I know I’ve been requesting more “how-to” articles, but never in all my dreams did I imagine I would get one on installing cupholders……..the pinnacle has been reached !!!!
Photography by Tim Suddard
Old trucks often lack the comforts found today. Like, for example, how about a cup holder? It was time to figure out how to install a cup holder in our beloved 1973 Ford F-350 ramp truck.
Even though we had already replaced the truck’s original seats with a bench from a 1996 Ford a decade ago, it didn’t have a cup holder. The center armrest sat devoid of any such luxuries.
A quick trip to our local pick and pull netted us a center armrest with the all-important cup holder. It came from a mid-2000s Ford truck. By then, thankfully, Ford had seen the wisdom of building cup holders into the center armrest.
Once home, we removed the upholstery from both armrests–both the one already in the truck and the newer one we had just found.
The later cup holder was mounted to the armrest via two metal rails welded into the unit. While welding did not scare us, melting the surrounding padding did.
So, how to mount this newer cup holder into our older armrest? First, we cut a hole in the foam of our center armrest–a hole deep enough for the cup holder. Maybe we’d find something useful.
We did.
A metal plate sat in the middle of the foam armrest. If we simply mounted the cup holder on top of this plate, however, we’d have a quarter-inch gap between the cup holder’s upper flange and top of the armrest.
But if we filled that quarter-inch space with a thin piece of foam, we’d be golden. A quick test fit showed that this plan had merit, so we glued our foam “spacer” in place.
Now to attach the cup holder. We simply drilled two holes into the plate and also the bottom of our cup holder. We could then run screws from the bottom of the cup holder into that metal plate.
After cutting the necessary hole in the armrest cover, we then stretched it back in place and fit the whole thing back into our 30-year-old bench seat.
Total cost? Less than an hour of work, one trip to the salvage yard and just $14 for the new armrest. Driver and passenger can now enjoy our glorious cup holder.
I know I’ve been requesting more “how-to” articles, but never in all my dreams did I imagine I would get one on installing cupholders……..the pinnacle has been reached !!!!
Now, THIS is a cupholder project installed in my Z
I'm still searching for the best solution for my e30 BMW. There are a variety of cupholders available in the aftermarket but so far none of them really look great to me.
In reply to stuart in mn :
In the age before cupholders I would wedge my Big Gulp between the door and the seat.
You just have to remember it's there before you open the door.
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