LDO Seats....they aren't Maverick seats

Hi guys, I don't actually have a Maverick, but I thought you guys might find this interesting: I have a '66 Mustang....and after looking at a variety of seat options, I couldn't find one that retained the stock look until I stumbled across some '73 Ford Capri seats and swapped them into the Mustang(with minor modifications such as removing the hideous head rest and cutting down the seat frame somewhat):


I had to rebuild the frames and baskets from scratch...was rather a nightmare since Capri seat parts are virtually impossible to find...I had to fabricate or substitute replacement parts...but I finally got some new covers made for them:

Anyway, as you can see....these are the same seats(different seat covers) that the Maverick uses for the LDO option. From what I can tell, the LDO seat basket is a little bit different, and the seat foam on the LDO seats to be a bit...plusher for lack of a better word. Aside from that, they seem to be identical. I wish I had known this before, I might have been able to find some Maverick seat foam to use...as it is, I used cut and glued '66 lower seat foam(was able to salvage the upper foam). Not sure how useful this is to Maverick guys, but its another stray piece of info.

 

I'm not seeing the resemblance to LDO seats, but they look right at home in the Mustang. You've done a nice job with your modifications...

 

You will if you see a set with the headrests in place, they look very similar.

 

In particular you are looking at the flip-forward lever, the hinge cover, the recline lever...and the track cover(though I never put the track cover back in on mine, it and the headrests are also identical). The only reason the aren't identical is that the lower seat basket(and associated foam) on the maverick seats is flat at the front. The seat basket on the Capri seats slopes upward:



This is a pic of the Capri seat during tear down(passenger side...driver's was too disintegrated to recognize much of anything). The frame and seat spring/wire support system is exactly the same aside from the shape of the basket and the foam.

In the end its only really useful to people looking to restore the seats as another parts source...but most people with the LDO seats likely just swap to something else anyway, but now you know that Capri guys can use some of the seat parts at least.

 

Here are my LDO seats that came with my 74 maverick. Are they correct ?

 

I don't think so, but others here can probably tell you for sure...

 

The LDO seats in my 74 Comet had non adjustable headrests, like the picture in wicked93gs post #5
David

 

I had some 75 LDO seats. The upholstery looked like post #5, but the headrests looked like post #6.

 

1974 LDO seats look like this.