Go Back   The Ford Barn > General Discussion > Model A (1928-31)

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 01-09-2019, 09:59 PM   #1
JoeCB
Senior Member
 
JoeCB's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Farmington MI
Posts: 280
Default Seat belts - to be or not to be?

After reading the story of the crashed 31 Coupe... got me thinking again about putting seat belts in my 31 Coupe. Even though I have been driving this car for the last 54 years with no belts, I do get that "missing something" feeling when I get behind the wheel. I have been a confirmed belt user ever since I bought the factory option belts on my new 1964 Pontiac. Any of you have belts in your Model A's ? If so how were they installed? Anchored to what structural member?
Joe B
JoeCB is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2019, 11:12 PM   #2
whirnot
Senior Member
 
whirnot's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Bend Or.
Posts: 1,051
Default Re: Seat belts - to be or not to be?

Mine aren't in a structural member, just have large fender washers on the bottom side.
__________________
Bill Worden

1929 Roadster
1929 Briggs Town Sedan
1930 Closed Cab pickup
Smith Motor Compressor
1951 Ford F1

High Desert Model A's
whirnot is offline   Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)
Old 01-09-2019, 11:15 PM   #3
mhsprecher
Senior Member
 
mhsprecher's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Takoma Park, MD
Posts: 2,809
Default Re: Seat belts - to be or not to be?

I have belts, too. They have been discussed many times here. I use the anchors from Juliano's. One of the Les Andrews books has a section on installing them.
mhsprecher is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2019, 11:20 PM   #4
Synchro909
Senior Member
 
Synchro909's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 7,444
Default Re: Seat belts - to be or not to be?

I have belts in all of my Model As but.....
We must have about the most stringent rules of all about installing seat belts - so stingent that it just about impossible to install them in a car of this age and have hem approved by an automotive engineer (as they must be, supposedly). I figure any seat belt is better than none so I did fit them anyway. I'd consider it proof that I did the right thing if, after a prang, I was prosecuted. At least I would be here to be prosectuted!
In my Phateon and Tudor. I have lap belts for everyone except the driver. Because a lap belt doesn't help him (steering column in chest), I put a "Y" shaped belt from the strong member that goes accross the car behind and under the back seat and the two "top ends of the Y" each go over a shoulder as part of a harness like a racing driver would use. I feel much better for what I have done.
In my '30 CCPU, I have a lap/sash belt for both people but it is not retractable. Again, much safer.
When people ask about them, I say "I'd rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6". That's then the end of the discussion!
__________________
I'm part of the only ever generation with an analogue childhood and a digital adulthood.
Synchro909 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2019, 11:39 PM   #5
Bill G
Senior Member
 
Bill G's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Walla Walla, WA
Posts: 1,044
Default Re: Seat belts - to be or not to be?

I don't have them on mine yet, but I too have been thinking about it.
Bill G is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-10-2019, 12:13 AM   #6
1930artdeco
Senior Member
 
1930artdeco's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Lynden, Wa
Posts: 3,548
Default Re: Seat belts - to be or not to be?

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)
I had them installed in my townsedan. It is annoying but somehow I feel a little 'safer'. As I won't get ejected as that is all they will do.

Mike
__________________
1930 TownSedan (Briggs)
1957 Country Sedan
1930artdeco is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-10-2019, 12:13 AM   #7
dansluck
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Nevada
Posts: 216
Send a message via AIM to dansluck Send a message via Yahoo to dansluck
Default Re: Seat belts - to be or not to be?

I have lap belts in mine.
dansluck is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-10-2019, 01:04 AM   #8
updraught
Senior Member
 
updraught's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Australia
Posts: 1,963
Default Re: Seat belts - to be or not to be?

How to make a bulls eye in laminated glass.
http://www.vol1brooklyn.com/wp-conte...s_1930s_13.jpg

Usual hoons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGh_j388ua8
updraught is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-10-2019, 01:49 AM   #9
CarlG
Senior Member
 
CarlG's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Anchorage, Alaska
Posts: 9,107
Default Re: Seat belts - to be or not to be?

I have retractable lap belts in my ‘31 CCPU
__________________
Alaskan A's
Antique Auto Mushers of Alaska
Model A Ford Club of America
Model A Restorers Club
Antique Automobile Club of America
Mullins Owner's Club
CarlG is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-10-2019, 05:16 AM   #10
Bruce of MN
Senior Member
 
Bruce of MN's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: VA
Posts: 1,389
Default Re: Seat belts - to be or not to be?

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showp...6&postcount=13
Bruce of MN is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-10-2019, 07:36 AM   #11
BillLee/Chandler, TX
Senior Member
 
BillLee/Chandler, TX's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: The sticks of east Texas
Posts: 474
Default Re: Seat belts - to be or not to be?

You might wish to look at http //www.cedarcreekas.org in the Tech Topics for an article on seatbelts in Tudor.
__________________
Bill Lee
http://www.CedarCreekAs.org
BillLee/Chandler, TX is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-10-2019, 08:34 AM   #12
lrjones
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Brooklyn Michigan
Posts: 53
Default Re: Seat belts - to be or not to be?

I put retractable lap belts in my 31 coupe last year from info I found on Ford Barn and they turned out pretty well. PM me with your email and I'll send you what I have.
lrjones is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-10-2019, 11:05 AM   #13
burner31
Senior Member
 
burner31's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Shawnee, Ok
Posts: 3,469
Default Re: Seat belts - to be or not to be?

Anchor them to the body...NOT the frame.
__________________
Keith
Shawnee OK
'31 SW 160-B
burner31 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-10-2019, 02:27 PM   #14
JoeCB
Senior Member
 
JoeCB's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Farmington MI
Posts: 280
Default Re: Seat belts - to be or not to be?

Quote:
Originally Posted by burner31 View Post
Anchor them to the body...NOT the frame.
Now that makes a LOT of sense... hate to get pinched off between a seat belt and a broken loose car body.
Thanks for all the advice folks.
Irjones , I'll be in contact... Thank you

Joe B
JoeCB is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-10-2019, 05:04 PM   #15
Synchro909
Senior Member
 
Synchro909's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 7,444
Default Re: Seat belts - to be or not to be?

Quote:
Originally Posted by burner31 View Post
Anchor them to the body...NOT the frame.
WHY?
If it is because you think the body will come loose from the chassis and squash you, that is an old wife's tale. There have been threads here showing photos of wrecked cars from the Model A era. Some were very badly damaged and I don't think a single one of them had the body come loose. Maybe on the odd occassion, the body was so badly damaged that it disintegrated but a body as a whole does not come off. Other photos showed the body still attached to a very badly twisted chassis, yet still attached.
Regulations here require seat belts be attached to the chassis if no suitable anchor points are available, as in a Model A.
That story seems to have survived reason for years just like "The water flows too quickly through the radiator for it to have time to cool". Forget it!
__________________
I'm part of the only ever generation with an analogue childhood and a digital adulthood.
Synchro909 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2019, 03:42 AM   #16
woofa.express
Senior Member
 
woofa.express's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Tocumwal, NSW, Australia
Posts: 1,741
Default Re: Seat belts - to be or not to be?

Where to anchor the belts? I think the more important question is should one fit head rests to counter whip lash?
Do tell me where does one stop?
__________________
I know many things,
But I don't know everything,
Sometimes I forget things.

And there are times when I have a long memory.
woofa.express is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2019, 05:48 AM   #17
updraught
Senior Member
 
updraught's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Australia
Posts: 1,963
Default Re: Seat belts - to be or not to be?

Probably after the airbags

updraught is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2019, 06:57 AM   #18
springerpete
Senior Member
 
springerpete's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Central Maine
Posts: 641
Default Re: Seat belts - to be or not to be?

I used a small 2" steel C beam about 4' long as the anchor. Placed it behind the body structure in my '29 roadster and drilled thru the body and beam to anchor the belts. Yes, stay away from the car frame.
springerpete is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2019, 07:34 AM   #19
chap52
Senior Member
 
chap52's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Marana Arizona
Posts: 1,768
Default Re: Seat belts - to be or not to be?

You are on the right track. Even though they were not an original option that up close windshield and that no-flex steering column are originals.
A good friend of mine came by to see my new car and having worked in an ER for many years asked me to please install seat belts...nuf said! Have lap belts in my 30 Tudor. Chap
chap52 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2019, 07:56 AM   #20
Tim Ayers
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: NJ
Posts: 6,118
Default Re: Seat belts - to be or not to be?

I will putting them in my roadster as well. I've gone back and forth and decided to attach them to the body and not the frame. The body will sheer off the frame in the crash and I don't want to be anchored to that mess if it does.
Tim Ayers is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:50 AM.