Howdy, I am redoing a 64 Custom 500 2 door sedan that is a "barn/field find" from Arizona. The interior was mice/rat infested and they chewed up the front and rear door panels. Not to mention other treats they left behind, layers of it. Questions 1. I know the rear door panel is different for a 2 door hardtop, yet have not found ones for a 2 door sedan. (I don't mind putting in a Galaxie 500 interior). Are there ones available and if not, has anyone modified a 2 dr hdtp panel to fit? 2. I see Concours Parts Inc. and Dearborn Classics both have a large selection of parts. Are the interiors from the same factory or is one of better quality? I see Dearborn Classics have some nice packages of components (like brake parts, window rubber and seals), has anyone bought them and have feed back? 3. Does anyone know the best way to sanitize the car? I am slowly fixing/restoring the car to do some nostalgia drag racing. The interior is so bad that it's become a priority over the drivetrain. Thank you, God Bless, Ed
Ed, the clean up should be the easy part. First I'd grab a filter mask while inside the car. Remove all of the trim, including seats, side panels and the headliner. Sweep up all the solid stuff. Use an anti-bacterial dish shop and water and wipe down the inside of the car. If the seats are in otherwise decent condition, I would take them to a local trim shop and have the covers removed as well as the padding. Assess the damage as the rodents usually use the padding for nests and replace as necessary. If any of the seat trim is being saved, treatment with an anti-bacterial spray should be used. I'd look under the dash for any signs of chewed wiring and replace/clean as necessary.
please post pic of front and back seats (what's left), even door panels. Maybe someone here has a upholstery kit for your car.
WHOA ........ that's nasty! I don't feel so bad now. This is the picture I got of it when I was considering buying it. It is worse than it looks here. It's the first car I ever had shipped. The others I went and picked up myself, so there were some surprises. Like I said the picture doesn't do it justice. The "nuggets" are deep in the back under the seats. I scooped out a bunch of it to find they had chewed all the carpet out of the footwells. There was a real nice nest in the trunk, and some chewed wires under the hood. Not to mention a busted windshield that if I look back real real close at the photos I can kind of pick it out. Overall though it's a real solid car and I love 64 Fords. This is a strict "no-debt" build, so it may be a while before it sees the track. I am looking forward to it as it's amazing how much fun (and cheeper) racing is when you don't have to keep looking in your mirror for flashing blue lights. Thank you all for your help, I greatly appreciate it. God Bless, Ed
Had the same thing with the 55 wagon I have. Even stripped and cleaned multiple times, on hotter days, I can still get a whiff of rat urine from the car. It's much less than when I originally got the car. Strip everything out of it, including headliner. Toss it all. Clean, clean and clean again. I used pet odor remover, bleach/water, dawn and water. I even cleaned the seat springs with the same concoctions. Anything, including steel, will absorb the odor.
My 64 Custom didn't look much better when I fished it out of a junk yard, but luckily my door panels where in good shape. You might be better off just having your door panels recovered, because I'm pretty sure no company makes reproductions like they do for fastbacks. There are some 4-door interior trim parts that interchange with the 2-door sedan. Try Dennis Carpenter for reproduction parts, they have always fit perfectly on my car.
Good luck on your '64! Great find! Take the seats out and pull the carpet with the surprises. Remove as much water sensitive parts from the car. Load it on a trailer and take it to a car wash, not the one nearest your house, and vacuum as much of the crap out as you can. Are there holes in the floor? Take some tin snips and enlarge them if necessary after vacuuming, then pull in the car wash bay and spray away. Carry some 'Greased Lightening' or similar cleaner with you and spray away, allow to soak and then fire up the car wash spraying everything inside. Floor, windows, roof,...Do this several times and it will start to get clean. Don't forget the trunk! I did this after buying a car that had racoons in it, they got bigger surprises and love seat upholstery and foam! Had a tetnus shot lately? tnrotter
spray microban on the interior and leave it for a few hours. It'll kill any living organism, which will get rid of the odors.
Thank you all. I will keep you all updated how things are going. I have a 460 out of a 75 Ford police car with a C6 for it. However I an really leaning towards finding a 390 FE motor for it. Well either way the interior needs to get done first. Thanks again
I can't correctly comment about two door panels but I know four door isn't available so I planned on trying them out myself as this chap did. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2129621/13 Just an idea to consider, if you have panels that will form a decent template for you.
My neighbor had mice in his OT Vette last winter, or maybe a couple of winter's worth since it doesn't get used much. He wound up taking the whole dash apart, all the interior apart to the rear hatch. The little furbags were everywhere! They chewed up some wiring, left piss and sh** everywhere. He washed everything out with a brush with an ammonia and water solution, followed by Simple Green spray which he had to keep re-applying to cut the crud. He finally got the stink out of it and now the car is back together. You may want to consider a steam cleaning once you gut the interior out of it. Bob
Hey Mark, Yup, I have a 390 for it. I don't really have the funds to build it into a true NSS car, but trying to keep everything in line to do so. I have another Custom I bought out of Oklahoma, an original 6 cyl. car that I am saving to build in the future. Bob, I probably will run it down to the car wash, vacuum what's left now, power wash the inside and underside or the car. Then plan on removing the dash, door panels, headliner and back part of the rear seat. I'm not sure who could steam clean it, or if I could rent one. I'll also have to try some of the guys suggestions on neutralizing the odor and any bacteria. All kinds of strange little bugs were running around. Almost just got rid of it and started on the other car. I will also need to find an interior at a reasonable price. Too nice and rare to just let her go. The plus side is there isn't much rust on the car. There is surface rust started on the passenger rear floor, from the prior inhabitant’s urine, but the rest looks really decent. Thanks for the help, God Bless, Ed [/COLOR][/FONT]
I decided to get rid of the whole seats. Both had two large rat nests intertwined with all the springs. The springs all had heavy rust on them, I'm guessing from their urine. <o></o> On a side note:<o></o> Robinson, you guys have some pretty cool designs on quality t-shirts, I have "Lucky's" and it's held up well. I totally recommend them.
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