RE: [Chrysler300] seat belt color & more 50s belt detail

[christopher beilby <thelastbestgenius@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

All seat belt detail follows, so warning, HIT DELETE NOW if not interested.

 

1) I have a 57 Ford Thunderbird with Ford Factory/original issue seat belts - i think they were Factory installed - Ford made safety a big '57 Ford range new point/difference.
It is written however that Ford ran foul, of I think GM, in fitting seat belts, having padded dashes - as GM I think warned them not to do it/that, as it would encourage the Govt to get involved, make laws re them/that that would become part of building car law requirements. So I think come '58, GM won and no more Ford factory fit belts as sales feature. 

Nowadays Factory Ford '57 seat belts come up on ebay occassionally, way more so than same era Mopar - they (Ford) were an all alloy lift plate type, where you threaded the non buckle plain belt other end thru, and then let the sprimng loaded flap go.  The belt material was heavier/thicker than later more known 60s-70s belts - unlike Mopar, multiple colour options were available, seen pretty often on ebay, but still reasonably rare that a good wanted matched colour pair are listed.

 

2) The early '57 era Mopar issue belt material was also thicker than later belt material, and in  Barber's list mention of currently  listed '56B on ebay with tan material, the webbing material looks like it maybe later thinner modern stuff - it looking too bright a tan, and a little thinner - but that is a totally personal observation of me re all the few genuine pre 60 Mopar belts I have noticed.

The buckles being made by Hicock is however I believe correct for that era Mopar - it is usually stamped into the steel of the buckle part. Ford '57 Belts however had no brand/name other than Ford's. Sewn into the webbing of Mopar early Hicock belts is usually a white rertangular Mopar tag. The ebay 300B belts may have been the gray originally, if the webbing is indeed not the original now, as it possible to buy new webbing to sew to old.original buckles?

 

When the 'factory/dealer 300 belt issue' got fairly wide coverage at the time Graefen queried my Mopar belts, and I asked others who had any pre '58 300 with Mopar tagged belts in a 300 as seeming long time or original maybe fitment, I got only the odd reply, like under 5 in total, covering 300s '55-58 - they seem very rare - that may be they were removed in restoration, or that fitting them was very rare.  However 'Non Mopar' early belts in early 300s, is I believe not near so rare however, as one of my other 300Cs has late 50s belts that may have been in car from back then/new, but they not Mopar, and are of the earlier 'non Mopar' style like the '57 TBird, where you have to thread the loose end thru a lift plate type buckle - these I believe were aircraft type ones that smart manufacturers realised could be easily adapted/sold for cars, whereas the Hicock Mopar ones had a chromed metal plate tonue end that you just pushed into/home (in) the buckle. Other early pre 60s belt giveaways are they bolted into cabin floor with very large diam HT fine thread bolts thru large round steel washers - many then having at end of webbing, 2 loose plates, that once one bolted to floor, you had to thread the floor end of webbing thru 2nd one in correct complex way, so it locked the floor belt end when you pulled the slack out of the multiple overlapped loops. 

 

My '57 Chrysler Mopar belts as fitted to my supercharged 300C have at the end of the webbing twisted wire gal/zinc cables to secure them to rear floor - the later pair I have of 'non Mopar' belts, I guess around 1960, Hicock belts using same buckles as shown on club website for early 60s 300s, use the large type bolt and washers top and bottom, not the 'Mopar eye anchor' that is shown, so Hicock made two types at that time, the eye end type as in 60s 300s, plus the type where there was no fitting at floor ends of webbing, but rather you threaded end thru plate you bolted to floor.

 

The microfishes for the 2 of my 3 300Cs that have belts show nothing re being factory order, but as the car was finished by the Wisconsin Chrysler Dealer who went with the owner to Daytona '57, it is likely if not factory, they installed as part of finshing the car for running at Daytona.  I say this, as if they fitted later as part of the car's post Daytona decade of occassionally drag racing use/history, it unlikely they would be '57 issue Mopar factoy belts?

 

Anyone having a '57 300C with Mopar tagged belts, with sewn in wire cabling at ends of webbing ends securing it all to the rear floor, that seem they part of the car since new, please let me know, as mine cannot be the only long time fitted set out there surely? 

All the few ones I know of were light medium gray, but there may have been other colours, ones in say Dodges/Plymouths/DeSoto  

 

3) If you can, I suggest fitting lap type correct period belts to your non belt 300s - one road safety short film I have seen shows how a laminated windsreen can kill you instantly if your head punches thru one, and you then by gravity fall back onto the seat as the points of the triangles made by your head in the laminated glass close back in on your head//neck - not pleaseant, and it does not take a big accident to throw you forward.

I used to think seat belts were for sissies, was never a slow driver coward, driving in pre speed limit days out in the country mainly at 100-110+mph cruise speeds, but after having belts in all my cars for maybe last 20+ years, now I feel so unsafe in any car without them.

Personal choice topic though.

 

Christopher in Australia 


To: jerrylindsay300h@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
CC: finsruskw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; barjam300@xxxxxxx
From: paulholm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2010 21:58:37 -0400
Subject: Re: [Chrysler300] seat belt color


  



On 10/9/2010 7:18 AM, Jerry Lindsay wrote:
> It was after January 1962 I believe, that the seat belts became standard, my November "H" did not have them.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: barjam300@xxxxxxx
> To: finsruskw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ; Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2010 12:15 PM
> Subject: Re: [Chrysler300] seat belt color

> Dave,

> The 300H was the first American car to have seat belts installed by the
> factory. All '62 Chryslers had seat-belt anchors built right into the body so
> the customer could easily install their own seat-belts per the 1962
> Chrysler Engineering and Styling confidential bulletin.

> Jim Bartuska
> Niles, Mi

> In a message dated 10/7/2010 7:34:23 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> finsruskw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:

> Question....Were seat belts available as an option for the F in 1960?

> If so, what color would they have been for the standard F interior and
> what type hardware would they have used?

> I have what I believe to be "period correct" hardware, buckles etc but
> need to have new webbing sewn on. The buckles are the chromed "lift type"
> release. Any one use this "Snake Oyle" outfit or any other seat belt repair
> place you could recommend?

> Thanks
> Dave Schwandt

IF I remember correctly, there were only about 3 compaines in the USA 
that made government 'approved' seatbelts, so the car manufacturers and 
the dealers would have gotten them from one of those 3 companies.
Manufacturers would have had them made with the manufacturers branding, 
dealers could have gotten them from a local distributor (not car 
manufacturer branded) OR thru the parts department channels

-- 
Paul Holmgren
Mine: 2 57 300-C's in Indy
Hers: 05 PT GT R/T HO Stage 1
Hoosier Corps L#6



 		 	   		  

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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