Seat belts in European GTS

Dear Mr. Rapier. I have a 1973 Europeon GTS and it came with the retractable belt lap with a seperate shoulder strap that you hooked into the buckle before fastening it to the stationary side. These were very cool because if you wanted to wear just the lap belt, you could but attaching the shoulder restraint was also easy and straight forward. Unfortunetly the old belts finaly gave up the ghost and died when an overly excited friend of my sons broke the passenger belt in an effort to strap in for his first Pantera ride. I gave him a short ride anyway, and ordered replacements from Hall Pantera. They did not have that nifty feature, but they fit the retraction hole just fine.

Back in the day (after checking my reciepts), around December 1989, Steve Wilkinson installed new retractable belts in my '74 GTS (US Version). They were off a new GT5. Contact Steve and try those.
Mine have worked fine since...
Happy Belting.
Mitch

Seat belts just make it easier for them to find the body. Who cares if you're already dead?

Thanks Guys,
Do the belts from Hall or Wilkinson come with the plate for the rocker panel?

Mine has no slot for the belt to pass through as the fixed belt just bolts on to the top of it.

Thanks for the thought Doug, but belts are law in the UK so I've got to wear them and those fixed belts are a pain.

Yes we do too Rapier. The fine starts at $75.
We have roadside gangs, oops, sorry Police roadside examination points, usually about six cops or so that check this.
You see this makes money for the state. Catching criminals doesn't.
Oops, I forgot, I am a criminal if I don't wear one.
Oh, and don't worry about the 11 million illegal immigrants here, we're going to forgive those too.
But make sure you buckle up...or elese!

Sounds familiar,
I recently saw 6 police in one spot using hand held speed guns but you trying calling them to investigate a burglary.
Traffic offenses are easy for them, the don't have to collect any evidence and the person caught has to prove they are innocent to avoid the fine. If you go to court and lose they typically double the fine so most people don't try. And they still get to drive like maniacs - recently a police driver was in the news. He did 70 in the 30 limit, over 120 in the 60 limit and more on the motorway - no charge, he was 'testing the car'.
I've seen them driving without seat belts, talking on the radio and speeding.
Use a mobile phone here and can get you a $1800 fine. People have even been fined for holding an apple...

Sorry.. will stop ranting now.

Mine came with the plates and everything I needed. But you might want to check with LPB. He had to do something special on his and I don't remember what it was right now.

De Tom,
Maybe LPB's car didn't have the cut-outs in the rockers.

How many $ was the seat belt kit?

That was it Mr. Rapier. He had to cut in those holes. Thanks for reminding me.
I don't recall exactly how much it was, but it seems to me like it was over a hundred bucks for both belts and all associated hardware. It was a breeze putting them on.

Thanks Mr DeTom,
I might do it.
The trouble is with the shipping, the import tax, the sales tax and the Customs charge it'll cost me a hundred dollars more!

I'll ask Mr Hall.

A year or so ago there was a guy from England that posted that he was wanting a Pantera. I talked to him a little bit, but by the time he would buy my car, ship it over there and pay for all the taxes and stuff, he coulda bought a real expensive car. It kind of sucks we can't get cars over to eurpoe for a reasonable amount anymore. After all my car was owned by an Italian guy for a year before a guy over here bought it and shipped it across the pond. Now if that same Italian guy was to get nostaligic for his old car and wanted to buy it back, he would wind up going broke just getting it back. It isn't fair.

Yup it's a pain in the er... wallet.

A few years back I bought a $30 window switch from Hall. By the time it got here it cost me about $90.

Hi Derek,

I came up with a very neat solution for my seat belts. I got the inertia reel and floor stalks out of a Austin Metro. I found that the reel would sit inside the opening of the rocker perfectly, I then made custom brackets to attach it to the 4 bolt holes around the opening.

Next, I cut the end off the belt and sewed on a steel bolt-on loop. I did this with nylon bonded thread as per original. I then bolted the loop to the bulk head behind the head rest.

This way I have a very simple and neat looking belt arrangement. The belt comes out of the reel, and ends at the bulk head loop. I then pull the male part of the buckle over and clip it into floor stalk. The only problem with this arrangement is that when I want to lean forward, there is a certain amount of resistance because the belt has to slide over my lap and through the male buckle in order to give me the slack. This does not bother me really, although my passengers find it a bit odd.

A way around this would be to mount the inertia reel behind the seat at the bottom. There are steel brackets behind the Fiberglas bulkhead that you could bolt it to, but then you have to have a slot in the bulk head for the belt to come through. I think this is how some of the American cars were.
I recently mounted a twin inertia reel full harness system in this location on my friend Geoff Peters car. It worked out really well. But did require welding various brackets for the loops to bolt to.

One thing is for sure, you do not have to get any seat belt parts from the USA. If you go into your local motor factor or Halfords, they have kits for installing rear seat belts into cars that did not originally have them fitted. These kits are very convenient because you can mount then in any orientation. The little ball in cup device that stops the belt coming out is full adjustable. Meaning you mount however you like, and then adjust the ball in cup bit until it works properly. The metro belts do not have this feature, so I had to make sure they were mounted the same as they were in donor car. If you do get a kit from a motor factor, you will still need the floor stalks from the metro as they are a perfect bolt in fit for the Pantera, and not to long.

Give me a call anytime on 0781 718 7333 if you need any more advise. I will also tell you a MUCH more economical way of shipping things in from the USA.

Johnny

Johnny, an Austin Metro is about as common in the US as an Astin Martin.

Panteradoug,

This information is really aimed at Derek (Rapier)as he is in England also. By the way, Aston Martin's use Austin parts too!

Johnny

Thanks Johnny,
I used a universal rear selt belt kit for the front belts in my Rapier as the reels for the front seats are actually behind the back seat!

With the Pantera I really wasn't sure where to put the reel, at the base of the bulkhead sounds like the best place. I didn't know there was a mount point there

The Metro information is very valuable, I'll have a look in any Maestros and Montegos I can find too. I think the local breakers has several of each.

Sorry for the slow replay but the belts I got from Steve Wilkinson bolted up to the existing plate.

Mitch

Here are pics of the original belts in the car since I got it in 1985. When one of those seatbelts didn't retract properly anymore I tried to find an alternative, but couldn't find anything nice without having to cut open a hole for the new ones to sit inside. Too big a deal. So I opted for the shoulder belts from Hall. They are a hassle to put on and I hate to think about getting out my head out of the way of a collapsing roof as I roll over into something hard. But the wife thinks they're safer, so she feels better every time she hears the roar in the garage. And what the heck, they look nice when you're parked! Eventually I'll get a roll cage so it will all make sense. About $300 for the belts and bar they attach to that runs along the top of the firewall.