Odd '68 headliner

[ds440]

I have a question on a red '68 headliner.  As far as I've ever been able to tell, the interior of my '68 is largely original....rips, tears, fading and all.  The carpet, dash, steering wheel, and seat belts all appear to be the original.  So naturally, I just assumed that the headliner was the original as well.  (That's called foreshadowing.)

Well, the headliner is in rough shape - several tears here and there.  In my (painfully slow) attempt to begin the restoration of this car, I have been assembling parts/pieces that I know will need replaced.  In scanning through the Legendary Interiors catalog, I couldn't find a match for the material.  Nor was a sure of the color (was it maroon or red?).  So I cut a small swatch off and took it to the Mopar Nationals today in the hopes I would be able to show it to the folks at the Legendary tent to ensure I order the correct replacement.

When the good people at Legendary looked at it, they seemed baffled.  It's not the correct perforated style that belongs on second gens. 

I talked to their R&D person (a super helpful and very friendly guy) and he thought the material was similar to a '67-'68 A-Body.  But he was going to take the sample and see if he could find a similar material back at Legendary home-base. 

The bad news is that a replacement will probably fall under the 'custom' line which will be cost prohibitive for me to replace.  I'll probably just purchase the standard perforated replacement and be done with it.

The car is an early '68 (9/18 SPD), but other than that - it's nothing rare. 

But I'm a nerd.....and these things are interesting to me.  Has anyone seen anything similar?  Dealer replacement?  Bad 1970s reproduction?  Crazy factory anomaly?

Any thoughts are appreciated!

[ds440]

 

[PlainfieldCharger]

My Headliner is not original but you car looks very simular to my interior. Have not seen any before your pics.... What is your exterior color?

Sorry for stealing your thread....

[tan top]

 think its a 70s or early 80s  , custom job prolly only type they could get in red ,  just a guess , seeing as its got a  custom coat hook thingy too , 

[Ghoste]

That'd be my guess too.

[ds440]

My Headliner is not original but you car looks very simular to my interior. Have not seen any before your pics.... What is your exterior color?

Sorry for stealing your thread....

The original color combo was white with a black vinyl top and red interior.  R/T stripe was deleted from the factory.  However, the previous owner decided to spray bomb the car a close-but-no-cigar Plum Crazy color....and left the red interior.   Which on the one hand was a good thing (glad to preserve the original interior), but on the other hand, purple and red is a hideous combination. 

----

Thanks for the input, guys!  My going theory is the same.....had to have been replaced at some point.  But I thought I'd throw it out there just in case.  I appreciate the responses!

[Ghoste]

Think of all the money you just saved now by being able to go with the regular headliner. 

[ds440]

Think of all the money you just saved now by being able to go with the regular headliner. 

Ha!  That's for sure.  Or I was going to try to sell my "ULTRA RARE, 1 of 1, sorta-different accidental headliner'd optioned '68 Charger" at Barrett-Jackson.....for no less than $1 million.   

I thought posting it would be interesting just to see if anyone else has encountered such a material.  Especially considering everything I've seen over the years tells me there is nothing 'standard' on these cars.   

[ds440]

Just a small update - in case someone stumbles on this thread at a later time.

I heard back from Legendary.  Apparently, they do have the material in stock and it is the same pattern that was used in '67 A-bodies.   

I still believe it was more than likely replaced at some point, but......there you go.  The mystery of 'what material it is' has been solved.  How it got there is still unknown.   

[tan top]

thanks for the update    that's interesting  ,  wonder if the factory run out of red headliners that day or shift & had some red A body stuff in the stores    ....

heard -read storys of parts being substituted because of shortages in a particular shift or using up old model stock , how true it is I don't know !!

[Ghoste]

I think more likely in this case some upholstery shop was redoing the headliner and had some genuine Mopar headliner material laying around or something along those lines.

[tan top]

I think more likely in this case some upholstery shop was redoing the headliner and had some genuine Mopar headliner material laying around or something along those lines.

      think that too ,

was just kind of getting carried away with  what if  .....   

[ds440]

I think more likely in this case some upholstery shop was redoing the headliner and had some genuine Mopar headliner material laying around or something along those lines.

That's what I was thinking as well.  Or a dealer had some replacement fabric from an earlier job.  If it wasn't a Mopar specific material, then I think we could all agree it was an upholstery shop replacement.  But being a '67 material leads me to believe it was someone who was attempting to be Mopar specific. 

Initially I wondered whether or not they were using up old model stock.  The folks at Legendary wondered the same thing, when I discussed it with them at the Nats.  I've heard Mother Mopar did that in other areas....steering wheels, door handles, etc......but headliners?  Seems unlikely for some reason.

I'll probably go with the standard "correct" replacement, but I wanted to make sure that the DC.com archives has something of record.....just in case anyone else stumbles across something else like this. 

[Ghoste]

Especially when it comes to using 67 A-body parts in a 68 B-body.