I am going to be replacing some interior items on my '69 XR7 coupe (sail panels are tacky, but guess new ones are not much better and have no hole for the light?), and I didn’t notice any shoulder belts folded up above the door, did they have them? Thanks.
Both my standard and XR7 have them… My “other” XR7 had the interior striped out of it before I bought the car so I am not sure if it had them or not…
Brian
Thanks Brian. Did they get secured around the fold above the door with the same chrome clip the Mustangs used, or something else?
I think the 69 should be same as 70 and on mine it has a plastic holder that the end of the belt holds into and the other straps loop onto one of the coat hangers. Maybe someone will know if they are the same… West coast classic has pics of the plastic piece.
The 69 and 70 belts are different, both seat and shoulder harness. you know Ford is not going to leave anything the same (sarcasm). The 69 had a receiver for seat and a receiver for shoulder, 70 used only one receiver for both. I would send pic. but don’t know how. Maybe someone will.
This is what is being sold on eBay for them: But not sure '69 was like this too.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1968-Mercury-Cougar-Ford-Mustang-Seat-Belt-lot-black-shoulder-belts-incomplete-/170957219868?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Year%3A1969|Model%3ACougar&hash=item27cdd8281c&vxp=mtr
I believe that all hardtop 69s should have shoulder belts. I think that this was a part of the federally mandated safety items program. Are there any holes in the headliner to show where the belts originally were? Do you have a Marti report on the car? If so any special mention regarding seatbelts? Do you have a total of 4 of the rubber capped coat hooks in your car? You should. The forward mount to hold the shoulder belt out of the way would be one of these coat hooks. There is an elastic band sewed onto the back of the belt to hook over the coat hook.
Ford used 2 different vendors for seatbelts. Robbins was one and I cannot recall the other name right now. Look on the back of the female sections to see who made yours. The date coded tag that is sewn onto the webbing will also be marked with the manufacturers name. There are differences between the companies and the year of manufacture so you will want to be sure that if you purchase shoulder belts that they will work with what you already have. Depending upon the differences the male and female ends will not mate. I would recommend that before you make a decission or make a purchase that you determine what belts are currently in your car. Who knows what a previous owner might have done, what you have might not even be the right ones for the car. Check to see if any of the current belts have the sewn on tag and check the date codes. Let us know what you find. Perhaps you will need a complete set of belts, perhaps just a pair of shoulder belts. Once this is figured out I might have something here that would help you.
You are correct that the reproduction sail panels do not have the cutout for the opera lights. The reproductions are not that bad, you just need to do a little work to install them.
Randy Goodling
CCOA #95
Thanks, I will check all that out soon and let you know. I guess to cut the holes for the opera lights in the sail panels, you should use a drill with the large circular bit/saw they use for cutting holes in doors for lock sets? That seems to be the only thing I have around the house that would work to get a true circular hole of the correct diameter for the light assembly. My existing sail panels have some cheesy looking cheese cloth type material over cardboard, so these do look better than that. Thanks.
mikeljXR7CJ…
If I have time today I will run across the runway to where I have the cars stored and get a few pics of the seatbelts installed.
Brian.
The sail panels are only made of a cardboard like material. You could use a compass to mark the location and an Exacto knife to cut it out. Just use a new blade. You could also just lay your old panel over the new one to mark the correct location. The hole does not need to be 100% perfect circle as there is a lip on the light that extends beyond the cutout. There is also a metal piece that should be on the back of your original panels that will need to be transfered over to the new panel for the light. And there is a small cardboard material like tab that will need to be transfered as well. This tab holds a metal clip, same as what holds the door panel in place. The clip is part of what holds the panel in place.
If you decide that you need to add the shoulder belts to your car this would be the time to replace the sail panels as well, especially if there are no visible holes in your headliner to mount the shoulder belts. Having the sail panels out of the way will allow you to loosen the bottom edge of the headliner which will allow you to look behind it to find the mounting locations.
Randy Goodling
CCOA #95
Thanks for the tips all, when I get to the shop I will check it out closer. The car is currently waiting on a newly restored CJ block to replace the cracked one.
Ford used 2 different vendors for seatbelts. Robbins was one and I cannot recall the other name right now
FYI ,The other vendor was Hamill
Yeah, that’s it. Thanks Carlton.
Randy Goodling
CCOA #95
I got a chance to go by the mechanic’s shop and look at the seat belt configuration today. There is no sign of any holes/bolts/brackets in the sail panel/headliner area. On the front seats, console side, there are two sets of belts and buckles (female), one for the seat belt and I guess the other for shoulder belts, which are missing. So I guess the shoulder belt would be a longer version of the seat belt, with elastic loops to tie them up on the coat hook when folded above the door, does that sound correct?
The shoulder belts will have the same size and shape of male end and the webbing will be the same. Shoulder belts though do not have a retractor on the mounting end. Did you check to see which brand of belts you have and if any of the sewn on tags are present?
Randy Goodling
CCOA #95
Oops, I didn’t check, I will next week when I go back in, the block should have arrived by then.