1966 shoulder belts

[jordan grant]

Can anyone tell me what month in 1966 the reinforcement plate in the rear wheel well became standard on all 66's?.I understand if an early 66 has shoulder belts it "may"be one of the few with "factory"shoulder belts.Or at least could have a better arguement for possiblly being a factory shoulder belt car!.Jordan

[Michael H.]

Re: 1966 shoulder belts

Jordan,

The A85 shoulder belt option was added to the assembly manual on 9 November 1965 but that really has nothing to do with the actual time that the option became available and went into production. There's usually a gap between these two times for a number of reasons. My 66 was assembled on C19, ten days after the option was listed but my car does not have the reinforcement plates. Hopefully, members with later cars will be able to narrow it down to a week or at least a month after this time.

Michael

[Bill Stephenson]

Re: 1966 shoulder belts

Jordan,

--------Noland seems to say "not possible before 15,000" and not actually seen in his surveys til 17,153. However, he does seem to say that its at least possible the bracket might appear at 11,000 around January 4th.
--------Please,someone else look up A85 and see how you might interpret what Noland says,as it isnt quite clear to me............Bill S

[Bill Stephenson]

Re: 1966 shoulder belts

-----Wow,Mike......You posted while I was typing and searching vol.2...
-----I also know that Jans 12,xxx roadster has no plates..........Bill S

[Michael H.]

Re: 1966 shoulder belts

Hi Bill, yea, that happens to me a lot too. I type out this great big response to a question only to find out the question has already been answered correctly by three other people. Oh well, more is better than not enough I guess.

I had a debate with someone just a few months ago about the actual time an option or change would have occured in production compared to the actual time the change was listed or added to the AIM, and it just happened to be the very same A85 option that is being discussed now. I wasn't able to convince the owner of the 9500 car that he most likely couldn't have the option but he installed it anyway, plates and all.

Does Jan still have that Laguna blue 66 427 car? What a nice ride that was/is. Blue leather if I remember correctly?

[John H.]

Re: 1966 shoulder belts

Bill -

If you read the A85 section in both the '66 and '67 chapters, it's all about "random" bracket installation on non-A85 cars. FWIW, my very late A.O. Smith '67 convertible (base engine, low-option car) doesn't have them.

[Michael H.]

Re: 1966 shoulder belts

That's interesting. I wonder if it could have anything to do with A. O. Smith vs. St Louis built bodies? Possibly the Smith bodies didn't have the plates? I know that there were several options that didn't seem to ever come out of the Smith assy plant. Could this be another one? I've seen a lot of late 66 cars that didn't have the A85 option but still hade the plates installed but I never recorded their build source.

[Paul L.]

Re: 1966 shoulder belts

FWIW my February 1967 has them.

[Bill Stephenson]

Re: 1966 shoulder belts

Mike,

-----Yup, she still has it. Stretch and Bob finally did a body-off on it. They did a great job! Stretch even painted it. Wouldnt have had it any other way. Finished the interior up myself,although it really didnt need anything of consequence. Original black leather seats still look a year old. Try that with new GM leather,LOL! Got lucky and found NOS door-panels for it with Jack Ms help. Took it thru BG in 99 and did pretty well. Just driving it now.............Bill S

[Rich G.]

Re: 1966 shoulder belts

I have a St. Louis body 66 13251. Tell me what to look for and I'll check. The picture attached to one of the other posts is lost on me.

Rich Giannotti

[frank mccracken]

pics of 1966 shoulder belts

Does anyone have or could take pics of how/where the shoulder belts were installed in these cars? Were they available in both coupe and convertible?
Thanks, Frank.

[jordan grant]

Re: 1966 shoulder belts

Someone emailed me a very clear picture of the plate from inside the wheel well a while back,but I cant put my hands on it.Inside the wheel well the body(wheel well)curves around the tire area,then curves around the inside of the frame.You can just barely see this plate curve with this frame bend without taking the tire off with a flashlight.

[Rich G.]

Re: 1966 shoulder belts

Jordan

Doesn't look like it is on this car. I looked and felt. I did not take the wheel off. This car is a Feb 7, 1966 body build date in St. Louis.

Rich G

[jordan grant]

Re: 1966 shoulder belts

If anyones interested,I found the picture in the archives under jan 15th to present ,scroll down to response 14.its a very clear picture of the plate.Jordan

[Paul L.]

Re: 1966 shoulder belts

Jordan,
Here is the bracket in "raw" state.