1993 Feature Mustang Frequently Asked Questions and Restoration Information

This page contains answers to frequent questions I get about the feature Mustangs as well as serving as a place to document valuable information about the cars including information on restoration and replacement parts.

General Questions

1. How can I tell a 1993 Mustang is a feature car?
2. How many feature cars were made?
3. When were they made?
4. What sequence number is my feature car?
5. What are the part numbers for the parts that make a feature car? (updated 09/15/2011)

Interior

1.Where can I get replacement leather? (updated 02/14/2007)

Exterior

1. Where can I get a spoiler like the one that came on the feature cars?
2. Did the feature cars come with gold trim pieces? (updated 02/08/2005)
3. I am replacing my top. What color should I get. (02/12/2008)

Tires and Wheels

1. What were the original tires on the 1993 feature Mustang?
2. Can you provide more details about the white 5-spoke wheels?
3. Where can I purchase white wheels or get my wheels restored (updated 02/08/2005)?
4. Is there a cost effective way to restore my white wheels? (added 01/20/2004)
5. Where can I get white center caps? (added 01/31/2005)

General Questions

1. How can I tell a 1993 Mustang is a feature car?

Before I knew about the body buck tag identification method, I had figured out this way of identifying a feature car:

By looking through the Catalog of Mustang ID Numbers 1964 1/2 – 93, it appears that the Feature cars with white interior have a Trim Code of ‘CZ’ (White with Black) while other ’93 Mustangs with white leather interiors have a code of ‘CK" (White with Ruby Red) or ‘CX’ (White with Opal Grey). Cars with black leather all have a code of ‘CJ’ regardless of their Feature status.

2. How many feature cars were made?

I have read in two places that pre-production estimates were for 2500 White and 1500 Yellow.

I have also read in two separate places that the actual production numbers were 1419 Yellow and 1460 White (2). One of these places was an email from Joe Laura who is the Ford Product Engineer who, with Team Mustang, is credited with the creation of the feature Mustangs. Terry Mccoy has the detailed information for every car and car confirm the 1500/1503 numbers with real data. The lower numbers are most likely non-export only. That would mean 40 exported Vibrant White cars and 84 exported Canary Yellow ones.

3. When were they made?

I had original believed that production began on March 1, 1993 and continued for at least 4 months according to what I read in (1). Terry McCoy reports that production of the Vibrant White car began on February 4, 1993 and continued until July 23, 1993. The Canary Yellow dates should be similar.

4. What sequence number is my feature Mustang?

There is a person with the build data on all 1990, 1992 and 1993 limited edition feature cars. He may be the only person on earth with this information (well, the people at Ford probably have it but just try and get it from them). You can find details about it on the bottom of my registry page.

5. What are the part numbers for the parts that make a feature car (updated 09/15/2011)?

Here is a partial list of what I know so far:

It is interesting to note that some parts have two part numbers. So far, I only know of this on the white pony wheel and white pony wheel center cap. One part number is the part number as a ‘standard’ Mustang part and the other is the part number as the "feature" Mustang part. For instance the white pony wheel has a cast original part number of F1ZC-1007-AA but has a sticker indicating a part number of F3ZC-1007-EA. In the case of the wheels this is because the standard argent wheels were sent out to be refinished by a third party. This is also true of the center cap which you can see from the images provided.

Interior

1. Where can I get replacement leather? (updated 02/14/2007)

The good news is that replacement leather is available through aftermarket suppliers. It will cost you, though. You can try Latemodel Restoration Supply. They claim to match all OEM colors and styles. Although, I don’t know if that means they can reproduce the pony headrest. It looks like they will provide samples to help you with your decision.

Another source I have identified (10/02/2004) that offers leather for 91-93 Mustang convertibles is Katzkin. Actually, they only offer leather for Mustang convertibles for these years. They have two styles for 92-93 Mustangs and I don’t know which is closest to original. I found this source out from a posting on rec.autos.makers.ford.mustang.

Note: I have no experience with either of these products and have never seen them, but, if you have, please let me know. I would like to provide your experience and even pictures. I am sure that others could benefit from your experience.

Update 02/14/2005: Steve from the Yellow Mustang Registry has written an article the white leather replacement on his yellow 1993 Feature car. You can read the entire article on his site.

Update 02/14/2007: Apparently (and coincidentally), Valentines Day seems to be a good day to find out about upholstery?! I just read today in the March 2007 Mustang Monthly an item on TMI Products who has created a new line of replacement upholstery for Fox-body Mustangs. A check of their offerings shows nothing specific for 1992/1993 but it does state that "New Fox Body products are in development." Also, in our forums, sparky1423 mentioned a good experience with Clay’s Classic Cars.

Exterior

1. Where can I get a spoiler like the one that came on the feature cars?

A lot of people hate the luggage rack on the fox convertibles. There’s really not much to like about it.

For an aftermarket option, I recommend you try Mustang Parts Specialties. I have seen the 92-93 spoilers listed under the Appearance items section of their product inventory. It is hard to tell just how close to original this reproduction is and I have personally not seen one. Also, check out their "how to" section. There are two articles on it. One called "Wingin it" (from the December 1999 issue of Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords magazine) and another called "Feature Car Rear Wing Installation" (reprinted from the August 2000 issue of Mustang Monthly magazine)

Also aftermarket, you can try Blue Oval Industries. Their reproduction is similar but not exact. The most obvious difference is the integrated third brake light which is truly integrated not underneath like on the real thing. This company is pretty active on ebay and I have seen their spoiler a hundred times there.

For OEM, again try Mustang Parts Specialties since they deal in both new and used parts. Sometimes a feature car will show up in their "Mustangs Parting Out" section but when they do I understand that the feature car-specific parts go quick.

If you are looking for OEM you might also give www.parts.com a chance. Normally, I would not recommend a place like this since they deal in everything under the sun and specialize in nothing. But, in their parts list for the 1993 Ford Mustang they have listed a 92-93 spoiler for just over $460 (ouch). When I found it, it was under Trunk Lid > Spoiler > Spoiler and this link might actually get you there. They say "Genuine Ford Parts" but they list no part number so it is impossible to verify what this actually is without contacting them. If you do, please let me know.

2. Did the feature cars come with gold trim pieces (added 02/08/2005)?

As far as I know the answer to this question is NO and I would like to prevent this from becoming a "fact" about the feature Mustangs since this very information has appeared in print. The June 2004 issue of Mustang Times (the monthly magazine of the Mustang Club of America, no less) had a section called "My Mustang" which described several member’s Mustangs. The one under the heading "3 Times White" was a 1993 white feature Mustang with 16,000 miles. In the description it was stated that "The feature cars came with gold running horses in the wheel center caps and gold Ford emblems front and rear." I believe this is an inaccurate statement. When I contacted the MCA (of which I am a member [#55634]) to express my opinion and ask for clarification, I never heard back from them. Since they are such a reputable source, my concern is that they can potentially modify Mustang history with statements such as these. End of rant.

In all of the feature Mustangs I have knowledge of, I have only seen this information in one other instance. There was a Mustang for sale in early 2004 on karmustang.com which had the following in its description:

The car that was advertised was listed as having 16,520 miles. This is suspiciously similar to the one in Mustang Times. My theory is that this is the same car appearing in these two places and these gold pieces were installed after the car left the factory either by a dealer or previous owner. I continue to believe that this was not a standard offering on these cars and it is not mentioned in any literature.

02/08/2005 – The March 2005 issue Mustang Monthly had an article on this car and confirms my early suspicions of this being the same car with gold emblems. The article mentions the owners name (the same as that in Mustang Times) and that he purchased it through KAR Mustang. Thankfully, it does not mention the gold emblems as standard. Thank you Mustang Monthly!

Also, since I originally wrote about gold trim after that June 2004 M.T. article, one other feature car owner has contacted me to tell me that his car has gold emblems. It has gold everywhere the other cars have chrome. So, it appears that there is more than one car like this. The cars do have some other similarities. Both were built in March 1993. Both indicate DSO 41 (the Chicago Sales District). It is unknown whether they went to the same dealership and, thus, remains to be seen exactly when and where this was done. If you know any further details on white feature cars with gold trim please contact me. I’d love to gather more information and solve the mystery.

3. I am replacing my top. What color should I get?

Haartz is the major (only?) manufacturer of replacement convertible tops. The following is from an email conversation that Ron (a fellow feature car owner and frequent visitor of triplewhitefox.com) had with Doug from Haartz:

Tires and wheels

1. What were the original tires on the 1993 feature Mustang?

According to what I have read and observed, the original tires on 1993 Mustangs varied according to what Ford had available. Goodyear was most common. I know of several Feature Mustangs that shipped with the Michelin Pilot XGT-Z4 all season tire. The size was P225/55ZR16.

2. Can you provide more details about the white 5-spoke wheels?

The wheels were prepared by Superior Industries International of Kansas. Their contact information is as follows:

Superior Industries International
1500 E. 27th Terrace
Pittsburg, Kansas 66762
Tel: 620.232.3344
Fax: 620.232.3323
http://www.superiorindustries.com/

According to Superior there were two colors of white wheels. One is pearlescent white and the other is performance white. The performance white were for the 1993 cars and the pearlescent white was for 1992. (Note: this agrees with the following information on the 1992 Feature Mustang quoted from the March 2003 Mustang Monthly which quotes as its source a book written by Al Kirschenbaum called "The Official Ford Mustang 5.0 Technical Reference and Performance Handbook".

"Five-spoke wheels (standard 16-inch GT/LX 5.0 rims with running horse center caps). Superior Wheel Company (Kansas) prepped these limited-edition wheels by applying baked-on opal pearlescent (opalescent) paint over the silver. (This treatment makes the wheels appear white.)"

Superior lists the following as the Ford part numbers for these wheels:

Performance White Wheel
Ford Part # F3ZC1007EA
Paint # ZGFAXXA

Opal Pearlescent Wheel
Ford Part # F2ZC1007CA
Paint # YCJGWHA

Spraylat (the company that supplied the paint for the original manufacturer Superior Industries still has the paint codes and is able to supply the paint 310-559-2335. Note: this information was accurate as of May 2003.

Thanks to Joel S. for the information that provided the answer to this question!

When you are buying these (if you can find them!) check out the part numbers. They may not be exactly those listed above but they should be similar (the last few characters will differ). You can search the Internet for "ford part decoders" to find many sites that will explain what the part numbers mean. One pretty good one is here. Not every seller will know what they have. I have seen a set of OEM white wheels listed on ebay as 1993 wheels but the part # was clearly a 1992 part number (F2…) The seller did not respond or change his auction listing after I emailed him so I guess he did not care. Hopefully the buyer did not mind the (slight) color difference. Buyer beware!

3. Where can I purchase white wheels or get my wheels restored?

Greg from Indiana reports that Transwheel Corporation will sell you refinished white wheels for $230 each, or $180 each with trade in (these prices were quoted March 2004; please check with them for current pricing). You will find the white wheels listed in their online catalog. Transwheel has several location around the US. Make sure you find out details about what color they repaint with since they specify "white" but not which one (see above for 1992 vs 1993 white wheel comparison).

Wheel Collision Center in Bath, PA has a similar offering with pricing for refurbished wheels with and without exchange. See their Mustang wheel page for pricing. They offer both Arctic White (which I assume is their terminology for the 1993 color) and Pearl White (which I assume is their 1992 color). Check with them for pricing and actual color options.

For another restoration option, you can try AAA Rims. They have an internal paint code (LW3), but not a Ford code, that identifies the paint they use for the white wheels. The good news is that they will refurbish an old rim for $150 including postage (this price was quoted May 2003, please check with them for current pricing). They also put five coats of clear coat protective on and guarantee it for life.

If stock appearance is what you’re after, but 16" wheels do not let you run the tires you want to, consider some aftermarket 17" pony wheels. Check out MavroMont Industries for these. They have 17"x8" pony wheels. The home page of their site states the wheels are available in chrome and silver but their customer photos section has an area for cars with white wheels. In fact, there are some photos of cars with white wheels so they must offer them. Check with them for availability.

4. Is there a cost effective way to restore my white wheels? (added 01/20/2004)

Sue emailed me to tell me about a cost effective way that she restored her wheels to like-new condition. She wrote me the following:

The paint on my wheels was almost off, some places had the metal showing through. (Sorry, don’t have any "before" shots) I was replacing the tires and decided to repaint the wheels during the process. Certainly couldn’t look any worse. With the car on jack stands, I had the new tires mounted (with the weights on the inside) so they wouldn’t scratch the wheels while installing them. Then I took one of the center caps to good ol’ Walmart and attempted to match the color with some spray paint. In the store, I found Plasti-Kote Truck and Sport Utility paint in Oxford White. It seemed close, even in the fluorescent lighting. I then thoroughly cleaned and wet sanded the rims one by one, getting the base as smooth as possible. Then after carefully taping the tires and valve stems to prevent overspray, I applied several coats of the PlastiKote. I was lucky enough to have a friend who owns a bodyshop where I was doing the work, and he happened to be spraying the final coat of clear on a car. Since he had some left over, I talked him into spraying a few coats of clear to seal the paint. The resulting finish was great! The color matched the center caps almost exactly and it brought new life to my car. I know it’s not the "factory" finish, but you’d be hard pressed to see any difference. All it cost me was about $10. for the paint, and a few hours of elbow grease to prepare the wheels. If I hadn’t had the good fortune of being buddies with the body man, I was planning to spray them with clear coat spray paint. Probably would have cost another $10. Too finish it off, I installed valve-stem caps with white inlayed running ponies. (Ordered off the Internet) I have been driving the car for about 3 months since the re-do, and have not noticed any problems with the finish. I had done some research on acquiring the original paint codes to refinish the wheels as the factory did and seemed to be getting nowhere. Even if I had succeeded, I know the cost would have been substantially higher. I’m sending a pic of one of the wheels, a pic showing the valve stem cap close up, and a pic of the can of spray paint I used. Sincerely, Sue

5. Where can I get white center caps? (added 01/31/2005)

These are as tough if not tougher to find than the white wheels.

Fellow feature car owner Kevin told me about a source for them. Note: this is time sensitive information and was posted on 1/31/2005. The price is no bargain at $44.95 each, but, I cannot recall ever seeing these for sale as new OEM parts. You can find them at Year One

The site uses frames so I can’t link directly to them. On the page you link to, select "Wheels/brakes" and then "O.E.M.-Replacement Center Caps and Lug Nuts".