Hello again:
A couple of months ago, we helped another IML member save a 1961
Imperial. The car had been repainted, but the interior was mostly the
color that it was originally. However, upon opening the hood of the car,
there was a code stamped right on top of the upper radiator cross member
where your hood latch is (not sure of the exact name here), as I
recall. I looked the information up on the Imperial Club website, and
found that this was the code for the exterior color, which should help you
narrow down which interior color combinations that you could have had in your
car dramatically. If you study all of the color brochures on the website
for your car, I would think that you could determine what is original and what
isn't. I would think that Paul is right here, if you have trim pieces that
are Navy, your dash is Navy, and your rear seat is Navy, then I would
agree that Navy would be your original interior color. In the case of
the aforementioned 1961 Imp, the front seats were not entirely original either,
as was also the case with my 1959. This is pretty typical since the front
seats get the majority of wear in a car and and owners would do something with
them to keep them useable longer versus going to the expense of
reupholstering the entire interior. If you do much looking
around at old cars that have not been restored, you find will
a lion's share that have the front seats redone, seat covers, or
some other fabric has been stitched in hap-hazardly to allow the user to
keep using the seat without sitting directly on the foam.
Teresa Smith
1959 Custom South Hampton
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