What is factory and what is not. Thats the question!
As I need to replace the seatbelts or at least upgrade them to be Australian compliant, I'm keen to find out what the Mustang "should" have in it.
I posted on one of the forums and asked the question as the drivers belt is different to the other 3.
The suggestion / reply seemed to be that the round one was correct and the other 3 incorrect. That seems a bit odd to me so I went searching. I came across this video on YouTube that describes the different belts over the years in Mustangs and Cougars. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reUlxy7Vr48). Per the video, he suggests that the back seat belts on the fastback rear seat changed to retractable in mid 1972. (11.55min) As my car is a July 1972 car, It seems to have the retractable rear belts. He also suggests that the plastic bezel that clips into the plastic panel is broken most of the time. My car has both of these bezels in place. So the belt does not disappear.
The shoulder straps per the video at the 10.35min point are the same as mine and the small plastic bushing is still in place.
Per the video it has the plastic cases at 12.35. Both of mine are in great condition.
Then at 13.25 he gets to the buckles that are in the passenger seat and the rear seats. He suggests that they started using them in 1973(?). Mine are in fairly good condition. I have done some checking and the passenger shoulder belt clip is different to the driver side. I tend to think that the driver side set as been changed. The passenger side has a wire to the retractor, to detect is the belt is on or not. The wire on the drivers side is sitting on the floor. So I suspect that the drivers side has been changed out for an earlier version.
Also of note, the only straps in the car the car that seem to be ginger in colour are the 2 shoulder straps. The rest seem to be black.
While checking the belts, I found a number of tags still on the belts. They are below. The tags on the shoulder straps are gone, but the tags on the rest are in tact and are below.
I have listed where they are in the car per below.
Back of front passenger side buckle. The number near the belt is 56
Front passenger side shoulder and lap belts. Note the push is still in place. It looks to be brittle but still in place. The lap belt appears to be black and the shoulder belt is a faded brown (Ginger).
Rear passenger side belts
This is the back right seat buckle that has a date code of M2572. So this would suggest the wreath / square style belt is correct for this car.
This is the back on the right side buckle in the back and has a number 67 on it??
This is the back left buckle and has the same date code as the right one being M2572.
This is the left side back seat belt buckle this has a number 62 on it.
This is the front of the back right buckle.
This is the left side lap belt retracted. It has a code S225 and a date code of M2572
This is the front drivers side lap belt. It has a tag code number of R511 and a date code of 2071. This belt is black.
This is the passenger side centre belt buckle. it has a code of R551 date 2672. This belt is black.
This is the retractor for the front passenger side with the wire plugged into the back. The fasten seat belt on the dash works if someone is sitting in the seat and not put the belt on when the car is started. This belt is black.
This is the lap belt for the passenger side. This belt is black and the date code matches the buckle in the middle of the car on this side. Code R551 and date code 2672.
This is the lap belt and shoulder buckle for the drivers side. This has a different buckle. I suspect the driver side has been changed at some point. The catch size and buckle is different to the passenger side. Again, the shoulder strap is brown / faded ginger and the lap belt is black.
This is the driver side lap belt date code. The code is different to the other side in that it is R511 and the date code is 2071. This suggests that the drivers side set is from 71 and the rest is mid 72.
This is the retractor from the drivers side. This is a different design and there is no where for the wire to plug into. This also gives more suggestions that the drivers side has been changed. But only the lap belt and buckle.
This is the buckle in the rear seat. Again code 225 and date code M2572
I then checked the shoulder belts for both sides. As these are the only belts that are ginger, I figured they must be the same and have not been changed. Unfortunately the date tags are missing as they are normally at the top of the belts and they are faded. Looking at both belts, apart from the broken plastic and the elastic that has gone hard. The shoulder buckle is the same on both sides and connects to the earlier and later lap belts. Hence I think they are original.
So now the dilemma is.. I need to change the belt material in the car. Do I just take out the original belts and store them and buy new belts and install. Or do I use the hardware I have and see if I can find a replacement lap belt set up for the drivers side that is the same as the rest and get them all remade to Australian standards.
At the end of the day, I cant use these belts as the car is not roadworthy with them. So I need to do something. I don't like the lift buckle replacements that are available.
I will do some searching to see if I can find a old set of the correct belts for the car from the US and get them remade and keep the period correct ones for the car..
Oh the dilemma.
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