Reply to "Seat belt wanted"

FWIW, on occasion a stock Pantera seat belt buckle breaks. Specifically, the grained-vinyl plastic surround cracks and allows the whole buckle to fall apart. These are repairable and in fact Ford once offered a rebuild kit, but that was long ago. But if you're not into repairing your OEM, all is not quite lost. The jump-seat buckle-belts from a mid-'80s Ford extended-cab pickup truck will lock onto the OEM Pantera belt tongue. They are about 1" longer than stock, but this doesn't position the buckles too far over your lap. Most are chromed, but thats what rattle-can epoxies are for, right? Take a set of spline-drive sockets and ratchet to Pick N Pull- its impossible to remove the belts any other way. Once out, you'll also find the pickup truck spline screw will thread right into the Pantera's threaded boss. Finally, by using cut-down versions of the plastic belt-holders from the truck's front seat belts, your Pantera buckle can be permanently held up between the seats and console so one-hand belt connections can be made without groping around. This was all in the POCA Newsletter of May '08, with photos. Check your back issues.