66 Barracuda Shoulder Belts

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jimmyray

jimmyray

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I have read that the 66 Barracuda had Shoulder belts as a dealer installed option. Anyone know how they did it? Does the roof already have the mount bolt holes pre-installed from the factory? I am hoping they are hidden behind the Headliner...

I cannot find a reference to it in the factory service manual, but below is a Pic from Owners Manual:

Pic02.jpg
 
I've owned at least a couple of dozen '66's (currently 9) and looked at hundreds more through the years and have never seen that dealer installed option. I saw that option listed in the owner's manual 30 year ago and was curious too. Never did find out for sure why it was in the manual and never an actual option. I suspect it was something on the drawing board that they hope to enact that year but at the last minute they decided to wait or changed their mind. I've inspected many bodies that I've stripped and couldn't find any anchor points that were reinforced good enough to use. You'd have to weld in a brace and nut to do it right. Then you'd have to figure out what kind of belt to use that will match the lap belts. The two separate belt units that they had in the '68 models were a real pain to mess with and storing them was just as bad. The shoulder harnesses always seemed to be in the way. Let me know if you find any documented info on that listed option.
Thanks, Mark
 
Interesting topic that I've followed & investigated a little for some years now -
I've come up with a factory press release photo pushing shoulder belts with info that shows the interior of a 66 Dart GT CONVERTIBLE with the shoulder belts installed and in use on the driver, who of course happens to be an attractive girl for demonstration purposes. For the Dart GT ragtop, the 2nd belt (shoulder belt) is attached to a point on the REAR floor. The front attachment point is same place with lap belt.... This press release has 2 photos in it. Small retractors cold have been used, I would think.
I think that the idea for shoulder belts in '66s (hardtops or convertibles)was that they would NOT be attached to ceiling/roof, but more like what is seen in the press release: start from the same front place as lap belt, but Over The Shoulder and then attached to a spot on floor at in the back. Maybe none were ever sold, but Mopar was trying to figure out how to do it for public consumption in '66. But it's fair to say that the photo shows that at least ONE 66 A-body (a 66 Dart GT convert) had shoulder belts!
It took some time before a workable plan for shoulder belts was properly figured out...like WHERE they
would roll up into. If I could post this photo, I would. A small version of it was in a national magazine talking about new 66 Mopars...I have it, but forget what it is...Car & Driver, Motor Trend, Car Life..need to check....

-66dartsguy
 
I've been quite interested in this for a long time also. Two safety items for me that I would love to implement are (a) shoulder belts and (b) some way to keep the seat backs locked upright. I'm already in the midst of rigging up a collapsible steering wheel column and I have the seats torn apart and welding up head rests from a Mustang vendor. I wonder about welding a bar in on the outer side of each side of the car towards the back seat and fabricating a movable lock, so that way a pin or a release could be used to lock/unlock the seats in place. I wonder if that could be a suitable place to bolt in seat belts, also.
 
Excellent info, thanks all. I was hoping against hope on that one, to be sure. My daughter will be driving the car, so i want to make it as safe as possible, for the year of car, anyway. I may go the convertible sebring route, but don't really like the look of the seats. Other than that, i really don't see where I would attache the shoulder harness bolt. The floor may work, but it would be awkward to deal with on a regular basis, methinks.

Any pictures or thoughts on the installation of shoulder belts?
 
66dartsguy said:
Interesting topic that I've followed & investigated a little for some years now -
I've come up with a factory press release photo pushing shoulder belts with info that shows the interior of a 66 Dart GT CONVERTIBLE with the shoulder belts installed and in use on the driver, who of course happens to be an attractive girl for demonstration purposes. For the Dart GT ragtop, the 2nd belt (shoulder belt) is attached to a point on the REAR floor. The front attachment point is same place with lap belt.... This press release has 2 photos in it. Small retractors cold have been used, I would think.
I think that the idea for shoulder belts in '66s (hardtops or convertibles)was that they would NOT be attached to ceiling/roof, but more like what is seen in the press release: start from the same front place as lap belt, but Over The Shoulder and then attached to a spot on floor at in the back. Maybe none were ever sold, but Mopar was trying to figure out how to do it for public consumption in '66. But it's fair to say that the photo shows that at least ONE 66 A-body (a 66 Dart GT convert) had shoulder belts!
It took some time before a workable plan for shoulder belts was properly figured out...like WHERE they
would roll up into. If I could post this photo, I would. A small version of it was in a national magazine talking about new 66 Mopars...I have it, but forget what it is...Car & Driver, Motor Trend, Car Life..need to check....

-66dartsguy
Click to expand...
If you find out which magazine, year, and month, please post it so we can check it out. I've seen some conversions where shoulder belts have been added but they all looked schetchy to me. One guy had one that looked normal but he just bolted the upper end to the sheet metal on the headliner rail! Looked like that would break on a hard stop! The other two I saw were on a bench seat car were they ran the shoulder belt from the center hump anchor point for the lap belt over to the outer seat belt anchor. Looked uncomfortable to me and wouldn't work with stock buckets unless you made a guide bracket for the top of the seat back.
 
I have some grainy pictures of a "Petty Shoulder Harness" installed in a 1966 Barracuda Formula S. Attached to the roof, with some kind of hardware on the outside of the roof as well. Probably not very safe by modern standards.
 
66dartsguy said:
Interesting topic that I've followed & investigated a little for some years now -
I've come up with a factory press release photo pushing shoulder belts with info that shows the interior of a 66 Dart GT CONVERTIBLE with the shoulder belts installed and in use on the driver, who of course happens to be an attractive girl for demonstration purposes. For the Dart GT ragtop, the 2nd belt (shoulder belt) is attached to a point on the REAR floor. The front attachment point is same place with lap belt.... This press release has 2 photos in it. Small retractors cold have been used, I would think.
I think that the idea for shoulder belts in '66s (hardtops or convertibles)was that they would NOT be attached to ceiling/roof, but more like what is seen in the press release: start from the same front place as lap belt, but Over The Shoulder and then attached to a spot on floor at in the back. Maybe none were ever sold, but Mopar was trying to figure out how to do it for public consumption in '66. But it's fair to say that the photo shows that at least ONE 66 A-body (a 66 Dart GT convert) had shoulder belts!
It took some time before a workable plan for shoulder belts was properly figured out...like WHERE they
would roll up into. If I could post this photo, I would. A small version of it was in a national magazine talking about new 66 Mopars...I have it, but forget what it is...Car & Driver, Motor Trend, Car Life..need to check....

-66dartsguy
Click to expand...
Based on past experience building circle track cars, it is never a good idea to attach the shoulder harness to the rear floor. Or ANY point lower than the shoulder of the driver. Shoulder harness attachment points should always be at shoulder height or above. A low attachment point MAY help in the event of a roll over, but in any other type of impact will not keep the driver from moving forward.
I wish I could demonstrate this theory but trying to describe it without a mock up of an actual seat is nearly impossible. Even the later model convertibles with the B-pillar mounted shoulder harness below shoulder height seem to offer only a false sense of security to me.
 
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