67 seat belt codes

[Clete M.]

Re: 67 seat belt codes

Hi Mike. I can't positively indentify the Letter 'A' in Air Chute belts. I have both corvette belts and passenger car belts. Both have the letter 'A' in the plant department. I have not seen any other letters. The letter to designate a department of the plant and date was probably a requirement by GM to identify the belts for warranty issues. Unlike HAMILL, Irving may of had only one department manufacturing belts. The variety of belts produced by IRVING were small in comparison to those made by HAMILL.
Concerning the 67 shoulders and laps, it is quite commom for their date to not match. They were not produced as a set . Laps were produced, and shoulders were produced. I have witnessed shoulders that were stamped with a 'C' instead of an 'E'. The 'C' is very common for passenger car rear seat belts (which had no retractor mechanisms). Shoulder belts also had no retractors and are very similar to rear belts except the length. I can see where that department ( 'C' ) may have been utilized to make shoulder belts occasionally. Clete

[Reba W.]

Re: 67 seat belt codes

I agree with Clete that most lap and shoulder belts would not have the same dates, especailly in the years before shoulder belts became so common.

Most restored C3s that I judge have all 4 belts with matching dates and letters. I don't believe that this was likely unless they were packaged together.