What have you done to modify your mopar for kids safety?

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moparfreak77

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Me and my wife are expecting a baby in May. I wanted to know what you guys have done to modify your car, say to install a child seat etc. Last summer we noticed when we took my 5 year old nephew in the Valiant that the rear seat belt didnt work all that well with his booster seat because the buckle could be very easily opened. And I will have to make a spot to hook the top tether strap on also. I plan on taken the wife to the hospital and back from the hospital in the Valiant. :) thanks
 
Ive taken all mine a part and made them un-drivable. Kids cant get hurt that way.
 
I added rear seat belts before my son was born in 2002. The tether is optional, according the instructions that came with my baby seat. Newborn babies can't reach down and unbuckle a seat belt so I wouldn't worry about that, but you could always put in more modern seat belts if you wanted to.

If you really want a tether, it's just a matter of one hole to bolt in the anchor.

Here's a tech article I wrote on the seat belts.

http://www.enbcom.com/cuda/tech/rear/rear.htm
 
You should not need to make any modifications as the baby seats attatch are in two pieces attach the base with a lap belt typically the center belt drawn tightly and the carrier portion of the seat snaps down into it securely. The first seat will be a rear facing seat(baby faces the rear of the car seat). The next size up will typically face forward but will attach the same way!
 
wow you guys are quick! :) The reason the seatbelt could have been undone so easy was mostly the design of the booster seat. Also the design of the 68 seatbelt and the big "release". And the seat belt latch is more on the front of your body rather the newer cars that have them on the side. I realize a newborn couldnt undo the seatbelt but a toddler could. I also realize thats a ways away. :) And I believe that from what I have read a tether strap in law now. But i'm not worried about that, thats easy.
 
You need to by a Fastback Barracuda. I found the fold down seat was perfect for diaper changes at the local cruise night.
 
Once the kids get a little older they will actually listen and not undo the seat belt. You just pull over and say "If you undo the seat belt again, we're going home and no more rides in Daddy's cool car" and they will never do it again!
 
I don't know what a '68 buckle looks like but if it is the way I think it is you could just use a large "zip" tie to keep the buckle from being undone. The only real buckle that you need to release in a hurry is the one on the car seat itself.


Chuck
 
GET IN, BUCKLE UP, SHUT UP, HOLD ON - least thats what the sign reads
 
The car seat busted a headlinner seam in our first 67 notchback (20 yrs ago).
The infant is supposed to ride in moms lap until old enough to stand beside you on the front seat of that car (chronologicly speaking).
Some would suggest you transport junior in a later model vehicle only but those are the same people who support all these seatbelt laws.
We follow the rules where they apply. When our grandkids get in the RAV4 they must buckle into the backseat because that vehicle has a passengers side airbag. When riding the Barracuda they fight over "shotgun". All have rode in the right bucket under the lap belt.
I guess if I were a young dad today and the ol' mopar was our only vehicle I would go to a junkyard and get the 3 point belts from the back of an Accord or something. Cut a couple holes in the package shelf ? So what !?!?!
Good luck
 
I'll tell what i had to do to modify my 72 rallye charger when we were expecting my son.I got all spun up and thought i needed to sell.Bad idea as it turns out.This stuff has gotten a lot harder and more expensive to buy,as it ways when i built my charger.Anyway i am on the way back,but we do what we have to do! Good Luck!:burnout:
 
Moparfreak77 congrats on the soon to be new addition to the Family wish you all the best to you and your family! Speaking from experiance if you have work to do on your ride make sure you get it done before May or you will be awhile gettting to it. My daughter was born last of August and I am just getting able to get out to the garage now! Oh yeah and get rested up you will need it! Neil awesome article very well done!

This is my little one now, gotta start them out Mopar ya know so they don't go a stray!:angel7:

Mopar Girl 006.jpg
 
In 1968, shortly after I was born, I was in a car accident with my family. We hit a VW bug on the highway. I was in my mothers lap, and I don't believe anyone else had seat belts on either. The car was a '62 Pontiac, I think it's a Catalina or Bonneville or something, I don't think it had any belts at all. Here's a photo, I'm the baby.

Anyway, I lived to tell the story, so did everyone else. I'm not saying you should drive around without your kids strapped in, but I think we're all a little too over cautious about it and I think some of the new 5 point harnesses and stuff like that are overkill.

62pontiac2.jpg
 
65s said:
In 1968, shortly after I was born, I was in a car accident with my family. We hit a VW bug on the highway. I was in my mothers lap, and I don't believe anyone else had seat belts on either. The car was a '62 Pontiac, I think it's a Catalina or Bonneville or something, I don't think it had any belts at all. Here's a photo, I'm the baby.

Anyway, I lived to tell the story, so did everyone else. I'm not saying you should drive around without your kids strapped in, but I think we're all a little too over cautious about it and I think some of the new 5 point harnesses and stuff like that are overkill.
Click to expand...

i agree to a point but still the kids have to be safe i have a 5 year old and a baby girl due in 2 1/2 weeks and i will surely buckle them up as safely as i can you need to keep in mind todays cars ,not so much my darts and dusters, but my everyday drivers and even my a bodies are not built anything like a 62 pontiac that thing was a tank you were a lot safer in that than anything new and sadly to say even a mopar the pontiac was all steel and a real frame it was built the poor unibodys dont hold up so well in a wreck but they were sure lighter fun for racing but not so much for wrecking they just dont build them like they used to
 
That or I put the kids in a 2007 Toyota Siena, safest mini van. Dang thing weighs in just under what my F250 extended cab 4x4 does, and it has airbags everywhere.
 
Well thats easy, I just tell the kids to get the hell away before I kick their a$$
 
If your worried about a kid unlatching your 68 style flip seat belt then I would find a later style button type, maybe even one out of a 74 or later A-body that is the 3 point style and install it in the rear where your child will be buckled in. The baby seat shouldn't be an issue, and even when they are forward facing, the belt still goes through the back of the seat where the kid can't reach the buckle. When they are simply in a booster seat, I think no matter what type of buckle you had they would be able to undo it. Tell them not to.
My 2.5 year old daughter rides in her Simpson car seat in the back of the GSS and loves to ride in that car. Now I have a newborn and it might get tricky due to the type of seat. I'm not sure if it will fit to one side and I'm not sure if it will fit in the middle either with the other car seat. We'll see. If not, then one gets to ride on my Swinger and one in the GSS and the wife drives too.
 
Mopower71 said:
That or I put the kids in a 2007 Toyota Siena, safest mini van. Dang thing weighs in just under what my F250 extended cab 4x4 does, and it has airbags everywhere.
Click to expand...

Naah just put them in a 60's Chrysler Imperial. I figure any car banned from demolition derby competition for being TOO TOUGH ought be just about right. Lets see Chrysler Imperial vs Toyota Siena, or anything else short of a Mack truck, my money is on the Imperial.

TopHat
 
Wow, are unibodies really that weak? I thought they would still be a lot tougher than today's plastic sh*tboxes that crumple when you hit a soccer ball going 10 miles an hour. Now I want to get a '60's C-body even more...
 
I put in frame connectors to stiffen up the unibody and then went from a 100 hit to a 200 in the spray, in case we need to get out of the way of someone running a light or something. Safety first I always say.
 
I keep my keys hidden. But my kids are grown up. 29&30.
I take the grandson alot. Put him in his car seat in the right
rear seat belt area. He loves it. When the lite turns green,
he says, Green-GO1 I don't know if he means the lite green or
the green car. Who cares. I do as he says.

dragtree.gif
 
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