Did you know that wool upholstery was used in many cars back in the 1950s? While this story isn’t about Arizona and the sheep industry, who is to say that Arizona’s sheep wool wasn’t used in that upholstery? We may never know. Here is the rest of the story:
According to Edward Loerke, Detroit representative for the Wool Bureau, the Lincoln division of the Ford Motor Company delivered in early 1959 the new Continental town car upholstered entirely in gray wool broadcloth. The first limousine model to be introduced by Lincoln in more than 20 years, the town car brought to five the number of 1959 cars that carried wool upholstery as standard equipment.
The 1959 Imperial LeBaron and Crown Imperial feature wool broadcloth in deep tones of green, blue, brown, ruby and gray, while the Chrysler New Yorker four-door sedan used rich wool broadcloth in a variety of light and medium colors to blend with the exterior finish.
Cadillac’s Eldorado Brougham for 1959 was upholstered in solid and patterned all-wool broadcloth in light blue, light gray, and beige. These same colors were used in the interiors of the Buick Electra and Electra 225 series. In buying the Buick, the customer had a choice of either wool upholstery or a substitute fabric at no extra cost.
Many of a sheepmen told me that sheep rode in their cars when they were needed to be moved for various reasons. Why you ask would someone allow a sheep in their car? Well, the sheepmen told me the sheep paid for the car!
Somewhere in all my pictures given to me by the different sheepmen in Arizona, I had a picture of a sheep in a car, but its location eludes me at the moment! Will keep looking.
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