Does anyone have them in their convertible? How are they mounted? Are there any aftermarket versions available that look factory stock? I have two boys, ages 2 and 4 that love to ride in the convertible GS but without shoulder belts their booster seats will no longer work because they use the shoulder belt. My kids will be very disappointed if they cannot ride in the GS with the top down :ball: :beer
Rear shoulder belts Mike, get hold of Brian McMillan, "bmcmillan" is his user name here. He has a 72 with rear seat shoulder belts. I saw it at the Lakeville picnic, but of course, didn't take any pics. ou: He might be able to help you out. :TU:
Mike, I don't have a shoulder belt solution for you, bought an alternative that should work for a few years is to get child seats with the 4 point harness. They use the lap belt, and the seat itself has the shoulder buckles. I think they are usually good up to at least 65 pounds? I know the booster seat is easier, but I doubt you will be able to find shoulder belts for your car. The only factory ones I have ever seen for a convertible are for the front, not the back, and they are very rare!!!!!!!!
Was that in a convertible or hardtop? I have seen rear seat shoulder belts in a hardtop, but never in a convertible. Not saying they didn't make them, just that I haven't seen them. Those would have to be EXTREMELY RARE and EXPENSIVE!
Sorry Chris, YES it is a convertible, and he told me that apparently only about 12 or possibly fewer converts got them. Now I wish I took some pics. ou: You know Chris, now that I've thought about this for a couple of minutes, I cannot be absolutely certain that Brian's car had rear seat shoulder belts. I know it has some sort of shoulder belt arrangement, but now I'm not so sure if it's front seat or rear seat. :spank: :spank: Now I really, really, really wish I'd taken a few pics of his interior. Sorry if this created any undue excitement.
The GS wholesale order form for '68 thru '71 show that they were available: W15 J5 Custom from and rear seat belts (3 each) and custom front and rear shoulder belts (2 each). The Daily car reports show that 7 convertibles in '69, 7 in '70 and 7 in '71 were built with this option. Possibly it was more common on Chevys o No: I did think about the 5 point child seat option but I wanted to see what I could come up with from the factory before I dropped the $ on two new car seats. :beer
Thanks Marco, it was interesting reading :beer I am looking for the rear shoulder belt option and here is a page from the 1968 Fisher service manual that shows it. It does not look like they would be to hard to install but I would still like to find out more info on the belt lengths and what side got the male end o No: The top left drawing makes it look like the male end is bolted from the trunk.
Shoulder Belts Mike; I only have front shoulder belts. When I bought the car it was somewhat in pieces. So the rear shoulder belts might have disappeared. I will have too look if the rear would have had them. You Can tell be the way they attached. The male end has a slot in them so you slide and then click it into the female end. Never paid attention to the rears. There was a guy who did take pictures of the application of rear shoulder straps from my car in Lakeville. I was told in 1971 that 13 convertibles had shoulder straps. But there was no count in 1972.
Interesting thread. My 72 ragtop GS came with the front seat shoulder belts, took some head scratching to figure out why the belt was bolted to the top mechanism. My question is, could you order just the front shoulder belts, or did it come with the back shoulder belts too? I saw no sign of back seat belts but they could have been removed I guess. My car had that small interior fire so when i got it the interior was out. later Tim
I found a set of NOS ones that I picked up last year. I had been looking for 4 years. They weren't too expensive. Good luck.
One of the seatbelt guys in Hemmings used to sell sets for the front seat, at least a few years back. I bought some for my 69 GS ragtop, as I am not real fond of the "kiss the steering wheel" option. Sent me a complete repro set with seatbelt head holders, plastic covers where the belt passed through the rear armrests, all real nice and looking factory original. Same guy could make rear sets from what I remember. I'll see if I have any info anywhere. You're best bet is probably to check hemmings and call the vendors one by one. -- Steve
Thanks guys, I will check through Hemmings. I don't need them this instant so I have the whole winter to search. Yes you could order just the front shoulder bets alone. :beer
I checked Hemmings on-line just because you piqued my curiosity. Wouldn't be bad to have some for my little girlies either. Couldn't find the guy. I'll check the paper copy later. My 69 Riv GS actually came with rear shoulder straps from the factory. Got a whole lotta options, and what few it didn't have I'll be adding. :laugh: -- Steve
Success I knew that I would never find an original set of rear convertible belts so I decided to make my own. I bought and aftermarket belt and replaced the buckle with a standard '68 buckle (buckle replacement was easy). It was a very simple installation and it looks factory. I was lucky enough to find a set of the factory seat belt holders that hold the buckles when not in use (holders not installed yet). The one thing is that when the top is down it may push down on the strap making it tighter ou: , but this is how the factory designed it :error: I have not tried them with the top down yet. Here is what it looks like.
Looks good Mike. I never look at seatbelts on any car as something to be "correct" or not, safety should never be an issue so when I see someone with new or upgraded belts I think they are smart enough to realize how important they are. That said, I'm not sure the shoulder belts for ragtops were anything more than a stop gap measure to keep the feds off their case...wasn't 72 the last year for verts for a long time? I've even heard these really long front shoulder belts could be dangerous as the mounting point is so far away that depending on the collision it could actually strangle you in certain accidents (newer shoulder belts come off the seat or very close ot the body so they can't get wrapped around the occupant). And of course all this happened before our litigation happy society really started so GM had no worries. I'm struggling with my ragtop. The car had the belts and they should be there (and I had them made up), but they will be a PITA and also if the belts are there then you can get a ticket for not wearing them. If they weren't there, no worries. Course I'm not keen on kissing the steering wheel either should something happen...
