I removed the seat belts to clean them and see if there isany way to improve their coloring. In looking at them, the area near the floorattachment where they would not have been exposed to sunlight, the belts do notappear to be bright red. They are more of a light red color. Is this theoriginal color of the seat belt webbing? What suggestions would anyone havetowards improving their appearance for Judging?
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I removed the seat belts to clean them and see if there isany way to improve their coloring. In looking at them, the area near the floorattachment where they would not have been exposed to sunlight, the belts do notappear to be bright red. They are more of a light red color. Is this theoriginal color of the seat belt webbing? What suggestions would anyone havetowards improving their appearance for Judging?
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Re: 1963 Seat Belt Preservation and Color (Red)
There are a couple of vendors that restore seatbelts they advertise in the driveline but I don't know that they could correct the faded material. I soaked my seatbelts in a dye called Rit. It is an old product that was popular years ago to dye clothing, I think I bought it at a Walmart store. The belt material is not very absorbent and doesn't take the dye easily but you could give it a try. I ended up soaking it overnight. It will ruin the tags on the belts but yours aren't in very good condition anyway and there are vendors that sell them. I had a local dry cleaner sew them on for me. Make sure you note the location and thread color to match it correctly. -
Re: 1963 Seat Belt Preservation and Color (Red)
I have the original belts out of my red 63 coupe and I would not describe them as light red...although slightly faded the color is still a fairly vibrant red. Yours are just badly faded IMO. And that doesn't only occur from sunlight - harsh chemical cleaners or other things could have caused it.
I can post pictures if you like. I run reproduction seat belts in the car for regular use...I don't trust the rather threadbare originals...Comment
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Re: 1963 Seat Belt Preservation and Color (Red)
Rob,
Remove the labels or buy new ones from Paragon. Then boil the seat belts with the Rit dye and they will look like new.
JRComment
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Re: 1963 Seat Belt Preservation and Color (Red)
Rob,
Here are the pictures of my original early-mid 1964 Corvette seat belts. As you can see they are also not the bright red color. These belts were reconditioned by Charlie Santorelli at Seat Belt Sity. He mentioned that this color was unique. The buckles were restored (I painted them and yes I know they do not have the correct rough textured finish). The belts were steam cleaned and the buckles were reinstalled along with my original labels. They have went through all levels of flight judging and only received a small deduction for condition of the buckles which have some rust since I elected not to have the re-chromed.
Regards,
James WestComment
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Re: 1963 Seat Belt Preservation and Color (Red)
When I did mine I slid the buckles to one end then back to the other. I wasn't worried about the chrome piece that can be wiped off.Comment
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Re: 1963 Seat Belt Preservation and Color (Red)
Rob,
He did neither. Charlie removed the latches, buckles, and labels and then steam cleaned my original seat belt webbing. Then after I sent him back the painted latches he reassembled the latches and sowed the buckles, latches, and labels back on the webbing. Again I went the less expensive route and did not have him rechrome my buckles and anchor plates since they were in good condition.Comment
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Re: 1963 Seat Belt Preservation and Color (Red)
Here are pictures of my original '63 belts. The tag on one is decent but shot on the other (not shown). I spoke with Charlie Santorelli and it is going to be expensive to get them replaced or re-done and get the hardware restored. I am looking at Snake-Oyl here in Texas as well if anyone has any feedback on their quality of work. I may try to re-dye them but not sure about where to get the hardware restored.
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Re: 1963 Seat Belt Preservation and Color (Red)
I just sold a decent set to a 63 owner for $400 that were in good enough shape to put in a driver. I know some Mustang owners that have used Ssnake Oyl and were very complimentary about their work - I'm gonna say its on the order of $600 to get the work done and that may have gone up. It would be really hard to dye them and not have the red dye leech into the labels... These are early I believe with the overlapping stitched boxes. My other restored set is on the shelf for a future owner.
For driving around I use these repros for about $100 - 90% of people wouldn't know they're not original (currently on backorder):
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Re: 1963 Seat Belt Preservation and Color (Red)
Excellent information - thanks! Once I get to the rest of the interior, I will need to dye the dash pad and my original door panels. Will order carpet and seat covers from Al Knoch.Comment
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Re: 1963 Seat Belt Preservation and Color (Red)
Snake Oyl has a good reputation in the restoration industry I would make sure to check the label tag fonts and character sizes/spacing CLOSELY just make sure their labels are identical to yours.James A Groome
1971 LT1 11130 - https://photos.app.goo.gl/zSoFz24JMPXw5Ffi9 - the black LT1
1971 LT1 21783 - 3 STAR Preservation.- https://photos.app.goo.gl/wMRDJgmyDyAwc9Nh8 - Brandshatch Green LT1
My first gen Camaro research http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.p...owposts;u=4337
Posts on Yenko boards... https://www.yenko.net/forum/search.php?searchid=826453Comment
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Re: 1963 Seat Belt Preservation and Color (Red)
I had the seat belts for my '66 restored by Snake Oyl about 12 years ago. But after inspecting them carefully recently, and after having them inspected by Charlie Santorelli, I had Charlie redo them. I hate doing or paying to do things twice. Based on my comparison of the results, I would definitely recommend Charlie at Seatbelt Sity over Snake Oyl..
GaryComment
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