What are these holes in my car's floor?

[Paul S.]

On each side of my '69 convertible's floor right behind the center of each seat, a threaded hole appears that is open all the way through to the ground. Here are some photos of the one on the driver's side:

20190629_105126.jpg

20190629_105113.jpg

What are these? Some type of drain holes? Should there be plugs in them?

There appears to be another set of plugged holes a few inches forward of these ones, as you can see in the first photo above. My car is very original (it still has the original jute padding attached to the floor), so if there were plugs in the open threaded holes, I doubt someone would have removed and discarded them. Perhaps they fell out through the bottom?

Thanks in advance for any help!


- Paul

[Rick N.]

Re: What are these holes in my car's floor?

The threaded hole is for the lap belt.

[Paul S.]

Re: What are these holes in my car's floor?

The threaded hole is for the lap belt.

Thanks for the reply. Hmmmm... for some reason, that is not where my lap belts were attached. There are some other threaded holes more in the "back corners" where they were attached. I thought I remembered hearing that '68s and early '69s had a bracket there in the corner that the belt threaded through. My car does not have that bracket at all. Instead, that is the location where the lap belt was bolted to the floor.

Does anyone know if the lap belt mounting location changed for later '69s?

[Joe L.]

Re: What are these holes in my car's floor?

Thanks for the reply. Hmmmm... for some reason, that is not where my lap belts were attached. There are some other threaded holes more in the "back corners" where they were attached. I thought I remembered hearing that '68s and early '69s had a bracket there in the corner that the belt threaded through. My car does not have that bracket.

Does anyone know if the lap belt mounting location changed for later '69s?

Paul------

My mid-September, 1969 has the male end lap belt mounting at the location seen in the underseat floorpan location in your photo. Did it change after that time? I don't know. However, it did change for the 1970 model year. So, I'd say if this car was built after mid-September, 1969, it would be possible. However, if so, I would expect that the seat belts would have been 1970 seat belts, too.

[Rick N.]

Re: What are these holes in my car's floor?

Thanks for the reply. Hmmmm... for some reason, that is not where my lap belts were attached. There are some other threaded holes more in the "back corners" where they were attached. I thought I remembered hearing that '68s and early '69s had a bracket there in the corner that the belt threaded through. My car does not have that bracket at all. Instead, that is the location where the lap belt was bolted to the floor.

Does anyone know if the lap belt mounting location changed for later '69s?

You should have 2 threaded holes in the sill.
One in the rear corner and one a few inches forward.
This is for the seat belt guide plate.
Lap belt bolts under the seat and goes towards the sill and under the guide plate.
Then it continues through an oval carpet colored grommet which is stapled into the carpet.

I can't say I've ever seen a late 69 with a 70 lap belt arrangement however anything's possible.

[Joe L.]

Re: What are these holes in my car's floor?

Thanks for the reply. Hmmmm... for some reason, that is not where my lap belts were attached. There are some other threaded holes more in the "back corners" where they were attached. I thought I remembered hearing that '68s and early '69s had a bracket there in the corner that the belt threaded through. My car does not have that bracket at all. Instead, that is the location where the lap belt was bolted to the floor.

Does anyone know if the lap belt mounting location changed for later '69s?

Paul------


So, when was this car built? From what I can see of the female lap belt in one of your photos, it does appear to have the very late 1969 or 1970 style seat belts (square button). My mid-September 1969 had the early style plastic buckle belts (round button). However, the late style belt also early-on replaced the early style for SERVICE. So, if the belts had been replaced, they likely would have been replaced with the later style even if originally equipped with the early style. That's actually what happened to me. My driver side belt latch failed and I replaced the complete belt with the later style which was the only type available at the time. I later replaced the passenger side to match. I do have a completely restored set of early style belts in case I ever decide to change them back.