I know that seatbelts were not offered on 57 Corvettes.I want to install the most original seatbelts and buckles I can find for my 57 corvette. A well repected seatbelt maker told back in 57 the buckles would have been the Brown-Line Buckle General Tube Co. Sturgis,Michigan. Is this true? And do you know anything about this Company?
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Re: 57 Seatbelts
since seat belts weren't available in 57(as you note) finding the "most originals" is not pertinent. i got belts for both my 57's from Andover co near Blatimore. they ad in Hemmings and i believe the driveline. since no belts were available in 57, NCRS judging won't have an impact on what type belts you buy. think they were about 75 bucks in the late 80's. good luck, mike -
Add on...
To reinforce the advice Mike gave, the NCRS Judging Reference Manual specifically addresses this in Section 2, Rule 25, Safety, Security Other Allowance & Scoring Bonus:
"The following are allowed with no scoring deduction:
A. Standard seat belt installtion on 1953 through 1957 models.
B. State or Federally required safety equipment, State required current inspection and/or registration sticker.
C. Very inconspicuous, functional non-factory alarm sytem."Comment
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I know this is a very old thread, but Mike McMagh is still active on the DB and might find this interesting:
St. Joseph County Historical Society of Michigan
STURGIS: The General Tube Company
The General Tube Company was founded here in 1950 by Herschel F. Davis and Newell A. Franks to make tubing to be used in the manufacture of refrigerators and air conditioners. Davis was a vice president at Kirsch Company and Franks headed Burr Oak Tool and Gauge. The new firm started with three employees in a 2,400 square foot building at 1005 Prairie Ave. Franks withdrew from the firm in 1953 and in August of that year General Tube and its 30 employees moved to a new 8,000 sq. ft. building at 601 McKee St. the building at 1005 Prairie is now part of the Burr Oak Tool and Gauge complex. In 1956 General Tube bought the patent rights to Brown-line safety seat belts from a California firm. By 1959 General Tube was the sole supplier of seat belts to the Buick, Cadillac and Oldsmobile division of General Motors, Chrysler Corporation, Chrysler of Canaeda Lts., Pan American World Airways, Lake Central Airways and Slick Airways. Nearly all of the state police cars in California, Missouri, New Jersey and New York as well as those of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were equipped with General Tube’s belts. General Tube in 1959 was turning out 1,000 belts a week at its McKee plant and in a leased building at 1001 W. Chicago Rd. At its McKee Street plant, General Tube continued to produce refrigeration tubing, most os which was sold to the Tecumseh Products Co. of Tecumseh, Mich.
Thirty persons were employed by General Tube in 1959. Major stockholders and officers at that time were Herschel E. Davis president, E. W. Smiley vice president and sales manager, H. Jerry Davis secretary and purchasing agent, and Robert P. Davis treasurer and manager. By 1963 the firm occupied 67,000 sq. ft. of floor space at 210 Prairie Ave. and employed about 280 persons. Seat belts by then accounted for about 80 percent of General Tube’s production.
Following the death of Herschel Davis on July 30, 1962, his widow, Mrs. Erma Davis, served as president of General Tube. The business closed in 1967.
(From Robert Hair’s book “Sturgis and Its Industrial Growth”) Available from Sturgis Historical Society.Comment
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