I was under the impression that you or your father had installed those. I know for a fact that 1974 car I referred to (before we met) did not have shoulder belts. Ever.
Better know your state vehicle Code if you are going to do this, or best to have a printed copy with you. Law enforcement like to write tickets and a seat belt violation is low hanging fruit.
Years ago I blew off paying an out of state speed trap ticket. This turned out to be a mistake, as they had a “compact” with my home state. Since I was out of country, I was never notified anything was awry. Anyhoo, this resulted in my driver license being suspended or revoked or whatever. The long and short of it, to get reinstated I was required to re-take the driver examination both the written and road test. You can see where this is going, right?
It was great fun, because the officious clip-board uniformed examiner had never seen a car without warning hazard flashers, backup lights, or seat belts. Not even lap belts. She got in the car and made this exaggerated arm motion to pick up the shoulder belt. I bit my tongue and looked straight ahead.
Her: “Where are the seat belts!?”
Me: “There aren’t any”
Her: “You have to have seat belts!”
Me: “This car was not equipped with seat belts from the factory”
Her: “Blah blah blah.”
Me: “Pursuant to the state code, section 248.322 paragraph 2.2aB blah blah”
Her “We can’t do this!”
Me: “Do what?” Gave her a smile. I looked her over, she wasn’t really my type. Plus, I hardly knew her.
Her: “We can’t take the test…”
I argued with her a while, and she grudgingly allowed that we would take the driver test, and then she would check out the laws on this.
If I were to do something like this over again, I’d borrow a Model T. Or a Stanley Steamer or something.
Yes… In Ontario, for example, mopeds (top speed 30mph) are not allowed on limited-access highways.
I recall a sign in Hungary on the way to the Budapest airport, a circle and slash over a silhouette of a horse and buggy.
I assume the people who made the laws figured that attrition would take care of most of the unbelted vehicles over time. Seems fairly correct.
I wonder how the law works now that even somewhat older children need those booster seats to ride, which ovbiously need to be belted in?
This blog post, which I’m pretty sure is where I learned that fact, gives 1968 as the year they were first required. And it mentions how Chryslers of that era had separate lap belts and shoulder belts that could be stowed against the ceiling, just like @jnglmassiv’s Satellite.
The whole subject of that post was about how many people back then had such disdain for seat belts they actively tried to get rid of them, so I wonder if the original owner of your car might have actually removed them. I can’t imagine it would have been legal to do so, but it wouldn’t surprise me if some people did it anyway.
Yeah, pre-68 cars were not required to have them. When I was last a state inspector In TX, you didn’t have to install them if that model year didn’t come with them by default.
My first vehicle was a '65 Ford pickup that hadn’t had seat belts installed by the time I got it. Ford was already installing seat belt anchors by default in that year, so I installed some belts I bought from J.C. Whitney. Since I ended up rolling that pickup, it was probably the wisest automotive decision I’ve ever made.
I took driver’s ed at high school in 1972 and the car we used had no seat belts at all. I don’t know how old that car was, but not really old. Maybe 4 or 5 years old at most, so perhaps it was a '67. Or maybe someone removed the belts. I always felt a bit naked when I had to drive it.
As I recall, from living in Ontario back in the day, seat belts were required in 1970. Pre-1970 cars were exempt, but most of them still on the road had come with seat belts already. Our 1969 Chevy certainly did.
Back around 2000, I got to know a friend with a classic car—a 1967 Cadillac convertible. It was not his daily driver; it spent the winter on blocks, and was trotted out in summer as a local driver. Mostly, it was used to ferry the Strawberry Queen in our town’s annual parade, or the Whatever Queen in other towns’ local parades. (He’d rent it, and his services as a driver, out.) It had no seatbelts, and was perfectly legal, being made before 1970, but he never drove it at a speed that might require them. I recall him offering me a ride home from the local pub, and me accepting but thinking that I could get home faster if I walked.
You’d be surprised how low the speed required to break your neck without a seatbelt can be. The surprise would be short lasting, but the effects permanent.
Concerning the OP, in Germany there is a well established vintage car culture (fun fact: we call them Oldtimer, and many believe this is the original English word. Similar to the situation with Handy i.e. cell phone). Classic and vintage cars are subject to all types of exceptions for safety features (seat belts, head rests, 12 V lights…), emissions etc., taxes and insurance are lower. But they have to respect the minimum speed in the Autobahn and have to pass the technical inspection every two years, like any other vehicle. Apart from the minimum speed and common sense I know of no limits on their daily usability.
For the record: An Oldtimer is a classic car at least 30 years old that is worth conserving (a very flexible clause, but it generally means the car to be in original condition, no spoilers or fancy wheels added years later or such, and in a reasonable state of conservation already). Those cars get a special number plate with an H (stands for Historisch) at the end. A Youngtimer (no kidding!) is a car between 20 and 30 years old that aspires to become an Oldtimer when the age limit is reached but to which no special treatment is granted yet. Example, almost a cite in German.
I’ve never heard of seat belts protecting the neck. That’s what the headrests are for.
Seat belts protect the whole of you, including the neck, against being thrown against the steering wheel or the door when your car gets t-boned. The head rest (which wasn’t mandatory until later than the safety belt, at least in Germany) protects your head and neck against whiplash, but that is no good if you have already brocken your neck against the dashboard half a second before. And there would be no whiplash without seat belt*.
You can break your neck even driving a bike with a helmet at under 10 mph if you are unlucky.
*Yes, there still is the possibility of being rear ended and breaking your neck without head rest and seat belt. Is that technically a whip lash? Well that is a hair I don’t need to split.
The problem was, the cars and trucks built in the era before seat belts were deployed, had virtually no plastic, no crumple zones, nothing. Solid steel dash with nice hard corners and bits sticking out. Also a nice hardened steel, solid steering column and wheel. In a serious collision it wasn’t uncommon for the driver to be impaled on the steering wheel, or the engine to end up in the front seat, or the driver or passengers ejected through the windshield.
And the windshield wasn’t safety glass. It could cut your throat on your way through it.
Old cars were prettier. But newer ones are a lot safer.
My first car was a '62 Olds 98. Used. No seat belts.
When seat belts and especially shoulder harnesses first came out, they where a royal pain in the ass.
My 2nd car was a '76 Chevy pick up. I did not wear the seat belt. They where better by then though.
Then I got a VW Scirocco 'cause I was commuting (and it was a hell of a fun car). I started wearing seat belts in it because after driving a '62 Olds 98, and then a Pick Up truck, well I was sure I was gonna get squashed.
I’ve often wondered about customized cars. They look awesome, but how skilled was the welder and is the lowered suspension safe?
I rarely see these cars on the highway. It’s not a big concern for the public.
I just said in the thread in IMHO about the “good old days”, ironically after they started putting seat belts in cars emergency rooms actually started seeing more car accident victims. Because before that people died in the crash and never made it to the hospital in the first place.
I remember some comedian had a whole routine about old-timers and seatbelts. Grandpa said “If there’s an accident, I want to be ‘thrown clear’”. He said instead of a beep, the seat back should slam you forward against the windshield “…just to show you how hard that windshield is.” And in an airplane where if it crashes, it really doesn’t matter if you’re wearing a steabelt, everyone wears their seatbelt; in an airplane crash, nobody wants to be “thrown clear”.
Ontario many years ago had seatbelt public service announcement which showed a pumpkin flying through the air “…if you’re thrown clear”. It hits the road and explodes. Another pumpkin hits a windsheild and explodes. An intact pumpkin lying in the road…“or you could be lying in the road” and a vehicle runs over the pumpkin and squashes it. they were trying to make a point.
Remember cars where the seatbelt and shoulder harness worked “automatically” ? I never had a car like that, but I rode in a few. Did not like.
Yeah, I had one. It was a little weird at first but I got used to it.
Heheh, I had an Escort with those. The only real horror was when it would malfunction and the belt would start retracting, but the buckle wouldn’t move along the top of the door frame to the correct position, so the seat belt would start to squish you. It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t comfortable. If you hit the release on the buckle, it would reset and move to the proper position.
Only happened a couple of times, but mildly distressing when it did.