Seat Belts

[Ron Howard]

I know this was discussed in another thread and apparently seat belts were not standard equipment on the Mk II. My Mk II has rather primitive FoMoCo seat belts installed in the front seat. Not sure when they may have be installed, but thought you might enjoy seeing pictures of them. This car has not been restored, only repainted about 30 yrs ago.

Ron

[Barry Wolk]

Those look like the dealer-added seat belts available on all 1956 Ford products.

I believe I counted 29 cars that had factory installed belts. I'd love to see pictures of a factory install.

[vancec]

I'll bet those were the ones they used.

I am going to put a set of Maji-Belt retractable belts from the early 60's on my car. I have 3 NOS ones that I never used on my 61. If they weren't offered as standard equipment, I figure why not add an aftermarket product from a slightly later era? Whose going to get that picky?

Still looking for that fourth belt, though.

[Cooke]

I would like to install some lap belts in the MKII. Does anyone have pictures of how they have installed theirs ?? Also where would be the best place to get a set?
Thanks,

Martin Cooke

[Barry Wolk]

I recently had my seat out for repair. I noted that the mounting bolt for the rear legs of the seat would be strong locations for belts to attach. They could be sandwiched between the seat base and the floor. There appears to be plenty of room to attach the center belts to the drive shaft tunnel. Since this is a single layer of metal I would advise using a couple of fender washers, as large as you can find, to spread out the energy, so the bolt doesn't pull through.

I've looked at the "B" pillar on my car and it looks pretty substantial. Couldn't a shoulder belt be attached there?

[crystal59]

Would not do that as it would take away from the look of the car. I know everyone knows Jack or of Jack but the seatbelts he sold me for front and back of my mark II are in my view as good as it gets

[Shawn Newcomb]

Barry, wouldn't mounting there be too low for a guy as tall as you are?

[Barry Wolk]

Anything is better than a faceplant into a dashboard. I have seat belts on the '55 Porsche.

[Shawn Newcomb]

seatbelts: lap or shoulder?

[Barry Wolk]

Just lap belts. Scares the hell out of me. Sometimes the being saved is worse than the dying.

Mixed feelings.:confused::confused::confused::confused:: confused::confused:

[Shawn Newcomb]

Right. My van is the same way and with no nose or engine out front. With just the lap belts MY nose will be the first to make contact.

[Barry Wolk]

To me, the biggest problem is that there's no latch for the seat back. It's amazing how much mass that adds to your nose being smooshed. Almost like it's the 4th impact you normally don't have with a modern car.

[Shawn Newcomb]

I was thinking that the rear seat 3point belts in modern cars look alright. They are hardly noticed because the lay flat against the seat when not in use and are kind of tucked in the corner between the seat and the side panels.

My thought is this; provided you were only looking for 3 point belts for the front seat, I wonder if you could find belts long enough (or have them made)to use from the rear seat. They would attach in the C-pillar/rear bulkhead area(thats plenty strong, lots of room/choices and easy to access from either side. I expect the extra length would also flatten out the angle of the belt from where it would be if mounted at the B-pillar which would probably have to start by going UP and over your shoulder before coming down in front of you. The hardest part would be the long reach for you to put the belt on, but on the other hand rear seat passengers wouldn't have to climb under a belt. What do you think? Yes/No?

[Mad Scientist]

That is the dilemma where can you mount the shoulder harness and not have it getting the way??

[Shawn Newcomb]

My somewhat muddled suggestion was to pull a rear seat 3-point harness to the front seat if you could find one long enough or have on made.

[Shelly Harris]

I installed lap belts pretty much like Ron Howard shows in his earlier thread. Also as Barry suggests, they were anchored to the floor pans using "a couple of fender washers, as large as you can find, to spread out the energy, so the bolt doesn't pull through". I am confident they are very secure. The interior of the Mark II just doesn't lend itself to shoulder/across the chest belts.

[Doc]

I believe that the original seat belts in our Mark II were in the car when my parents took delivery of it in 1955. As Barry has documented, there is no indication that the car (an "Introductory Unit") came from the factory with them; yet, I've gone through all of the service records for the car (believe it or not, my parents kept every single receipt--it's an interesting record of what systems failed when) and can't find a record of when they were installed. Thus, while I'm certainly not claiming they're factory-correct, I do believe they're "period correct" and appear to be slightly different, with a more polished surface, than the standard Ford belts in Ron's post above. Given that they weren't conclusively "original" and had some deterioration, we've since replaced them with more modern lap belts.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz238/markii1956/IMG_0478.jpg

[Barry Wolk]

Wasn't unusual for the dealer to add seat belts.

[Barry Wolk]

OK, very exciting news. In my recent search of the Continental Division's records I came across a few references to shoulder belts for the Mark II. They even went as far as doing a cost study on the subject.

The last document I saw was a cancellation of the order as there was a lack of interest.

However, it was about that time that 30 or so cars were fitted with lap belts. Many of those went to Ford VPs. Many of those cars were also fitted with padded dashboards and visors.

From what I've read, Ford's promotion of safety features was short-lived as the public shunned the knowledge that driving was dangerous. Go figure.

[Shawn Newcomb]

I am surprised to hear that Barry, I always thought that among the domestic brands Ford sold safety.

Any indications as to how the shoulder harness was to be engineered for this car?

If anyone has pictures of a padded dash and visors I would be interested to see them. I assume they differ in appearance in some way.

[Barry Wolk]

In the 1957-57 Body Parts Catalog there are front only seat belt kit (4049068) for the front and a front and rear set (4050606).

I've found nothing further on shoulder belts.