Ok Ok Time To Stir The Pot Just A Little.... Carpeted Package Tray....1965 GT350

[Vernon Estes]

I have to question - was the carpet (and foam?) install on 345 a day 2 mod done at the factory. The owner complained of noise and got the Deuce involved. I'm sure all the stops and budget were ignored to make the guy happy.

Yea, to be clear, what I believe at this point is that the carpet was put on the tray of the car at SAI on its return trip... not before it went to McCoy Ford on initial delivery when new. During that return trip, Im sure the people at SAI were just trying to make this guy happy so he could report back positively to HF2. Which he did... letter below!

I was just happy to find that there were factory meeting minutes which confirm the existence of package tray carpeting at the factory. Thus far all the examples of cars with the carpeting on the tray bare so much in common with one another that its difficult to rationalize that the carpet was put on by private owners using local upholstery shops to manufacture it in their specific area of the country. If that was the case, I doubt they would look much alike. Different colors and types of carpet, different colors or type of piping..nmaybe no piping at all?

On the prototype cars obviously the carpeting was being played around with as an idea to improve the package trays for the 1966 model year. On these customer cars... 087, 131, 179, 345 and I assume others that we are unaware of.. I am assuming carpeting was provided to owners by the factory following complaints of the interior noise. The idea that 345's was likely put in at the factory is only likely in my mind because it came back to the factory under extremely unusual circumstances. They also could have just given the carpet to the owner of the car on his way out the door. That woudld seem odd to me personally but all I can do is make what I think are rational and reasonable assumptions based off what I know through the factory docs and other comparable cars which exist.

[Vernon Estes]

Follow up to HF2