I just bought a set of 8 of the fuzzy window felts for my '66 convertible. They are Repop brand from NPD and I checked their fit today. 7 of then don't do too bad but the outer felt for the right rear window doesn't come close to lining up with the edge of the sheet metal. When the tabs are in their slots the front of the trim is about 3/4" behind the front edge of the panel. Then I looked at Ford originals for my San Jose convertible and Dearborn coupe (both '66s); they are misaligned just like the repro.:scratchchin
So the tabs (or windows slots?) were misaligned on all the new 66's and the same defect is now being reproduced the same way? I can't believe I have two cars with the identical problem and its wasn't also on about 2 million others. Or is there something I am missing about why this one of eight aligns differently from all the rest.
Maybe you mixed the left & right ones up somehow. I think I did that when I replaced my window felts. I was also silly enough to put them in while the windows were still in the car.
If you swap them left for right then the black edge is on top instead of the shiny one. That only cuts it for a 64 1/2 as I understand. Even if you didn't mind black, the raw cut ends then point UP instead of DOWN. No, this is definitely not a L for R problem.
Henry's factory did it the same way: There is a 3/4" gap (may be only 1/2" on some cars) at the front of the outermost felt on the RR window. Take a look at yours and tell me it isn't so. I have driven one of these cars which still has the factory original parts for 29 years and I only noticed this yesterday.
I agree, your gap is less than any of mine, but why is it there at all? The corners on the other 7 parts are aligned nearly to the edge like the one in your picture on the door. In which assembly plant was yours built?
I re-measured all my examples and its not quite as bad as I remembered. On my coupe that gap is a full 1/4". That part is not assembled on my GT now but when it was the original part had a gap of 3/8". There is a screw through the end of these parts so its not like any of them moved after they were built. Even without the screw the sheet metal slots won't let any of these parts come up to the edge.
The NPD repro has a minimum of nearly 1/2" but could be 5/8"+ and it looks glaringly wrong. By using screws to mount the entire strip I can fake it to align, but it looks like even the originals didn't fit very well on that corner. If it aligns to the corner it won't be "original".
Also, I was wrong about trying to put these parts on the wrong side. Since one side of the glass has staples and the other side has spring clips you can't put any of the 4 rear window parts on the wrong sides; they won't fit. The fronts can be confused L/R fairly easily if the vent window frame is out of the door.
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