<VV> Seat belt/shoulder

[airvair at earthlink.net]

That was true of most cars of that era. It took them years to figure out
that if the public was ever going to use them, they had to be user
friendly. All the clutter (especially in the perpetually belted '69 500)
was unattractive to the customer, at best. The Corvair sholder belt is
particularly distasteful in that it didn't have any retractor on it. A
person either was unable to reach a lot of the dash items (radio, glove
box, etc.) or the belt was too loosely adjusted. With the latter, it was
possible that the belt would cause more physical damage to the wearer than
it prevented; while the former either spawned customer complaints or the
customer simply chose not to wear it (usually the case.) Hence the advent
of sholder belt inertia retractors, which made integral three-point belts
practical, let alone possible.

What I've always thought would be neat in a Corvair would be to splice
together a Nova/Chevelle type mid '70's roof retractor with a detachable
strap/buckle combo from a '70-1 Corvette, and the mid-67-up Corvair
outboard retractor and inboard buckle straps.

Craig Nicol did a neat job of creating a roof-mounted belt retractor for
the '67 Monza 4door he once had, but I have been unable to coerce him into
making me a pair. (Hey Craig, hint, hint.) ;o)

-Mark


> [Original Message]
> From: J R Read_HML <hmlinc at sbcglobal.net>
> Subject: Re: <VV> Seat belt/shoulder
>
> Kent...
> You are absolutely right... it was a pain in the A (AKA pita) to use the
> factory provided seat belts in the mid '60's.
>
> Most of us (including me) stuffed them between the seat cushions the first
> day we drove a new car.  ... never to be seen again.  This probably
accounts
> for many of them still being in pristine condition.
>
> I'd put a GRIN here - but I'm serious.
>
> Later, JR
>