2003 bird sighted

[ylo brd]

After a tour of the Wixom plant yesterday, we saw a pre-production 2003 black bird #39. It had the saddle seats and they appeared to be more of a rust shade. This car had the stainless steel protective strip on the back deck. We were told by an inside source that this would not be on the 2003 production models. The new instrument cluster looked good and more retro. Wasn't impressed with the V8 emblem on the front fenders.

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[CTBob]

As far as the saddle seats are concerned, could you provide more detail. What color is the dash trim, and are there insert colors on the seats or is the rust color you refer to the the insert on a black seat? Did the saddle leather appear more upscale than the nudo leather on the 2002 Bird?

Thanks

 

[JRElvis]

Look on Dot's site for a closeup of the 2003 gauges. I think they're hideous and certainly not more retro. In fact, on the contrary, I think they were made less retro because Ford wanted the 2002 models to be extra special. By the way Dot, great pictures on your site!

 

[leisha]

I was at the previously mentioned tour and saw the same car.
The Saddle tan??? seats looked like a redish brown color.
The entire seat and head rests, were that color, including the plasic covering of the base.
The engineer driving the car told us that there would be no color accents other than the seats.
The balance of the interior would be the same as the base car. This one had the black accents on the steering wheel and gear shift lever.
Non of us who had 02 birds seemed to like the saddle tan at all. Lots of 'who would want it, and what was Ford thinking" were heard. It looks like the seats were taken from another car and dropped in. The color doesn't seem to go with any exterior color. It seems that they are close to the color of the Pebble Beach concept which was dark grey with the complete 'saddle tan' interior.
Someone a Ford must have thought they could make a cheap imitation of that car. but it doesn't work with the balance of the interior black.
We saw some 'gunmetal grey rear facias sitting on racks near the assembly line. The grey color is great, a metallic, a bit lighter than the Pebble Beach car. Nice color.
The stainless steel trim, where the top sits was scuffed and bent upward here and there probably deformed when the top is torqued down. The fellow who gave us a talk on the plans for the 03 ,04 and 05 told us that they felt the scuffing could be controled with cleaning of the contact area regularly and with the use of the film kit if using the top for an extended period.
I personally felt that the new gauge cluster looked more retro and the bolder script was easier to see.
The V8 on the side looked tacky. It looks like the V8 on any new car or truck not at all retro.

 

[fdthird]

Where is Dot's site?