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

[JD]

Pretty damning to McCoy Motors, that probably resulted in a bad day for the whole operation!

[GT350Lad]

Great reading Vern and others. Really cool stuff. What the forum is all about

[tesgt350]

Hey Vern, Reading all the stuff I have on the 65's, I don't remember reading anything on the Foam.  Did all 65's have the Foam or just the ones with the Carpet?  what does the Foam look like.  Did any 66's with the Tray have the Foam too?

[Vernon Estes]

Hey Vern, Reading all the stuff I have on the 65's, I don't remember reading anything on the Foam.  Did all 65's have the Foam or just the ones with the Carpet?  what does the Foam look like.  Did any 66's with the Tray have the Foam too?

I've ore commonly seen a thin layer of foam on the underside of 66 style package trays. As it pertains to this car or the carpeted package tray, it is more of an interesting note. I can take a picture of it later to post. When the tray came out of the car, it was a real mess, stuff was everywhere 

I don't think 65s in general had foam under their package trays "as stock"

Kind regards,
Vern

[Vernon Estes]

Pretty damning to McCoy Motors, that probably resulted in a bad day for the whole operation!

McCoy actually lost their franchise shortly after the complaints to SAI and HF2 started. No idea if that was all because of what happened on this car or if it had something to do with something else. They were only delivered three cars and only one of the cars had sold prior to 345 selling. 345 Didnt sell till November 28th of 1965. That car that sold prior was Jim and Jan Schield's 5S297 (from memory) and in speaking with Jan, I didn't get any story about not being satisfied with the deal so I assume it was a normal purchase experience. Jan still has the car today!

[Vernon Estes]

I did reach out to Howard to bring his attention to this thread and he related to me that 5025 is the only car he can prove has a factory carpeted package tray. I have not cracked my registry to investigate the history of that car yet though.  Perhaps it is the PR car reference in the meeting minutes.

Kind regards,
Vern

[SFM6S]

Thanks for this subject thread Vern!
Extremely interesting.

[427heaven]

Interesting story for sure... But 99.3 percent of the general public will say why did you do that? Like looking into a 66 SHELBY and seeing an automatic even if it came that way. Then the constant discussion of thats just the way it is. Best to ya!

[Vernon Estes]

Registry entry for 5025... clearly this is, in fact, the PR car referenced by Rem in the internal coms

Super cool history!
Vern

[Road Reptile]

Hi Vern and all,
So from now forward we will class 65 Cars with carpeted rear trays and coathooks as "Deluxe"
Interior cars.....Next for bonus points will be to find out the trim shop that made the carpet
Possibly the same place that later did the vinyl top car?
R.R.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

So from now forward we will class 65 Cars with carpeted rear trays and coathooks as "Deluxe"Interior cars.....
Next for bonus points will be to find out the trim shop that made the carpet
Possibly the same place that later did the vinyl top car?

Only if they also have pony seats. I had a pair of the pony inserts I had my upholstery guy stitch into a Mustang bench seat. It was fun at show since I'd also pulled the dash pad and support for that R Model look. Lots of fun watching people debate about the changes while I just stood there and shrugged my shoulders with a "it was that way when I bought it" comment. The Ford Motor Company property inventory tag I'd added to the door jam only confused them further.
I wonder if the carpet was a Tony Nancy deal? The first Daytona Coupe got a Tony Nancy interior when Jim Russel bought it. It was also treated to a full on show quality paint job - I suspect was done by Dean Jefferies. But in reality Occam's Razor should kick in and a search of auto upholstery shops near SA at the time would probably lead to the maker.

[Vernon Estes]

Interesting story for sure... But 99.3 percent of the general public will say why did you do that? Like looking into a 66 SHELBY and seeing an automatic even if it came that way. Then the constant discussion of thats just the way it is. Best to ya!

My motivation in starting this thread is only to bring the carpeted package tray to people's attention and hopefully we can all learn something that, while small and pretty darn unimportant in the scheme of things, is an interesting footnote in these cars' history. I hope we never get to the point where something new isn't being discovered. A select few have known of these carpeted package trays for a long while but they have never really been discussed out in the open in any length.

As for 345, I think the carpet is a fun conversation piece and the car isnt for sale... so what people think about the carpet or any other aspect of the car is not something I am gonna spend time worrying about   

[camp upshur]

Vern,

Thank you for posting and populating this substantive thread. Really 'ups the game' for our forum.
Two points:
-McCoy Ford is still around, under the same family ownerwship: https://www.ocregister.com/2012/11/14/after-75-years-ford-dealership-keeps-rolling/;
-thanks, especially, for the inclusion of those 'staff meeting minutes'. They are dense in factual detail on matters in addition to the package tray carpet topic.
For instance, over the years my tracking of initial Ford VINs, to assigned 65 SAI VINs, to chassis component date codes, to engine block date codes clearly (empirically) showed that batched 271HP engine availabilty drove deliverlies (in the mid-production period) for Mustangs from Milpitas to SAI.
The April 7 minute report of Bruce Junor is the first document I've seen addressing this.
Arcane, I know! but of interest to certain 65 GT-350 owners.

-Steve A