I agree! 70 Cuda bucket seats have three different types of grain in their construction! I seriously doubt a local upholstery shop would be able to match all three grains. I don't know what year and model you're working on, but if you're wanting them to look factory that is something to keep in...
If it were my build I would run either 3.23 or 3.54 gears with that trans. The 2.73 gears will be okay and should make for some really good gas mileage but they take away from the 'off the line' experience.
My original seat foam was in good shape so I just reused it. When I ordered the covers my intention was to put them on myself. I got a hog ring kit from Amazon, and years ago I had some experience doing seat covers. My wife talked me out of it and I had a local guy do them for me.
I did mine with the dash assembly in the car. It wasn't bad at all and I'm 70 and not very flexible anymore. You have to remove your glovebox and I took the instrument cluster out also. I believe there are 12 nuts holding it on.
That won't work, the locksmith will need the ignition lock. I had the same problem, lost my keys and had to pull the ignition and trunk locks to get new keys made. The Locksmith told me the door lock cylinders don't use as many tumblers as the ignition switch does, and he would not be able to...
I had the same issue with Hagerty after the family sold the company, prices kept going up every year. I have all my other vehicles and home insured with State Farm and when I found out they had classic car insurance I switched the Cuda over to them. Same coverage, same declared value and half...
The car looks great! I would hate to try and guess how much I have in mine, I've been messing with it for over 20 years and never kept receipts or anything. I bought it in 2002 for $1500 with no engine or tranny and quite a bit of rust but the body interior was basically all there.
Great...
Great job on the stripes! That is a high anxiety job for sure, I've done several graphics applications and it's never easy.
I used the later style mirrors on my 70 Cuda also, I think they look better and they are easier to source. I went the opposite of you though and went with body color mirrors.
Sorry but I don't have any experience in repairing dings. The back panels from my bucket seats had a few minor gouges and the only thing I did was clean them up so there were no ragged edges and painted them that way.