taking a break from CLEANING ALL THE THINGS

[rikibeth]

Okay, who here is old enough, or sufficiently enamored of pre-1975 cars (pixel, I'm looking at you) to remember the separate shoulder belts that were stored in clips above the doors?

Has anyone here ever USED one, or remembers a parent using them?

HOW THE HELL DID THE BUCKLE WORK?

I know my grandmother's 1969 Plymouth Satellite had them, and I even drove that car a few times (it was the Family Spare until her death in the early 1990s) but, even though there were mandatory seat belt laws from the time I got my driver's license, I'm pretty sure I only ever used the lap belts in that car. Same with someone else's early 70s Plymouth Scamp. And when I was quite small we had a brown Buick that had those things, and I can't remember my parents ever using the shoulder belt part. That was back in the days when we totally thought the fold-down armrest in the front seat was an awesome child seat, and it was a special treat to ride there (just like it was a special treat to ride in the way-back of a station wagon, or the cargo bed of a pickup truck).

Googling only tells me how to rip out the headliner and install a real 3-point belt on the door pillar so that driving a car like that won't be a death trap. It doesn't really help with the buckle mechanism on the originals.

Anyone?

Comments

[follybard.livejournal.com]

I think there were two separate things-to-clip-into, one for the lap belt and one for the shoulder belt...? Maybe? (My parents got rid of our 1970 Olds before I learned to drive, so I don't think I rode in the front much -- and even when I did, I was too short for the shoulder-belt.)

[sapphorlando.livejournal.com]

The design may be different from car to car, but what I remember is that the shoulder harness latches onto either the clip or the latch by a small metal stud that passes through a hole in the clip at the end of the harness. I remember this in a '6? Camaro and a '7? Berlinetta. You'd clip the harness to the belt clip before locking it into the latch. The belt clip was released by opening the latch (the cover was a lever), and then you'd release the harness by unclipping it from the belt clip. (Though, I could be remembering it slightly wrong. It's possible that the harness clips directly to the latch, but I don't think so.)

One way to sort this out might be to talk to a junker who's more recently familiar with older cars, or a mechanic or body shop that deals with classics.

[ceo]

That's my extremely vague recollection too.

[fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com]

Same here.

[oddmonster.livejournal.com]

Clean *all* the things...?

OMG. This still makes me laugh. I am cleaning none of the things! Rar! No help at all!

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Yes, I spend most of my life in "clean all the things...?" mode. However, the cat has fleas and an upset stomach, and it has become imperative to Clean All The Things. Yesterday, I cleaned the cat. Today, I cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen. Tomorrow, I clean the living room and All The Laundry Things, and hit the carpet with flea spray.

It's progress!

[kebbykate.livejournal.com]

Yes! I do know how, but couldn't possibly describe it. But I could show you.

[shadowflyer.livejournal.com]

Remembering this from an early-70s Pontiac LeMans and a '74 Ford Pinto: The lap belt tab had a hole through it that was slightly narrower outside the buckle than inside. The shoulder belt tab had a knob that fit through the larger side of that hole but not the smaller. So before clipping the lap belt, you put the knob of the shoulder belt through the hole. Then when you clip the lap belt tab into the buckle, the knob can't pull out.

Are you writing one into a story or borrowing someone's beater classic vehicle?

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Are you writing one into a story or borrowing someone's beater classic vehicle?

Neither. A '72 Nova was all over my dreams last night and I was futzing with the buckle and I was dead certain they couldn't have really worked the way my subconscious kludged it, because what I came up with was a cross between a plastic luggage buckle and a garter clip.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Ours had two buckles, one for the lap belt and another for the shoulder harness. I seem to remember they were different sizes/shapes so you couldn't confuse them, but they worked the same, with a square release button in the middle of the buckle.

They were annoying.