jerseyjoe wrote:

Those upper shock access plugs are accessed from the trunk...also that is not a fold down seat there are fixed brackets that mount on to the back of the seat to brackets on the inner fender well....jj

Could have fooled me JJ.  That panel is a very elaborate affair and you can definitely see pivot points at the bottom left and right corners. It looks like something out of an aircraft.  I'll check the trunk but I think there is another panel in there that blocks access to the area where the plugs are.
 

boomyal wrote:

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Surely, someone must have had some experience with this setup.  The best that I have been able to determine is that some sports roof (fastback) models came with carpet back fold down rear seats.  Although this one has the reinforced panel for this, this car did not have that option.  The rear seatbacks hang off of hangers on that panel then screw to the floor below it.

The rear shock top mounts are inside recesses in the floor of the hump panel behind the pictured seat panel.  Even though there are pivot points at the bottom outside edges of that panel, it was not meant to be folded down.  None of the screws on the upper top edges let that panel be pulled out or pivoted down.  AND there is no access from the trunk as there is another bulkhead panel behind the one pictured.

Sounds like you have a fixed seat with a fold down seat trunk/cabin access/trap door,or someone did a switch-a-roo....hmmmm.....jj

Last edited by jerseyjoe (8/02/2014 7:32 PM)

The seat back in my 70 looks just like that, but I can see the back side of the seat back, mine also has hinges so it can fold down and rest on the ledge of the side panels even tho it is not considered a fold down seat, There are also brackets that secure the seat back that are accessed from the rear. What I am wondering is if someone installed a block off panel that isolates the area so you cant see the seat. 

MS, your are obsolved of your lack of memory on this subject.  This rear panel was one of the most convoluted construction circumstances that I have ever witness.

First off I will reiterate that this was for a '69 SportRoof/Fastback without a fold down rear seat and you cannot get to the rear shock upper mounts from the trunk.  There is a fiberboard panel, in the trunk, that sits in sheetmetal rails and that panel is screwed to them from the passenger side of the car.  Even if you could get this panel off, you would be hardpressed to access the mounting recesses as they are almost directly underneath the bottom edge of the seat panel pictured.

The pictured panel, as I surmised, is hinged at the bottom.  There are two sets of screws high up on the sides of the panel.  Those screws go thru the panel into L brackets and are held on by cap nuts on the back side of those brackets, in the void between the trunk panel and the back seat panel.

You need to remove several panel edge mouldings then lift the fiber parcel tray up far enough that you can get a box end wrench on the cap nuts of those 4 screws. The nuts have also been swedged so they do not release easily.  Once you get those out, that seatback panel folds down, as pretty as you please.  Once done the access plugs are in plain view.

All I can say is that Ford went out of their way to make it rediculously complicated.  I would have hated to see what would have happened if you took your car to the local tire shop and paid them to replace the rear shocks.  They could have easily done great damage to the interior, trying to get to the top shock mounts.  Also, in the day, a Ford dealer would have charged an arm and a leg to replace those shocks.

Lil' Hoss wrote:

Pretty sure that fiberboard panel on the trunk side is not a factory piece. 

Interesting!  It all looks factory but one thing is for sure. It is sure a waste of trunk space to have the 16 or so inches of void between the fiberboard and the rear seat panel.
 

MustangSteve wrote:

I do not recall it being anywhere near that difficult to get to the shocks.  There was no fibreboard in the trunk of the 70 and the shocks were accessed through the trunk.

Yep upper shocks through the trunk and a chiropractic adjustment after the removal and install...LOL