I took this car apart 20 to 25 years ago initially figuring I'd have it done in a few years. Well, that few years turned into a few decades....LOL! Ant rate, it's painted and I'm putting it back together, but the memory isn't quite complete. My 1972 Cutlass 442 has the standard seat/shoulder belts, and I didn't take photos before I removed them. It has the two-piece belts where the shoulder belt has a catch that hooks to the lap belt and the lap belt latched to the other half of the lap belt. I am curious that since the should belt is connected to the roof panel, how does the shoulder belt store above the driver/passenger windows. Are there clips that hold it up there like I believe my 69 BOSS 302 had? If so, so far I haven't found them. If someone could post a couple photos of the shoulder belts from a 1972, I'd sure appreciate it. I'm getting close to installing the headliner and I'll need to know how it was and if I need to find those clips if they're not in my boxes. I'm thinking that I'll never use the shoulder belts.....just the lap belts when done!

Thanks for any info and photos,
OLE442

 

I do not have photos but yes they were clips in the headliner, I think for your model and year they were actually made of plastic, kind of like rigid, plastic spatulas - one for each side about halfway between the mount and the A pillar. You looped them once and put the loop in the clip then attached the loose end back onto itself at the attachment point.

 

Correct. 71 and earlier used 2 metal wire hooks per side. In 72 each side has a plastic holder the belt lays in and clips to. You can see them in the photo below.

 

Here is a picture showing the seat belts of our all original paint/interior 1972 442 W29 survivor. This car received the "Benchmark" un-restored award at the 2024 Oldsmobile Nationals. Hope this picture helps you.
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That is an awesome car. However, Ole's car uses a different belt with latches like the ones pictured in post #3. I believe your car has the standard seat belts instead of deluxe seat belts, or it is possibly an early build car with 71 style belts. The latches as seen in post #3 used a different style holder as discussed earlier.

 

Yes, I just found them the two plastic sleeves. I had them in a box. My only problem now is is when I put the headliner in. I won’t know what screw holes to use for those if anybody has a picture of them installed please post it so I can kind of get an idea where to look for the holes.

 

They attach at the very bottom edge of the headliner under the side trim. The rail the headliner gets glued to and rolled around. I am surprised to see screws. Mine were riveted to the roof.

 

Yep, screws! It's original 47,700 mile Arlington, Texas built car. My brother bought it in Houston, Texas when it was 9 years old and I bought it off him in 1997 so I imagine that it is factory screws. Pop rivets may happen when I put it back together. They say when you do a headliner to put the screws in for the coat hooks, visors, rear view mirror and such so you know exactly where to make the holes in the headliner. If I put the screws in for these, they'll be surrounded by glue and two layers of headliner so I think I'll find a way to make marks so I can find them and use an icepick to find the hole and either screw or pop rivet them in. At least they will be hidden behind the pinch molding!

OLE442