Front seat shoulder belt ??

[69GS400s]

Who here has the Shoulder belt/harness in their DropTop ???

I WANNA SEE PIX !!!!!

[Buickone]

That's two of us!!!:grin:

[SpecialWagon65]

Have not seen a Buick, but this Pontiac had a set. Convertible shoulder harness:

[462CID]

I know my '70 Skylark convertible hasn't got shoulder belts. It was very, ahhhh, unrestored, shall we say when I got it.

[pakual]

Ultra Rare in a convert. Noone used belts back in the 70's so they certainly didnt order them. They were mandatory in coupes starting Jan 1st 1969. Still optional in Converts.
I have seen only one Buick, a 69 GS400 conv. with these. It was the same as the Pontiac above only in White Interior, black belts.
Thx
JA

[mjs-13]

I have 3 convertibles that have this unusual option factory installed and on the build sheet. I'll try to get a picture of the belts in my 70 Stage 1 GS convertible.

I have had a problem posting pictures in the past due to picture file begin too large. I have the camera set the lowest resolution. Any ideas so I can post a picture for you guys?

This option is actually very easy to add. The mounting point is in all cars and you could modify the length of a shoulder harness belt from a coupe for the female belt with enough lenght and change the buckle from male to female and use a lap belt for the male buckle lower portion. The picture shown above will give you a good idea of the lenght of each belt. There are also a "clip" on each lower arm rest for the metal female buckle end to mount when not in use. This option will result in 1 male and 1 female belt on the console side (inner) of the front buckets rather than one belt.

Neat option but pretty useless. I don't know anyone who uses the shoulder harness's in a coupe much less a convertible!

Cool at show but more seat belts to hassle with in a driver.

[69GS400s]

Hi Mike !! Great Info.....

If you can snap some Digi-Pics and Email them to me, I'd be glad to resize them and post them for everone's viewing pleasure.

My Email Address is:

Alan@itnnetworks.com

2 things - Please feel free to send as many as you want, details details !!!:TU:

The FIRST Email you send, dont include a picture (attachment)....just let me know that emails with attachments are to follow. (I have an Email "catcher" that filters out most attachments and quarantines them....)

Thanks ALOT

[mjs-13]

I'll get some pictures this weekend. Traveling during the week.

Thanks for your help with the pictures.

Have a great day!!

[TimR]

I have this option in my 72 GS ragtop. Not sure if I will ever use it but had new belts made up anyway.....

There is a picture on my website of a skylark with them, go to ragtop, then interior (near bottom of page) and scroll down....

http://members.shaw.ca/ritc1

later
Tim

[tlivingd]

hey can i get pics of the seat belt too?

I have a 70 convert and the option to have a lil more safety would be nice.


nate

nhank@Joltmail.com

[Marco]

Thanks Mike -

Here's a picture of the interior

[Marco]

Another interior pic - drivers side rear

[Marco]

Another interior pic - passenger side rear

[Marco]

Here's a clip, for when the shoulder belt is not in use

[Marco]

Thanks again for sharing Mike!

Here's the mounting point on the body. I believe the Fisher body manual explains this in detail -

[mjs-13]

Here is some more information concerning shoulder belts in a convertible.

[TimR]

hey Mike, I read the attached text and its very good info.

You make a comment about bench seats in there and I can tell you for sure that my 72 GS notchback bench seat car had this option. Like you said, it would be a mess of belts but in 72 they had the "clip" type belts out, so the shoulder harness "clips" onto the lap belt for the driver and passenger.

Sure is an odd setup, have to wonder how well it actually works....hopefully never find out.

later
Tim

[tlivingd]

my Fisher Body Manual for 1970 does point the mounting out on these. I will post it as soon as I can get ahold of a scanner.

there was also an option in my Body manual for rear shoulder seat belts on every A body including the convertible. I will post those too. they are very intresting.

Nate

[mjs-13]

Tim,

Maybe I misunderstood your post however the shoulder belts on all convertibles used the female buckle for the shoulder belt regardless of production year and make. 1972 was no different than 1970 in configuration. 72 did use a smaller female buckle and male tab on many A body cars however the orientation of male belt/tab attached to the floor board and female buckle to the shoulder harness belt was the same for all years and this was a convertible only configuration. A hardtop/coupe was opposite as far the location of the buckle/male tab.

All coupes used the male tab on the end of the shoulder belt as the belts were held on the ceiling of the car by chrome clips when not in use. A female buckle would be much to heavy to use on the shoulder harness belt that attached to the ceiling. The belt would not stay in the clips on the ceiling when not in use due to a female buckle weight.

Go look at any coupe/hardtop and you will see it is opposite of a convertible.

By the way, shoulder harness belts became a Federal Government requirement in coupe/hardtop cars in 1969. ALL coupes/hardtops of any make/model had shoulder harness belts. They WERE NOT an option in a coupe/hardtop, they were standard equipment. The exception was a convertible where they "could" be an option if offered at all! Many convertibles from other makes and some GM did not offer shoulder belts of any kind as an option in a convertible.

All vehicles, regardless of body style were required by the Federal Government to have shoulder belts in the 1974 model year.

[TimR]

Well thats interesting...I didn't know that until now but I will be using the coupe setup I guess because the good belts have already been made up and put away for storage until needed.

72 had the odd clip thing for the shoulder harness, and even though its not "correct" I like it much better since it is much less bulky. So a 72 converible would have had all kinds of belts up front with the shoulder harness....

Here is a pic of an original setup for a 72 GS 455 hardtop to show the shoulder belt "clip" and the attaching buckle since lots of people have no idea what I am talking about:

http://members.shaw.ca/timcr/timcr/sldlap.jpg

So my car (with the good belts) will have one male and female part for the lap belt and this will clip into that. Much nicer than four buckles up front plus another set for the middle person...

BTW, Anyone know where you can order that bracket for the rear interior panle that the seat belt clips onto?? Somebody must make it repro since you can order the whole shoulder kit for cars that never had it and it comes with that bracket.

later
Tim

[mjs-13]

Auto Custom Carpets (ACC) now advertised a 3 point seat belth that they show in their ads for convertibles. They claim they are available for Chevelle (A body) cars.

This will put a more modern 3 point system in your old car if you are looking for more safety.

I have not personally seen this product, just the ad. May be worth a call if you are interested in a 3 point belt for safety.

[jbc455]

This (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=2479899082&category=16124) car's on ebay now.

Are these the shoulder belts?

[jbc455]

Tough to see where they're bolted down.

Looks like it might be bolted to the top of the rear panel!

[72Rivguy]

in 1971 rear shoulder belts were also optional in addition to the front belts, option J5. If anyone has the daily reports for 71 A body convertibles, I'd like to know how rare they were.

[TimR]

You know, just looking at that picture of where they have the seatbelts attached (to the top of the quarter window area) I think its pretty much useless. There really is no structure there at all, an accident has incredible forces, and that is probably why GM used the ragtop attach bracket, it s big beefy part solidly bolted down. I would think in an accident, you would just rip the sheetmetal out with this other style.

You have to wonder though why they didn't design somehting that picked up on the floor bolts....could have run up behind the seat cover and out the top fo the seat shoulder area...

The factory shoulder harnesses are very rare, and I can't say I'll ever wear mine, guess we'll see...just appears it wuld be very annoying overall. Might have to come up with something else.

later
Tim

[lcac_man]

From an early 90's Saab, before I installed the new foams and covers I welded in anchors to the frame.

[lcac_man]

I used the inner's also.

[lcac_man]

One more shot

[buick72]

I think the law that started in 68 or so said that the coupes/sedans had to have shoulder belts ...but they could have separate buckles.

In Jan. 1972, the law changed again...now all shoulder belts had to be 3-point belts.

But instead of supplying one 3-point belt like cars have today..the General came up with the neat scheme where the separate shoulder belt only had a tab that inserted into the clasp of the lap seat belt. Thus the shoulder belt really still stayed separate and was rarely (I think..) ever actually used.

My original '72 Skylark in Feb of '72 had the belts come through like this..and there was about a $35 up-charge in the base price because of it (not sure why..it was a simpler shoulder belt than before)

I just this weekend saw a an 04B (April build) '72 Skylark convertible..and it had the seat belt option. And the shoulder belt came out from behind the rear quarter interior trim panel and had an 'at rest' clip in the same place as the pics above...but it was a clip made to accept the tab on the metal tongue of the belt..it looked just like the male seat belt tongue on the lap belts.

Anyway, I was surprised..as I had never seen a shoulder belt setup in a convertible..

Hope this helps..

Stanley