Interior is finally finished

[BBoswell]

Just finished the console for my ProSteet Ranchero. It was the last piece (and hardest) so now the interior is finished. Whew! Next project on the list is a custom tonneau cover.

[JimNolan]

Really nice. Congratulations. Jim

[RICH MUISE]

Very very nice. Great job on the console. That's a heck of a gear shift knob!
What are the seats?

[Zapato]

Gorgeous!

Zap-

[BBoswell]

Thanks for the cudos guys.

Some of the local car guys who saw the console being installed thought it was a molded console you can buy online and wanted to know who the manufacturer was. These is a one off console . . . no wood, plastic or fabric involved. It is all metal fabricated, metal worked and painted. Here are a couple more before photos of the console

I used to carve the skull gear shift knobs as a hobby but due to arthritis in my hands have had to quit. I have one more to finish for my Custom 300 and then find a new hobby. Thinking about building a "still" in my garage and relaxing with the results . . .

As for the seats . . . when I bought my Custom 300 it had this nice custom upholstery job with the exception of these two huge ugly black seats that didn't match. I replace them with a stock bench seat and threw the buckets in the corner. Then when I got my ProStreet Ranchero it had these wimpy low back buckets that just didn't look right but the buckets I had put in the corner were perfect. They are full power but only require one wire to hook them up. I tried to find out what they were out of with no luck until a few weeks ago. I was on a walk and passed by a Chrysler 300 and I swear they are the same seats. If not you couldn't tell the difference.

I know, TMI . . . some folk talk too much . . . I guess I type too much

[Thor]

Your interior looks great! Love the console. Those seats look like the ones I have that I am going to put in my 58. Looks like the headrest has been removed and the seat reupholstered. Mine are out of a 1999 Chrysler 300 and are black. They are pretty cool. Heated power seats with 2 position seat memory. Computer for the memory is attached under the drivers seat. FYI - I also have the rear seat and with a little tweaking looks like it will fit the rear on my 58 Fairlane as well.

[Zapato]

Thanks for the cudos guys.

Some of the local car guys who saw the console being installed thought it was a molded console you can buy online and wanted to know who the manufacturer was. These is a one off console . . . no wood, plastic or fabric involved. It is all metal fabricated, metal worked and painted. Here are a couple more before photos of the console

Was impressed before, now am speechless. INCREDIBLE doesn't come close to describing it.

Zap-

[BBoswell]

Yep those are the same seats. Very nice looking and very very comfortable. For my taste, the seats with the headrest looked to tall and over all too big in the Custom 300 . . . especially with the stock rear seat. And they filled up the rear window in my Ranchero so I removed them . I tried to find a before photo but guess I didn't take any. The seats also have tons and tons of adjustment. I'm as happy with these buckets and any I've ever had.

Now I can't wait to see what we come up with for the tonneau cover.

[Thor]

BBoswell,
       I failed to ask...did you modify the seat rails at the attach points or did you alter the seat attach points on the floor of the Ranchero? The reason I ask is I know that the seat rails will need significant modification to fit he floor in my 58  Fairlane. I was hoping you had an easy solution.   

Thanks,
Thor

[BBoswell]

Thor . . .

My installation is probably not going to help you much because this is ProStreet Ranchero with some unnoticable modifications. The floor pans behind the seat have to be taken out in order to tuck the mufflers up under the car so they wouldn't drag. The car when I got it was so low in the front (I raised it 1 1/2" to make it streetable) you couldn't drive it on the street without dragging every little bump. I guess he figured on a drag car the front end would be up under acceleration. Then for some reason everything in the car (seat, shifter, pedals, etc) was moved back roughly 18". The fellow spent 8 years building it and when I bought it he had only put 42 miles on it. I think the first drive must have scared him.

Now that you have some idea of the interior modifications here is what was done for my installation. My seats are mounted with the seat moved all the way back (driving position) on the rails which does get them a little closer to stock mounting locations. All my mounting points are new. The floor board was pretty flat with the floor pan removed and the seats bolted in without any seat rail modification. However, on the rear inward bolt locations (next to console) on both seats I had to put a thick (about 3/4") rubber spacer between the rail and the floor. I hope this explanation makes some sense.

Like I said, these seats have so much adjustment that when I move the seat all the way forward it is so close to the steering wheel I can't get in. And when it is all the way down I look like a low rider. All the way up and I feel like I back in my T-Bucket.

Keep me posted how you install goes.

[Thor]

BBoswell,
       Thanks for the info. I am putting in new floors as well so I can adjust the seat mounting points. I know what you mean about adjustment. My seats have the two position memory as I said before. I have mocked them up and added power before and set the memory so that in position 2 it will move forward and tilt towards the steering wheel so you can get into the back seat in my 2 door. There was still more it could move forward but the steering wheel gets in the way.
       By the way, do you have other pictures of your car with more details on the build? I always enjoy reading about folks builds on here. I got to see Rich's car in Texas. It amazes me how great his car looks with the limited facilities he had to work with. And based on the limited pic's of your car here it looks amazing as well.
Have a Great weekend,
Thor   

[BBoswell]

Thor . . .

The fellow who built the car did a fantastic job on body work (look at door fit) so I don't have build photos. And to date I haven't changed a lot on the outside except to make it streetable. His choice of paint scheme is somewhat dated . . . so now that I have the interior the way I want it I'm planning on painting it all black . . . or maybe to keep the cost down paint just the lower part of the car black (green, burgandy and chrome paint area). I have to do a couple of renderings to see how the black and white looks. Here are a couple of shots of the car the day I purchased it.

[Raven Rider]

I really like your ranchero and the shift knob is great too I would like some info on the shift lever

[BBoswell]

RR — This is one of the new Gennie shifter units and the lever is one of the options. They are designed for their new shifter kits and won't retrofit back to the original shifters . . . but they can be changed out on the new units with only 2 set screws. That lever style comes in 6", 8", 10" and 12" lengths. The one I'm using is the 6" lever.

[Raven Rider]

Thanks that is the shifter I've been thinking of.  BTW beautiful car you have there.