My father in law has bleesed me with a gift, a 1973 olds delta 88 convertible, it is an older resteration and still looks pretty good and runs great. My problem is it is missing the (female) portion of all the lap belts, story goes he hated seat belts and cut them out Can you point me in the right direction to find replacements.

 

With all due respect to your father-in-law, good God, what an $&%#. Couldn't he have just tucked them down between the seat bottom and back so they couldn't be seen? Did he really have to cut them out?

I had the exact same thing with my '67 Delta. A prior owner snipped the rear belts off at the mounting bolts. Had to remove all four bolts, and I got replacement belts from ebay.

I don't think you'll find new belts reproduced specifically for this car. Either find some from a donor car of the same year, or get something aftermarket. There's lots of choices out there if you're not after an OEM look. Again, ebay would be a good place to look if you want to try to find originals.

 

Guess you weren't around when the few who actually wore seat belts were laughed at as a bunch of kooks.
My family always did, because my grandfather had been an auto body man (tow truck driver - first on the scene) and an insurance adjuster, and had a raft of gruesome stories to tell, some from the era of plate glass windows.
In the fifties, he used to buy surplus airplane seat belts and install them in his cars.

As for the belts - get them at any junkyard that has older cars, or from a parts car - they should be near-universal through the GM range, probably even the same for big and small cars.

- Eric

 

@MDchanic
is that why there only lap belts lol.
so no one could see you being a "kook"

 

Welcome to CO. Hope you can find the belts you need.

 

I'd bet you good money that if there were a way to check, you'd find less seatbelt use by convertible drivers / riders than other body styles back in the '60's and '70's.

How many of you who bought these cars in non-restored condition, especially a few years ago, had to dig for the belts under the back seat cushions, or found them stuffed into the front seat crack? Most, I'd wager.

As for the reason why no lap belts, it's because the cars had no structural location high enough to mount shoulder belts on, and so were exempted from the requirement.

- Eric

 

Unless you care about being original just order new Street Rod belts from a place like this. A lot safer than used belts that you don't have any idea if they have been sitting in the elements for the last 30 years.

http://www.julianos.com/seat_belts.html

 

This is exactly what I did for my '67 Delta. They don't look exactly like what came on the car originally, but they do look great, were easy to install, were not expensive, and work just fine.

I bought mine from this place:

http://www.seatbeltsplus.com/mm5/mer...-Lap-Seatbelts

 

You can also get aftermarket seatbelts from Kanter.

 

Great thanks for all the replies it looks like the aftermarket is the way to go. Really excited about my new prodject and look forward to learning a lot about the Olds for you all.