'70 Fleetwood Brougham seat belts

[J.C.]

Hi, Everyone,

Some questions about my seat belts...

Something unfortunate happened the other day when I tried to take my Mom to a car event in my ’70 Fleetwood - she couldn’t put on a seat belt in the front passenger seat.  I discovered that this happened because the metal piece that comes rolling out of the roll attached to the floor isn’t the same size as the buckle on the passenger side.  The metal piece is of a small size but the buckle is of a large size.  The small metal piece doesn’t fit into the large buckle and, thus, the passenger in the right front passenger seat can’t wear a seat belt.

I then noticed that the metal piece coming up from the roller on the floor for the driver’s seat is also small but so is the buckle for the driver’s seat, so the driver can wear a seat belt. 

The driver’s seat is the only seat in the car with a small buckle.  The metal pieces in the rollers on the front driver's and passenger side are also small.  But the buckles in the front passenger's seat and all the other buckles in the car are large.

The buckles and the metal pieces in the back seat are also large, so backseat passengers can wear seat belts.

See my attached pictures.

1.  I think I'm answering my own question, here...  Did the previous owner have the driver's seat of the car retrofitted with a smaller buckle and the driver's seat and front passenger seat retrofitted with small metal pieces while leaving the original large buckles in the rest of the car?

2.  Why would the car have metal pieces and buckles of different sizes?  I mean, all the buckles and all the little metal clips that fit into them are all supposed to be the same size, right?  Not different-sized seat belts in the same car, right?

3.  On '70 models, do the seat belts come out of a roller on the floor on the driver's and passenger's sides?

All input greatly appreciated!  Thanks!

John Houlsby

[Jeff Rosansky CLC #28373]

The big fat belt is the shoulder belt. The buckle fits right in the middle of your chest. Just perfect to break your sternum in an accident.
Jeff

[J.C.]

You mean the buckles for the shoulder belt are big but the buckles for the waist belt are little?  And shouldn't there be another little buckle for the passenger-side?
JC

[Cape Cod Fleetwood]

You mean the buckles for the shoulder belt are big but the buckles for the waist belt are little?  And shouldn't there be another little buckle for the passenger-side?
JC

John I'm heading out to my 70 Fleetwood now to take photo's of the belts and with whom they mate with.
Be right back...

\m/
Laurie

[cadillacmike68]

Yes there should be both large and small buckles on both outboard sides of the 1970. The "missing" one might be under the seat. 

I don't know why they went to a small buckle for the lap belts in 1969. I know they wanted to have a different size for lap and shoulder but they could have left the lap belts with the bigger buckles...

[Cape Cod Fleetwood]

John thanks for the excuse to visit briefly with The Ark, he enjoyed it.
1st 2 pics are the drivers side small male and female belts. The male comes from the floor, the female is on the seat.
3rd pic is the large male and female belts for the drivers shoulder belt, male comes from the ceiling, female from the seat.
4th pic is the center pax, large male and female.
5th pic is the view of the right pax. Large and small female buckles, males are on the floor and ceiling.

Hope this helps.
\m/
Laurie

[J.C.]

Thanks, Laurie!  Yes, I found the smaller buckle for the passenger-side lap belt hidden and stuck deep inside the front seat bench.  Mystery solved!
JC

[Cape Cod Fleetwood]

Thanks, Laurie!  Yes, I found the smaller buckle for the passenger-side lap belt hidden and stuck deep inside the front seat bench.  Mystery solved!
JC

\m/
Laurie

[Jeff Rosansky CLC #28373]

The seats seem to eat the belts, loose change, phones, etc.

When I found that the buckle was in the middle of my chest it concerned me. I ended up putting in a set of standard 3 point belts. I like originality but safety trumps that-- at least for me.
Jeff