Pinto Car Club of America

Let's talk about seat belts...

             When I bought my Lean Green JuJu Machine I was aware that the two-piece (aftermarket?) seatbelt wasn't going to sit right with me (I couldn't resist! lol) but it wasn't a real issue til Saturday April 18 when I drove her to Buena Park to volunteer with the bag-stuffing. It's hard enough when you're learning to drive something different and you're lost but when your non-adjustable seatbelt keeps popping out of its counterpart it makes the whole driving experience an ordeal.

     Yesterday I went to the wrecking yard and snagged a seatbelt set from a '78(?) Ranchero thinking this will be great. I attempted to install it on JuJu and realized: I only have one anchor hole on the bottom, but I have two reels of seat belt.  ??? So I went to my Chilton's and Hayne's  :read: looking for reference to the seat belt anchor issue. Found nothing helpful.  >:(

       Were '71-'73s exempt from having the 3-point seat belt? I recall my '72 only had the lap belt but I remember her having the upper anchor. I really don't want to reinstall that two piece piece of $#!*. How can I remedy this? Thank you.  :)

From what I have seen, yes. The 71-73 only had lap belts. Every 74 and up that I have seen have lap and shoulder belts.

Becky,

I have no way of knowing whether your particular belts are original or aftermarket, but the early 70's Ford products (from the Pinto to the Lincoln) all came from the factory with the two-piece belts.  1974 was Ford's first year for the integrated one-piece belts.  My guess is that there should be a way to retrofit them on the older cars, but I don't know for sure.  Someone here is bound to have answers!

Dwayne :smile:

My 71, 72, and 73 all had 3 point seat belts for the front seats.  You could use the lap belt with out the shoulder belt.  They even had clips to store the shoulder belt portion up by the ceiling when not in use.  None of mine had a rewind mechanism for the front belts.  The lap and shoulder belt's tension was individually adjustable.  I like this feature, you could cinch up the lap belt portion to hold you in the seat while negotiating tight turns.  The shoulder belt mounting point is in the ceiling above the quarter window and about 5" behind the B pillar.  The shoulder belt end uses a round pin to clip into the seat buckle (kinda looks like a fat headed rivet).  In this pin there are suppose to be a couple O-ring like pieces that hold it snug in to the seat buckle.   Some times these "O-rings" fall out and the shoulder belt connection to the seat buckle does not stay put.

Retro fitting a modern one piece lap-shoulder belt will take some fabrication.  I suspect it would be easier to find original parts here and maybe have them re-webbed.

I had 1 73 with no shoulder belt all my other 1s did have 71, 72 and 73. I have 79 Ranchero belt in my driver 74 because I sold original 1. Kinda goofy the way its hooked up, but it works.  Fred   :)