Ford has used some downright ugly interior colors throughout the years. Not only were the colors unappealing, but matched up with funky cloth fabrics and uncomfortable seats, made for an uninspiring driving environment.

The '80's and early '90's Mustang 5.0's were perhaps some of the worst victims of Fords ugly stick beatings. For cars that were supposed to be powerful, sporty, and representative of the original pony cars, the stock interiors were often an eye straining disco red. While many original buyers upgraded to the leather seats deluxe interiors (typically in neutral gray or black) most of the cars on the dealers lots had the base level interior to keep the sticker price down.

In the case of our '88LX project car, we had no say in the interior because we bought the car used. After a couple years of sitting in saggy seats, and being embarrassed of bringing dates into the shag red room, we had enough - it was time for some wall to wall redecoration.

Ideally we would have sourced a similar Fox body with all black interior. However black, especially leather, is a hard option to come by in a donor LX or GT. Usually if the car had black interior pieces, they've been striped and sold well before the car is sent to the wreckers.

So we opted to get a little more creative. The dash and console on our '88 was not all red, but a mix of red and black -which actually looks pretty sporty. It was mainly the faded red velour seats and carpet that brought the ambiance down.

'94 GT Leather seat with power. Drops right into earlier Fox Mustangs.

Seating Arrangements

We visualized that a new black carpet, and new late-model leather seats, would do wonder for the project car.

We found a virtually brand new set of '94 GT black leather seats for $400. You can usually find similar deals through online classifieds. From time to time Mustang tuners like Saleen, Steeda and the like will sell new take-out seats for a good price.

The '94 and up Mustang GT leather seats are perhaps the nicest Ford has offered in any car. They offer side and thigh bolsters, power lumbar, and power driver-side controls. In this article we'll show you the simple modification required to make these seats work.

The Rug

The new ACC carpet is pre-moulded and offers a nicer pile. Note the driverside scuff mat integral to the rug.

The original 12 year old red carpet had become a disgusting mess, filled with mashed fries, coffee, boogers, and whatever else the previous owners threw at it. We decided to redo the entire passenger compartment and hatch area carpeting with a new carpet kit from Auto Custom Carpets (ACC).

The black Dupont Nylon "cut pile" carpet is pre-molded and cut to the floor pans, ensuring a perfect fit. Unlike the stock carpet, the ACC carpet features a rubber backing which will keep and spills and moisture from getting through. For about $200 you can obtain the main carpet, hatch carpet, and seat backs. (If your hatch area rug is in good shape, the front piece is only about $100 from most mail order catalogs.) We'll take you through the installation procedure in this article.

New reproduction door to body seals, available for under $30 per side, or a bit more for the Ford originals. We obtained these from Texas Mustang Parts.

Continue to Installation

Door to Body Seals

The final piece of our interior renovation was to keep the new seats and rugs dry. To accomplish this we picked up new door to body seals. Virtually every Fox Mustang we've ever seen suffers from torn seals down near the kick panels. Dry rot and just plain compression fatigue all add up to result in water and wind seepage. We figured this was the right time to fix the problem. At $30 a side, it's not a bad investment and will surely last another 10 years.