Joeym

A friend of mine just purchased a 66 roadster. But the belt buckle's look like the ones I have in my 65 with the round bowtie in the middle? He has an early 66. It was made in (The first three months of production) I don't know if that makes a difference or if someone changed them at some point in time in the cars life? I also have another friend that has a 66 coupe (later model of that year) and he has the ones that have a the GM blue square in the middle. He wanted me to find out if I could get some info on this? He also told me that he might have 63 or 64 outside door handles on his car. Was there a difference with these also? I'm certainly not an expert but just when I thought I knew enough, I get these questions and it seems like I'm out in left field somewhere...LOL! I have been into corvettes for a long time but I'm learning something new everyday about these cars?

snydes

Seat belts changed in the neighborhood of February 1966, your friends buckles would be typical of car built in the time you listed.

LSUvetteguy

The belts in the early 66 seem correct as they should look like your 65 belts. The belts in the later 66 may not be correct since those should not have a blue GM center. M2C

gbvette62

During the 1966 model year, Chevrolet made a change to the belts used in the Corvette. The first design belt was the same as the 65 belt, with the color keyed aircraft style lift buckle, round bowtie emblem and the roller type retractor that attached to the belts. The later belts were the same as 67 belts. These belts had a brushed chrome push button type buckle, with the word "Chevrolet" in a bowtie on the release button; and the male portion of the belt was attached to a floor mounted retractor.

The belts with a "GM" logo in the button, sound like later GM service replacement belts.

63-64E handles are cast with a very sharp angle to the backside of them. When you look at a 63-64E handle from the end, the amount of casting seen under the button, is much thinner than the amount of casting above it.

On 64L-67 outside handles, the backside is cast at about a 90 degree angle to the top of the handle. As such, when viewed from the end, the thickness of the casting is about the same, over and under the push button.

Joeym

Just want to thank all of you for your Info! I will pass this along to my friend! All the best....Joey M