Gary's '66

While installing new carpet today I found a hole in each of the rear fender wells of my '66 coupe. So I looked on the outside and took these photos of the driver side wheel well. Passenger side looks exactly the same. Does this look like something that would have been factory installed? If so, would they have been for shoulder belts? Don't know if this makes any difference but it is an original California car.


Gary

Nowhere Man

Every 65? On up body has that bracket

Gary's '66

So then what's it for?

Nowhere Man

For shoulder belts if you ordered them

SI67

This was an option for model years 1966 and 1967.

Gary's '66

So in other words, if I'm understanding this correctly, the mount was on ALL '66 & '67 models IN CASE you wished to order the car with shoulder belts.

'66BarnFind

Yes.

rich5962

Yes brackets(reinforcements) were installed whether or not A85 Shoulder Harnesses were ordered or not. They were unique for each side and were riveted using four large head rivets.

But that doesn't look like a factory bracket. The factory bracket was rectangular and reached around the curvature of the outer side panel close to the frame.








When no A85 was ordered, the factory installed a small clear plastic plug into the attach bolt hole from the inside. This is what it looks like inside the cabin.













If A85 was ordered the plug was removed and the belts were added on both sides.




A pocket to hold the loose buckles was attached to the back of the seatback partition. This was color matched to the belts and the interior.





















And they worked pretty good too!

Gary's '66

Thanks Rich,

That was a very enlightening explanation you've given. Nice job BTW! Man, they sure were much more complex than todays systems weren't they?

Gary

JohnZ

Here's what the factory-riveted shoulder belt reinforcement looked like.

nassau66427

Not really.

The option wasn't to be had until well into the '66 MY.

No brackets on my Jan 12 St Louis body.

Frankie the Fink

Who would want 'em anyway ?

Rich's picture shows about 3' of the webbing left over when they're latched that you have to stick someplace out of the way.

They don't seem to secure to the top of the seat anywhere so in a violent sideways mishap they could slip down the outboard edge of the seat and rip your arm up and/or diminish your control of the vehicle.

They don't have single latch integration (like modern cars) so you have to fumble around with two latching mechanisms per person.

And, they are pretty unsightly flopping around behind the seats when not in use.

If I had them I'd roll both ends up into a ball and keep a rubber band around them and stick them tucked away as far towards the anchor point as I could and forget about 'em.

sub006

Without a roll bar, I'd want to be able to duck and hang on tight.

Wish somebody could channel Zora for his opinion. John Z?

rich5962

But, But, But.......It saved my BuTT when that old 118 year old geezer cut me off in Orlando one night!! They got it on camera at WalMart!!



So, I didn't like them either. Reminded me of the shoulder harnesses on my '69 Mustang Coupe. PITA....

But.......The car I showed the photos of needed them as a off-shore requirement. In Norway, for a minor to legally be a passenger in ANY vehicle, new, used, classic, etc requires a shoulder belt along with lap belts. His young relatives couldn't ride in the car without one. The owner had to pay a premium to find correct ones in the right color, then we had Charlie Santorelli restore the whole batch of belts for the car. I found one A85 belt on Ebay, and Charlie made one up from pieces he had.

Frankie the Fink

They ARE a nice conversation feature but largely useless - on the same order as the little ventilation motor in the back of later year C2s.

chrisdev

The brackets were phased in around mid-March, by April they all had the brackets
My April 4 St. Louis body has them.