Ricksold98

Hi all! I've gotten my "ready-to-assemble '62 Starfire back home and now need your help! My first question has to do with the foam headliner. This car has the 935 trim interior - red. According to the Olds Parts and Accessory guide for the interior, the foam headliner should be white. Mine appears to be red. I've attached pictures of it and as you can see, it faded over the years, but where it was covered by trim, it definitely was red to match the interior. Production numbers show this car was made in Detroit the last week of November 1961.



Any thoughts?

rocketraider

Is the car itself red? Chariot Red (bright red) was a midyear introduction color, and the color and interior charts were printed several months earlier.

Don't have my 62 Service Guilds and Tech Bulletins handy but it's possible a red Starfoam headliner came with a red/red interior car. Those are where it would be documented.

DK what to tell you on replacing it. Some Cadillacs and Buicks also used it but if it's reproduced I don't know about it. If it's not flaking apart as Starfoam usually does you may be able to spray dye it.

Ricksold98

Thanks rocketraider. The factory color is Garnet Mist Poly with the Provincial White top. I'm hoping to spray dye the headliner to the deep red that shows around the edges.

Oldsfan

That is not the original headliner. Original headliners were ribbed (running front to rear) and had heat-pressed "seams" running side to side. They did not offer red - just white, blue and fawn.

This is as close to the original headliner as I have seen...

Ricksold98

Thanks Oldsfan, I recently came across a Lansing built car that has the red headliner. This recently sold car by West Coast Classics shows the red/maroon headliner. I wonder if this was only offered on the Lansing built cars?

Oldsfan

No. They did not offer headliners in red. White, blue and fawn only (for Starfires), and also green for Super 88s and 98s.

This car's headliner has been replaced also. The original foam headliners were very fragile and started to decay almost immediately. Heat and human contact were detrimental. There are very few cars around that still wear their original headliners.

Ricksold98

Thanks for the information, Oldsfan! I'll consider options during my restoration.

Oldsfan

Here is what an original foam headliner looked like - and why most of them have been replaced by something else...

Ricksold98

Wow, that's really bad. No wonder they were replaced so quickly. I would guess that mine was replaced fairly early in it's life, leaving the red color to fade over time. It sure had me fooled. Thanks for the image.