66 Headrest Questions (A81)

[Joseph S.]

In the process of preparing a '66 convertible for PV. The car is equipped with G81 headrest option. The judging guide notes the headrest must move freely and detents provide positive headrest location. In addition the guide notes "the last detent is designed to retain the headrest, not allowing it to be completely removed..."

My headrests operate freely and detents operate but with increased effort I can remove the headrest completely. In looking at the headrest retainer and detents I cannot see how the mechanism retains the headrest from removal. In fact, to remove the rear seat cover, the headrest must be removed from the seat.

I am trying to understand how 66-67 headrests are designed to operate. It would seem the headrest must be able to be removed.
In addition, how firm should the detents be? The AIM specification notes 10lbs of effort which certainly is not much.

Any help would be appreciated.

Joe

[Bill W.]

Re: 66 Headrest Questions (A81)

Joe,
I am the original owner of 1966 coupe # 23514, originally equipped (and ordered by me) with headrests. You are correct in that the headrest will pull completely out of the top of the seat. The detents are firm enough to hold the headrest in whatever position you set it in. I have never measured the forces required to move the rest up/down. What I did discover the hard way when the Corvette was about three months old was that the added weight of the headrest on the passenger seat would, in an emergency stop, cause the seat to slam forward into the glovebox door with enough force to put a slight dent in the door. Because of this I never installed the passenger headrest unless a person was sitting in that seat. As you can see, '67 headrests and designed differently. While never having weighted them I believe the '67 rest MAY be light enough to prevent it flopping forward, in any event the the '67 seat lock will prevent this from happening. Bill

[Joseph S.]

Re: 66 Headrest Questions (A81)

Thanks Bill,
Your input is very much appreciated.
Joe

[Ara G.]

Re: 66 Headrest Questions (A81)

How lucky are we to hear from an original owner of a 66? What insight. Love it

[Joseph S.]

Re: 66 Headrest Questions (A81)

I could not agree more- where else would you get comments from an original owner who ordered his car with an option that less than 4% of 66 Corvettes were equipped with.
Joe