[RLEngland]

Originally Posted by Bet Winner

North, that was great info.

My 1C Judge from Baltimore has the knobs for the deluxe belts.

What do you mean when you say knobs? Got any pictures? I'll try to upload a picture of mine. Thank you

[RLEngland]

Originally Posted by north

On A bodies deluxe belts were different from standard belts in several ways;

1...they used a brushed stainless steel buckle versus the plastic regular one, note that you can't mix and match since the shape of the tongue (opposing side is different).

2...starting in the 69 model year the driver and right front passenger lap belts had a self tensioning system, you didn't have to adjust the belt like the standard belts. These two buckles were smaller than the other lap and shoulder belts in the car. These retractors also use a separate mounting plate that bolts to the floor and then the retractor snaps into place. Also early production deluxe retractors had a small knob that allowed you to release tension without unbuckling, it was dropped around Jan 1st 69

3...deluxe belts came in many colors and always matched the carpet color, standard belts came in only black, gold and green if I recall correctly. If you had a red or blue interior you got black belts and some cars with gold or green interiors also got black standard belts.

Btw, 69 Firebird deluxe belts didn't include the self adjusting lap belt feature.

My 11D 69 GTO has the early style retractors with the knob/button release. Uhhh. Both covers are broken.

[north]

There is a styled and color keyed knob that goes on that flat release rod. Apparently they were phased out because they did not comply with something technical in the federal seat belt standard.

[RLEngland]

Gotcha. Thank you. I'll need to look for two cover and two knobs. Oh boy...

[north]

Here is a pic of an original rétracter with the knob. Someone repros those knobs (black only) as the often split in two

[OG68]

Nice write up from CRG.

http://www.camaros.org/seatbelt.shtml

[RLEngland]

That is a great write up. Especially for Camaros and Firebirds. I used it when I was working on my 70 T/A.

[RLEngland]

Originally Posted by north

Here is a pic of an original rétracter with the knob. Someone repros those knobs (black only) as the often split in two

Thank you. Hopefully I can find repro black knobs. I wouldn't want to paint those another color...