TMI Upholstery Sport II Series Seat Mach 1 1969-1970

Bill: Today, we are taking a look at some ways to upgrade your Mustang's interior using premium products from one of our more popular vendors, TMI. TMI has been an industry leader for over 30 years, producing interior products for your '64 through 2013 Mustang. Today, we have a special guest in our studio, TMI sales manager Waylon Crumrie. Waylon, thanks for coming.

Waylon: Thanks for having me Bill.

Bill: I'm sure that you get this a lot, but what does TMI stand for?

Waylon: TMI was founded in 1982 by four brothers whose last name is Tuccinardi. You get Tuccinardi Manufacturing Incorporated.

Bill: How did you get in to the Mustang market?

Waylon: Originally we started doing Volkswagen interiors, but we quickly saw the market demand for high-quality premium Mustang upholstery and so we have been doing that now for about 25 years.

Bill: Where do you manufacture your products?

Waylon: We manufacture in Corona, California, where we have about 140,000 square feet and nearly 200 employees who do 100% of our manufacturing right here in the U.S.A.

Bill: I hear that you have some new products for us today?

Waylon: I sure do. Do you want to take a look?

Bill: Sounds good. So, Waylon, when you think of TMI the first thing that comes in mind is your upholstery line. We've been selling your standard upholstery for years. Well, it looks like you have a few more options available now. Can you tell us about them?

Waylon: Yeah of course this is the factory option everybody is used to seeing for the last 50-some odd years. We've been producing this upholstery here for 25 years. Then about eight years ago we came out with what people know relatively well as our Sport seat, which is what you've got your hand on there, which is essentially the same seat we'll be looking at here with just slight more bolstering to the bottom of the backrest. Just recently we've released what I call the Sport II and our Sport R version of the Pony Seat. Before we get into more detail on those, let's go back and we'll talk about the original Pony Seat in more detail. This is our 1964 1/2 - 1966 Pony Seat. Everybody is pretty familiar with this seat if you're a Mustang enthusiast.

There are a few key things I want to point out that we specialize in and take a lot of pride in here at TMI. What we do here, one thing I do want to point out is when you look at the piping, there should be a two-different sized piping here following the insert it's a lot thinner and about twice as thick as the perimeter piping. Small detail but it does make a difference. Another thing worth pointing out is the depth to the ponies. We are Ford licensed for this and you'll notice that they do have a lot more of a raised edge to them than a lot of the other seats you see out there today.

As well as one thing you can feel more than see is the quality of vinyl we use is much thicker than a lot of the vinyl you find out there today. It really does have the durability to last. A couple of things you can't see on this seat are actually what you'll find behind it. Right here is the listing channel that you'll hog ring down in to pull the insert and ours is a really heavy-duty listing. You're not going to pull through that, it's not going to tear. One of the most frustrating things is that you're halfway through an installation and then find this material is just going to pull right through when you hog ring it. We did make sure that that is extremely durable.

You can see the quality in the thickness of the foam to give it this depth of feeding as well as the consistency in the stitching. I do have one machine that does all of these pleats at one time. You are not having individual seams run at individual times. We run up to 16 pleats at a time to make sure that the distance between every pleat is exactly the same. Again, it's the small things that really make the difference when you talk about the quality of TMI. Now what we've got here is our sport seat version of the standard seat we were just looking at. About eight years ago we came out with this seat and brought it to market. What you'll notice maybe right away is the heavier bolster on the sides and on the bottom rest. Basically when these cars were first designed they were designed to go really fast in a straight line. Now as the cars have progressed and suspension has progressed, these things are taking sharp turns and there's a need to hold the driver in the seat and that's something the originals just didn't do very well. You always ended up either in the passenger seat or out the door.

We added a little bit of bolstering both in the backrest and again at the bottom of the legs to kind of help hold the end of the seat as you take the turns. We didn't change the styling in the seat, the pattern, didn't change the color or any of the things that make it a Pony Seat. We simply just brought these bolsters forward to give you a little bit more support, a little bit more comfort in your ride. This is one of the two new products I want to show you this week that I'm really excited to release. This is brand new to TMI and brand new to the market. This is what we're calling our Sport Seat 2. Again you'll notice that they just keep all the factory original pleating patterns, all the embossing and piping just like the original. What I'm sure you'll notice by now is the exaggerated bolsters. We really took things up a notch. When we made our first Sport seat, we were a little timid when we changed the shape of the original seat. Well that was eight years ago, then we realized that the seat could actually come up a few more inches to supply even additional support while still maintaining its original look and integrity but still giving, like I said, an added support to the driver.

These come out at a much sharper angle and at a much sharper angle here but again giving you a lot more support as you take a turn. This is our newest seat. This is our Sport R version of the seat we were just looking at. Again this is the '64 - '65 Pony Seat which of course you can see the original styling is still kept intact. We still have the embossed ponies. We still have the insert, just like what you'd see in an original Pony Seat. What we've done differently that makes this a Sport R is we've added a suede or a Unisuede insert here, plus a Unisuede insert down the back as well as a contrast stitching which runs around the perimeter in a French seam.

Originally this seat had piping all around the perimeter. We thought we'd smooth the side a little bit, give it more of a streamlined modern approach and do a French seam around the edges with a contrast stitch. I do want to remind everybody even as drastic as this seat appears to be from the original, this is still a stock frame underneath. Underneath here is still all the stock metal work, all the stocks tracks and frames and frame. It's just foam and upholstery that give this seat its aggressive styling.

Bill: I remember getting some picture of these seats a couple of months ago but they didn't do them justice. They are gorgeous in person. Tell us a little bit more about them.

Waylon: I appreciate it. These are two of my favorite seats from the new line. The one closest to you is our Sport II for the '69 - '70 Mach I. Again you'll notice all the original styling but there're aggressive heavy bolsters on the side. To the right is our Sport R version of the '69 - '70 Mach I. Again when you see them side by side it's much easier to take note. You'll see there's a French seam here with a contrast stitching as opposed to the piping from the original and you'll see here we've kind of split the insert up giving it a Unisuede 'U' that kind of wraps around here and then goes up bolster to the seat, comes down. Like I said, a lot more aggressive, a lot more custom. Much more of a modern twist to the original seat.

Bill: We currently offer your standard upholstery as well as your Sport upholstery on our website and both have been very popular. When can we expect to get our hands on your new products?

Waylon: We plan to have our entire line for both the '64 - '73 Sport II's as well as the '64 - '73 Sport R's available by the end of December 2012.