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Blue Ranger Houndstooth Seat Covers?

mickphatmac

Sr. Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2006
Messages
520
Does anyone know where I can possibly get a pair of these... Blue Ranger Houndstooth Seat Covers?

Besides Bronco Hut???
 

73azbronco

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 11, 2007
Messages
7,796
No, bronco hut. They have closest thing to OEM IMO, they do not have the door cards online, but they said they could make them.
 

crawln68

Bronco Guru
Joined
Oct 8, 2004
Messages
3,045
I am planning an entire blue ranger build, so I am interested in this too. I've emailed Bronco Hut several times with no reply back. :-[
 

AFLtCol

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Sep 10, 2012
Messages
1,069
I am planning an entire blue ranger build, so I am interested in this too. I've emailed Bronco Hut several times with no reply back. :-[

IF you call and no answer, leave a message. Melissa is really good at calling back.
 

crawln68

Bronco Guru
Joined
Oct 8, 2004
Messages
3,045
IF you call and no answer, leave a message. Melissa is really good at calling back.

It's hard for me to talk on the phone at work. That's why I was e-mailing them. I even went on their website and filled my shopping cart with almost $3000 worth of parts, then printed it, scanned it and e-mailed to them. I thought that would be the easiest $3000 sale in the world. But all I got back was crickets. So now I'm looking for other options. Wild Horses said that they can't get the blue houndstooth material. :cry:
 

Slowleak

Bronco Guru
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Messages
3,732
Loc.
Georgia
If I was doing mine over again, for the third time, I would find a good upholstery shop, have them order the material from SMS and make the covers. I have had good experiences with the vinyl covers. Most are made by Distinctive Industries, including the vinyl ones BroncoHut sells. http://www.distinctiveindustries.com/catalog/ford/bronco/1967-1977

I have not had as good results with the houndstooth covers I have ordered. Those are made to order. The last set had to be modified and restitched. It may be that I just had a bad experience but it was exactly that..... a bad experience.
 
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mickphatmac

mickphatmac

Sr. Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2006
Messages
520
I am planning an entire blue ranger build, so I am interested in this too. I've emailed Bronco Hut several times with no reply back. :-[

Bronco Hut is a good place for parts, I like talking to Dana and Melissa....But... definitely Ma & Pop kinda shop. They keep time on their own terms and open and close when it’s convenient for them. Nothing wrong with that, just seems like that’s how they do business.

When I talked to her, she said a guy(or a shop?) in California makes all their seat covers and their next supply won’t be in until November 1st orrrr whenever it gets in!??? I put my name on her list just in case I don’t find some sooner.
 

FonksBronc

New Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2018
Messages
7
My original interior is the Blue Houndtooth, Bucket covers and panels are pretty much toast, back seat is great. Question, should a person keep it as the blue, or just go with the usual white or black?
 

TDubya

Sr. Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2009
Messages
381
Loc.
Fortuna, CA
A few years ago I got the blue and a buddy got the green from Bronco Hut. We're both happy with the interiors and Melissa was helpful.
 

tirewater

Contributor
Sr. Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
1,040
Loc.
San Francisco Bay Area
My original interior is the Blue Houndtooth, Bucket covers and panels are pretty much toast, back seat is great. Question, should a person keep it as the blue, or just go with the usual white or black?

You can't go wrong keeping it blue.

I bought the blue door panels and front/rear seat covers. If I were to do it again I'd stick with my stock door panels as the reproduction ones, while 'clean', were disappointing.

The seat covers were nice, perhaps a tad tight, but I've had no problem. My advice is to buy the blue houndstooth seat covers and have an upholstery shop install them.
 

Slowleak

Bronco Guru
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Messages
3,732
Loc.
Georgia
When I talked to her, she said a guy(or a shop?) in California makes all their seat covers and their next supply won’t be in until November 1st orrrr whenever it gets in!??? I put my name on her list just in case I don’t find some sooner.


Is that true for all the covers or just the cloth ones? I worked with Melissa to have my Ranger covers made by her California guy. I shipped the material, which I already had, to him and paid her.

My understanding was that their vinyl covers came from Distinctive Industries. BroncoHut is listed as a distributor on their website but they do not do cloth, only vinyl...

If you are looking for vinyl covers, a local shop can probably order from Distinctive Industries and install them for you, or you can order thru any of their distributors.

The upholstery guy I used before no longer makes covers. He orders them from Distinctive and just does the installs. He said they are the best and most consistent quality covers he has found....

http://www.distinctiveindustries.co...-77-bronco-front-bucket-seats-detail?Itemid=2
 

Slowleak

Bronco Guru
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Messages
3,732
Loc.
Georgia
A few years ago I got the blue and a buddy got the green from Bronco Hut. We're both happy with the interiors and Melissa was helpful.


Just curious about this. Does your rear seat have a seam in the center of the front edge like this one?

3dfe8f16bb65714b258dcbe3af636e8a.jpg
 
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mickphatmac

mickphatmac

Sr. Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2006
Messages
520
I guess I assumed about "all" of the upholstery being done in Cali, but we were just talking about the Blue Houndstooth/cloth ones I suppose....Not that I really care one way or the other!??

I bought my tan houndstooth ones for my last Bronco from Bronco Hut and they were amazing looking!

My rear seat doesn't have a seam in it.
 

Slowleak

Bronco Guru
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Messages
3,732
Loc.
Georgia
I guess I assumed about "all" of the upholstery being done in Cali, but we were just talking about the Blue Houndstooth/cloth ones I suppose....Not that I really care one way or the other!??

I bought my tan houndstooth ones for my last Bronco from Bronco Hut and they were amazing looking!

My rear seat doesn't have a seam in it.


Hopefully she has a new stitcher. There were some problems when mine were made. I sure can’t say they are amazing. Certainly not compared to some of the custom covers I have seen on this site but I am a bit of a perfectionist. I hear nothing but great things about BroncoHut Ranger covers but that just didn’t happen for me.

Here’s the long version of my BroncoHut story:

I bought a roll of OEM tan houndstooth in 1999 and saved it for my covers. I wanted them to be really nice reproductions so in 2014 I called Melissa. She said to ship the stuff to her guy in California, so I did. A few weeks later I got covers.

The covers I got back did not have the correct seam stitching. Nothing like the originals. Didn’t even have piping in places where it should. I sent them back, called Melissa, and even sent pictures of the originals showing how the seams should be done. She said they would have to start over and would not be able to reuse the OEM fabric I had sent. That was a waste of some nice, expensive, authentic OEM stuff. That REALLY ticked me off.

In a few weeks I got the next set and they looked better but it was over a year before I got around to installing them. I put them over new TMI foam. Same stuff Melissa sells. They had lots of wrinkles mainly in the top of the backs. After seeing that I took them to an upholstery guy. Some seams were loose, vinyl was much thinner than stock. They had to be recut and some seams redone. After two weeks he said “that’s the best I can do with these things” and asked me who made them.

I took them to another shop. They second shop got them looking a little better but he pointed out a lot of things that were not done properly. He basically said he could not make them look as good as they would if he had stitched them. I asked him if he could start over and make new ones. That’s when he told me he didn’t do that anymore. He ordered all his covers from Distinctive Industries.

So, I tweeked them some myself and they look good but nothing like I would expect for the over $1600 I now have invested in them and I still have that dang seam.

If I see that seam in a rear cushion I know it is a BroncoHut cover. I have never seen it on an all vinyl seat. Only cloth ones.....that leads me to believe that the all vinyl seats covers they sell come from Distinctive Industries as do the houndstooth door panels and quarter panels.

Bottom line is that, at least in my opinion, quality can vary with the vinyl/cloth custom seats from BroncoHut. Fitment varies based on foam and who does the install. That’s why my suggestion is always to find a good custom upholstery shop and have them do them. Then there is no finger pointing and no excuses...

I’m not trashing BroncoHut. I’ve been buying from Melissa for almost 20 years. I’m just sharing my experience with my covers and the reasons why I would use a local custom shop.
 

AFLtCol

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Sep 10, 2012
Messages
1,069
Just curious about this. Does your rear seat have a seam in the center of the front edge like this one?

3dfe8f16bb65714b258dcbe3af636e8a.jpg

Looking at the pics of the original cover for my backseat, I am not seeing a seam.
 

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