75 convertible seat belt labels

[Alger R.]

The sewn on labels for the seat and shoulder belts on the 75 convertible each have a part number & date code. Some confusion exists between the judging manual, Assembly manual and existing cars as to the part numbers on the lap belt and also the shoulder belt. Ssnake Oyl restored mine and put the same #347985 on both my lap and shoulder belts and could not give me a definite answer as to assuring this to be the correct number. I was told they determine the numbers from the collection of belt assemblies they have acquired over time. Problem is the number doesn't match the Judging guide which also doesn't match the Assembly Manual. Does anyone have an example of the 75 convertible numbers. A second question is...Could the date codes between lap and shoulder be different or should all four pieces be the same ?

[John M.]

Re: 75 convertible seat belt labels

Al,

I went out to look at my '75 convertible, which has the shoulder belts (in Oxblood). Body Build Date: H12 (May 12th). I also believe these belts to be original to the car.

I didn't take any photos but I did take these numbers off the four belts:

Driver Lap Belt: GM 347981 / Firestone / Model #C45 / 13E75 (Friday of the 13th week of 1975)
Driver Shoulder Belt: GM 342207 / Firestone / Model #C40 / 13E75

Passenger Lap Belt: (Same information as the Driver's side)
Passenger Shoulder Belt: (Same information as the Driver's side EXCEPT the date, which reads 15E75 (Friday of the 15th week of 1975)

As you can see, the part numbers do not match either the Judging Manual (Lap: 345457) or the AIM (Lap: 345456 / Shoulder: 339126). And the answer to your last question (at least in my case) is, Yes, the dates could be different between the belts since I have one that is two weeks "newer" than the other three but all four are within 4-6 weeks of the body build date of the car.

I hope this helps!

John

[Alger R.]

Re: 75 convertible seat belt labels

Thanks for the quick response John. Now we have another set of numbers to figure out. Your lap belts are 4 digits from mine. Could the number be based on color? Hopefully a few more people can add their two cents. Thanks, AL

[John M.]

Re: 75 convertible seat belt labels

I think the color of the belts might have a bearing on the part number and that got me thinking. I pulled out my Chassis and Body Parts Catalog to see what it had and according to it, the numbers do vary based on the color but the numbers it has doesn't match anything that we've mentioned above. Maybe these are Service Replacement part numbers? For what it's worth, the numbers listed below are from the catalog for Model Year 1975 only.

Lap:

357201 - Black
357202 - Mid. Blue
357203 - Oxblood
357204 - Med. Saddle
357205 - Silver
357206 - Lgt. Neutral

Shoulder:

357213 - Black
357214 - Mid. Blue
357215 - Oxblood
357216 - Med. Saddle
357217 - Silver
357218 - Lgt. Neutral

The mystery continues!

[Alger R.]

Re: 75 convertible seat belt labels

John, I am not sure of the date of your catalog but my Chassis and Body Parts Catalog dated Sept 1975 shows the same numbers as your catalog. AL

[Reba W.]

Re: 75 convertible seat belt labels

I believe that any parts that came in an interior color had different part numbers.

BTW: We now know that the letter between the week and year on seatbelt labels did not represent the day of the week, as previously stated in older JGs. It is an internal plant code to track belt assembly. It was corrected in the last 1970-72 guide and will be changed in the soon-to-be-released 1968-69 one. Hopefully, it will be done in all future revisions.

[Terry M.]

Re: 75 convertible seat belt labels

I don't do much interior judging if I can help it, but I always thought the labels showed a Model Number and not a part number -- or are the newer cars different than the 1968-1972s that I am familiar with?

[Tory S.]

Re: 75 convertible seat belt labels

I have attached photos from a '75 owned by John Main in Texas. These are the original belts. Notice that the model of the lap belt is C45 and the shoulder belt is C40. Also, three of the four belts all have the same date of 13th wk of '75 and the last belt is two weeks later. Another interesting thing is the 6-digit number at the top of the label, as I was told by Nora at Ssnake Oyl, is a Firestone color number. If so, they should match from lap to shoulder belt, but they do not. The numbers also are nowhere close to the JG or the AIM part numbers. No one seems to know where these numbers came from.

Passenger's Lap Belt.JPGDriver's Shoulder Belt.JPGDriver's Lap Belt.JPGLap Belt.JPG





Some good photos thanks to John Main.

Tory

[Tory S.]

Re: 75 convertible seat belt labels

I forgot to include the two warning tags - shoulder belt and lap belt. Very different.

Shoulder Belt.JPGLap Belt.JPGi

[Terry M.]

Re: 75 convertible seat belt labels

I have never seen Firestone belts before. That is why I am all off base.

[Alger R.]

Re: 75 convertible seat belt labels

Based on info gathered to date it appears that 75 convertible Firestone "lap belt" part numbers were sequentually numbered based on color. Likewise, Firestone"shoulder belts" used a different set of sequential numbers based on color. Two examples of original 75 lap belt labels reflect part numbers of 347981 (oxblood) and 347985 (saddle). Both use code "C45". One example of an original shoulder belt reflects a part number 342207 (oxblood) It uses code C40. Would anyone have an example of a 75 saddle shoulder belt with a sequential number most likely 3422??. Still no answer as to why the Judging Guide and Parts books all reflect different numbers for 75.

[Alger R.]

Re: 75 convertible seat belt labels

I talked further with Nora at Snake Oyl. She found some archived records of original 75 restorations. She has pics of an original 75 "Saddle" Lap Belt with the number 347985 C45. She also has pics of an original 75 "saddle" shoulder belt with the number 342205 C40. Those numbers match my originals and sequentually with John's oxblood numbers (lap - 347981 & shoulder - 342202) . Based on this I would venture to say that 75 Firestone lap belts are in the "3479--" series and the 75 Firestone shoulder belts are in the "3422--" series. The color of the belts determines the last two digits. This solves the question regarding saddle and oxblood. Not sure of the other color numbers.