yours is a good example of where it was cut and sewn.

Anyone know of a pattern out there?
 
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Herman, That is the exact interior mine has and am trying to replace. The only place I can find( I just got the car a week ago, so that's as long as I have been looking) is MAC's, and they don't have the foam or cover. Does anyone know of a different place? Im going to look up the SMS place also.
 
I have used SMS years ago and I was very happy with their fabric. It was a simple broadcloth and wasn't anything patterned like what I have in my current car. I had to have the material sewn by a guy I had hired then and he did really good work. He sourced the padding and foam he needed to put the seats and door panels together. After he had done his part, i assembled the interior myself.
 
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