1972 Supreme Saddle carpet colors / build sheet found!

[Lady72nRob71]

Last night I was contemplating carpet color choices for my 72 Supreme with samples I just got.

Legendary has three shades of ‘saddle’ carpet: #26 Saddle, # 27 Light / medium Saddle, and #29 Dark Saddle.
They sent me the #27 and #29 just to confuse me. They both go well with the dark saddle upholstery, which thankfully only comes in one shade that matches my existing upholstery.

Here is the comparison:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3077/2824921424_b86d7346a2.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3084/2824921434_32f7006fcc.jpg

The #27 (on left) is a little lighter and ‘golder’ than the upholstery and dash and the #29 (middle) is darker than both.
The color of the nasty original carpet is right in between the two and this is what is causing my confusion.
Therefore I need a little help in deciding which would look better.
I am leaning toward the darker, as maybe the lighter would look too shiny in the sun.

Can anyone here with 1972 saddle interiors tell me if their carpet looks lighter or darker than the seats?


Also, after pulling the sill plate to look at the original carpet (it is underneath a cheap dark replacement carpet), I found what appears to be a tattered build sheet under the original carpet, next to the seat belt retractor.
Here is the build sheet:


Does anyone have a picture of a good readable build sheet from 1972? I cannot read the small printing...
What are all the option codes for? Reason I ask is that not all the options the car had are on the build sheet.
The power front disk brakes and clock are not on there, along with several others.
It lists the U80 “bi-phonic rear speakers” but does not show a radio (which it should have had…)
I am guessing it lists just the options that affected the installation of the carpet, seats, and interior??
Options shown are:
A65 seat, custom sport front (Now who would have paid more for a bench seat?)
A39 deluxe seat belts, conv.
C60 A/C
U80 Biphonic rear speakers
Y60 Mirrors and lamps convenience group

Any thoughts?

[scott_442]

Based on what I see in my 72, I think the darker shade is correct. The other looks more like the 1970 gold. As you can see in the pic, the insert in my front seat has been redone but the outer edges and seatbacks are the original material. I also have a very legible build sheet for this car. Are you looking to decipher certain codes?

[Lady72nRob71]

Scott, I agree with you; the darker color does look more correct.
I like how your partial recovering came out - looks great!
I do know what each option code means; I was wondering why some codes are on the sheet and some were not... Is yours this way also?

Also, what is COPO? And what is with the "1st card" and "2nd card" rows on the sheet? Why are not all car options on the sheet? Maybe I just want to know more than I am supposed to...

Allan, thanks for that clear build sheet picture - that was what I was looking for. I could not read mine well since it was so nasty looking.

Yep, the ol' gal has had quite a few surprises for me already...
Last year on this day, I had drained out 2 gallons of rain water she was hiding in the right rear quarter, brought home from North Carolina!

I am interested to know what I will find when i actually pull the original carpet out (hopefully no rust!)

Yes, those are the seats that will be redone this fall; looks like need to put "seat ****" on the wish list along with my other parts, like seat side springs.
While the seat may not look too bad in the picture, the vinyl has turned dark and hard, and the foam too soft. I think the side springs are busted also. I sit on the floor almost and I do not weigh THAT much...
The back seat is all torn, so I will just do it all. Maybe I can do better in some car shows as well.
Nice comments on seat mounting; I never thought of the T-cuts... According to the assy manual, there are supposed to be some retainers that hold the carpet down at the front legs of the seat. I wonder if i have em (I doubt it)...
I will get a matching top boot and rear armests as well to make sure everything comes from the same material lot and will match nicely.
Looks to be an interesting fall this year!

[Lady72nRob71]

Okay, more color choices...
Is the bench seat adjuster **** supposed to be black or chrome, or were both used in '72?
Scott had a black on his, but both are listed in catalogs for 72...

Also does the bucket adj **** fit the bench also? Some catalogs say they interchange but some do not.
I did not expect so much confusion from a $7 part...
Thanks!!

[scott_442]

The seat ***** could vary by model....mine is just a regular Cutlass so the Supreme could have used the chrome ****.

[scott_442]

I don't mean to hijack this thread but since we're discussing build sheets, anybody know what these codes are (my sheet was torn during removal):

U63
VJ9
Y60
Y78

These are from a 72 Cutlass...THANKS!!

[rrielley]

I'd have to agree with the others. My "saddle" carpet is darker than my "saddle" seats. That being said, my seats are original and likely have faded over the years. By the way, I just replaced the original convertible top and it looks great. I'm very pleased with the quality of the job. The old "white" top had turned beige over the 36 years so stark white brightness of the new one made me look twice. I'd love to find the build sheet--maybe one day when I pull everything apart...

[Lady72nRob71]

rrielley,
Are you sure you did not have the "Covert beige" top to start with? It was code "T" on the build sheet and the tag on the firewall. That was what my 72 originally came with.
While your seats may have faded over time, mine has changed color drastically in places and has even darkened in some. My trim shop looked at it and said it was normal, as the fabrics often came from different lots when the covers were made long ago.
Looking at your interior, the darker carpet does looks good. I do not think the lighter gold will look right, so looks as if I am going with the darker saddle. If anything, it will just fade in the sun over the years anyway!

Scott,
Good point... Since my seat side area already has lots of chrome, I will go with the chrome adj ****. I think it will blend in well.

Allan,
You had an interesting point on your cruise option... How do the 2 firewall grommets over the fuse block look? If they look very neat, professional, and the right size I would almost doubt it to be a dealer intalled item, just because of the pain it will be to drill those 1.25" & 0.870" holes in the firewall in such a confined space... The smaller one was supposibly used for only the cruise speedo cable. Just my ltd reasoning though...
From the literature I have, power drum and power disk brakes were both separate options. Of course, maybe the convertible was special? Sometimes I wondered if GM even knew what was standard and what was not.
My clock and rally wheels could have been dealer installed for sure.
But still why did they list the rear speakers but no radio?? That one bugs me! In fact the rear speaker wiring looked like a real cludge job like the dealer would have done, but I know someone else could have monkied with it since. The speakers themselves looked to have been in there for over 3 decades...

Ahhh... the mysteries of vintage automobiles...

[Jamesbo]

Have you swithced out the speakers? If so what way did you go?
My 69 convertible speakers aren't worth a tinkers damn.

[Lady72nRob71]

Originally Posted by Jamesbo

Have you swithced out the speakers? If so what way did you go?
My 69 convertible speakers aren't worth a tinkers damn.

I know how you feel!
Here is what I did about the rear 6x9 units...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/robsalbum/2476405870/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/robsalbum/2476405878/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/robsalbum/2476405876/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/robsalbum/2478321790/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/robsalbum/2478327206/

What is not mentioned is that I cut some small triagular masonite pieces to glue over the holes in the trunk side of the sheet metal frame the speakers mount on. The idea is to try to "seal" up the "enclosure" to prevent the front and rear air waves from cancelling each other out.
The divider board and jute in the forth photo helps seal the passenger side of the "enclosure".
It is obvious there was not any acoustical consideration for convertibles back then.
Even with these new speakers, it takes a lot of power to get any good sound from them due to their mounting. Witht he top down at speed, it will be even worse...
A previous owner even cut holes in the well liner in hopes to hear them a little better... I did not like that though.

In the last picture, one of the previous owners cut holes in the rear armrests and put speakers there, but I do not recommend it due to 1.5" clearance (and originality) issues. It can be done and since my damage was done, I reinstalled them there and they work good...

At the moment I am just running the two front door and rear arm rest speaker sets, as that is all the current wimpy amp can drive. When I pull the front seat and carpet, i will replace the amp with a higher power 4 channel job.

[scott_442]

AMH555 - no, mine isn't a cutlass salon...don't think that model existed in 1972 but I could be wrong. Regarding the VJ9 option code that isn't in your book, the description starts with CA. and this is a Freemont built car so I'm thinking its something special to do with California...maybe emissions related? Were they doing that in 1972? I don't know but thanks for looking!

[Jamesbo]

Originally Posted by amh555

Hey Jamesbo, are they the original speakers? You can buy factory type and size replacement speakers that bolt right in, or they have some high output modified with dual cones. The place has just about any automotive replacement speaker you could ever want and does conversions. The guy who overhauled my radio gave me the info, otherwise I couldn't find anything close to fitting off the shelf. They sound good, nothing like the new speakers and stereos but I like the old tinny sound in an old car, part of the overall effect.
It's like being in a time warp when you're driving and an oldie comes on you haven't heard in years, "Born to be Wild" and my right foot just mashes the accelerator all by itself. )
(That song was actually about a Mercury Comet the writer had, nothing to do with bikes, no joke)

Allan

http://www.turnswitch.com/speakers.htm

I don't know why I concern myself with it. With Flow Masters, I can't hear a thing anywho. It just erks me when I make dumb decsions like buy a POS repo radio from Year One and a POS dual front speaker. I think I a gonna chunk the ole A/M F/M back into it for appearance sake and just sing."Dooooooooo waaaaaaaaaa doooooooo waaaaaaaa"

[Lady72nRob71]

Ah... It's the ol' remote control in the ashtray trick! You couldn't fool me on that one!! (Don Adams quote.)
I found that my ipod nano in a clear hard case fits right in my '72s ashtray and holds it just right so i can just open the door and control it; totally invisible; enough to where I can just leave it there. the wires were run through the dash to the radio; perfect for long trips.
Those kickpanel speakers are a good choice to avoid cutting holes in doors. Connect them to a real amp and you should be able to hear your tunes with the top down. Bass blocking capacitors (200uF NP) should be used.

I heard many complaints about the "200 watt" custom autosound stuff sold by Year One and others. Inside was a 7 watt per channel IC amp - disgraceful. Have you tried to hook that thing up to an external amp? That should work MUCH better!

Lady currently has two 5.25" in the doors (with 200uF bass blocking caps) and two 6.5" in the rear armrests (they mostly came with the car) driven by a 30x2 cheapo amp under the seat (came with the car). It is easy to hear loud at any speed, but her exhaust note is a bit mellow!

[Jamesbo]

This thread reminds me of the "Growing up in the sixties " Thread Back when everybody cut holes in the kick pannels and rear pannels [or package tray ] to get some decent sound out of their radio and or 8 track.

If I am not mistaken [which I often am] 69 was the first year for am/fm Stereo radio.

I still have one of those thing-a-ma jigs you plug into an 8 track to add am FM radio tuner to your FM set up. Funky

[68Tom]

Originally Posted by Lady72nRob71

Also, what is COPO?

Rob--

I'm guessing it would be the same for an Olds as it is for a Chevy, as they're both GM. If this is the case, it stands for Central Office Production Order. Generally, this was a way for dealers to specially order cars that were not a part of their product line offered to the public and special orders. For instance, most police vehicles were COPO vehicles due to the special features required.

The most famous cars are the 1969 COPO Camaro (COPO 9560--427 ZL1 Aluminum engine, and COPO 9561--427 iron block) and 1969 COPO Chevelle (427 iron block only).

Anyway, just in case you were still wondering.....

[Lady72nRob71]

Originally Posted by 68Tom

Rob--

I'm guessing it would be the same for an Olds as it is for a Chevy, as they're both GM. If this is the case, it stands for Central Office Production Order.
Anyway, just in case you were still wondering.....

Thanks Tom - that does makes sense.
I am always up for learning new things (as long as they are not too complex...)