Are these Original Seat Belts ?

[David D.]

Was wondering if anyone can tell me if these are 'Original' black seat belts?

Or what else to look for to determine? The have 3 web design strap.....

Friend has these just sitting around in a box....and I told him I believe they are original and he couldn't remember....tuff getting old !

Last photo shows the label and real faint has 42A 65 (I think)

Thanks in Advance,
David

[Jack H.]

Re: Are these Original Seat Belts ?

Look at the floor anchors... Factory originals had the belt fabric simply wrapped through the metal anchors and stitched together.

Later units (and current reproductions) to comply with DOT safety standards have the butt ends of the floor anchors dip coated with clear plastic to thwart the fabric wrapped through the anchor from rubbing against the floor anchor's metal and potentially fraying...

[Roger P.]

Re: Are these Original Seat Belts ?

David:
I don't think those are original seat belts. I recently replaced my original '65 seat belts with retrofit 3-point seat belts (with shoulder harnesses) to add safety for my kids and me. Of course I still have the original belts, but I have them stored away in a box with other parts. However, I don't recall such heavy black texture on the buckle, nor do I remember the label looking like the one in your photo. Also, those seat belts look to be in very good condition for 40+ years old. I believe they are good reproductions, but I can't be sure.

Roger Piper (50141)

[David D.]

Re: Are these Original Seat Belts ?

Look at the floor anchors... Factory originals had the belt fabric simply wrapped through the metal anchors and stitched together.

Later units (and current reproductions) to comply with DOT safety standards have the butt ends of the floor anchors dip coated with clear plastic to thwart the fabric wrapped through the anchor from rubbing against the floor anchor's metal and potentially fraying...

Jack, Updating with some pictures of floor anchors..Do these help determine if these are originals or repros?
Thanks in Advance,
David

[David D.]

Re: Are these Original Seat Belts ?

Adding a couple more attachment pictures to see if I can get help determining if these are originals or repro's.

Thanks,
David

[Jack H.]

Re: Are these Original Seat Belts ?

Just look at your pictures... You can CLEARLY see the parting line of the clear dip plastic on the floor anchors around the slits where the belt fabric wraps through!

Factory originals in 1965 were constructed without this safety feature that the DOT mandated for later cars, service replacement belts and current day reproduction belts.

[David D.]

Re: Are these Original Seat Belts ?

Thanks Jack, I completely misunderstood your first post where you said "Later units" to some how be later units in '65.

I'll tell him that they are repros....and thanks again for the patience and clarification.
David

[Roger P.]

Re: Are these Original Seat Belts ?

David:
I'm glad that Jack was able to confirm my suspicion that they are decent reproduction seat belts. I could tell from the buckle and tag that they weren't original equipment.

Roger (50141)

[David D.]

Re: Are these Original Seat Belts ?

Thanks Roger....I was a bit confused, as you probably picked up on, and it was worth me putting it back out there just to make sure, being there is such an enormous difference if they happened to be originals.....
David

[Wayne M.]

Re: Are these Original Seat Belts ?

Here's a rough buckle, off an early '65 (ink stamped 10_29_64, but don't look for the date on a black buckle ).

The tag is on a dark blue belt (I'm assuming a '64 because of the tag printing and the belt color).

Wouldn't the repro belt tag SAE spec reference HAVE to be different for current manufacturing compliance ?