66 Seat belt ID

[Ian S.]

Hello,

These are photos of the belts from my July '66 car. The judging manual say the buckles should be silver but it did not seem like these were replaced. Could these be correct or are they maybe replacements.

Thanks,

Ian

[Ian S.]

Picture #2

Second picture.

Ian

[Ian S.]

Picture #3

Third picture.

Ian

[Rob M.]

Re: 66 Seat belt ID

Ian,

From the picture, they appear to be of the early design. A July car should have the second design, or silver buckles. Can you still read the date stamp on the belt tag? That would be the best way to tell. The ones that you have could be original, but from an early 66 or form a 65. What type of seat belt retainer does your car have? That could be a clue also.

[Ian S.]

Re: 66 Seat belt ID

Rob,

The only dates are on the retractable belts 22E66. There is a 1-66 stamp on the metal of the retractors.
Sorry for my ignorance but are you refering to the seat belt retainer on the center console? What are the differences?

[Gerard F.]

Re: 66 Seat belt ID

Ian,

I think you have early 66 replacement buckle ends (the label looks to clean for a 66) and late 66 original tongue retractor ends. 22E66 is the 22nd week of 1966. The Hamill C-10 were used in late 66, and the Corvette-Irving were used in early 66. This is what your buckle ends should look like:


These are from a 67

Jerry Fuccillo
#42179

[Jim S.]

Jerry >did you see the tags !

Now I know what the JG is referring to in re the white stiching...To bad It fails to differenciate between the older style and the newer ones!From looking at yours and mine it should state that the Hamils use colored stitching on both sides and the Irvings use the white stitching....A little item ...but an important one.

[Rory Riedy]

C2 - 66 Seat belt ID

Would a March 16th car be considered early or late, That is should it have the Hamill or Irving style belts.

Triple R

[Rob M.]

Re: 66 Seat belt ID

Ian,

22E66 would equal May 22, 1966 which would fall in the date range for your car real nice. The retainer is attached to the console and your car's should have holes in it for a July build date. The late buckle style would "snap on" to the retainer requiring the driver/passanger to depress the buckle button to get it off later. The earlier style belt retainer had no holes and the belt buckle would just slide on and off. I would say that the belts that are in the retractors are original to your car and the others are from a different car or are replacement (but I think they came off an early 66 car or a 65).

Rob

[Gerard F.]

Re: Jerry >did you see the tags !

Jim,

Not too sure about the Irving belt tag as Ian's looks like a replacement tag and is stitched all around with white stitching. Maybe someone with the 66 JG can chime in on this and also give us the VIN breakpoint for Irving vs Hamill belts.

However, I'm sure the 67 Hamill tags on black belts, were sewed with black thread with 2 straight stitches only on the ends of the tag, and black thread on both sides. The other colors may be different.

Here's a set of the retainer ends:


The frames are painted instead of plated (which I'm going to correct one of these days.

Jerry Fuccillo

[Jim S.]

Re: C2 - 66 Seat belt ID

Closer to late then early. The JG states that the Ivings should be on all 66s to about vin # 14000 ....than either Ivings or hamills from about 14000 -16200 ...than Hamills from then on.

I suspect your vin should be in the 18000 + range.
Why which ones do you have?

[Rory Riedy]

C2 - 66 Seat belt ID

Jim,

Thanks for the info. I have neither. I am in the midst of my first restoration. The car as I bought it had no seat belts or center console retainer. I am still a ways from interior work but seeing this post has me planning.

Thanks,

Triple R