which seatbelts would be correct for a 68 with buick interior, buckets seats?Are they the plastic ones or the metal ones? did they all have the shoulder belt mounted to the roof? How does the shoulder and lap belt connect? is there two buckles?

which seatbelts would be correct for a 68 with buick interior, buckets seats?Are they the plastic ones or the metal ones? did they all have the shoulder belt mounted to the roof? How does the shoulder and lap belt connect? is there two buckles?

my early 68 and several other 68-cars all came without the shoulder belt - this was an option in 68. the shoulder belt was mounted to the roof and used a separate buckle so driver and passenger had 2-buckles each.
not sure on the steel or plastic cover version that is correct?

For What It Is Worth----
The 68 Buick GS that I appropriated the seats and seatbelts from had the plastic covers on the buckle, black plastic retractor covers (painted white), black belts, and no covering for the inboard belt mounts (on the tunnel).

This from a green car----green dash/black carpet/white seats-console-doorpanels.

They are both right, depending on the option package your car had. The metal (chrome) covers are the deluxe buckles, option package AK1. Plastic are the standard seatbelts. Its personal preference, I like the deluxe ones.

my early 68 and several other 68-cars all came without the shoulder belt - this was an option in 68.

Not quite true, the 1966 Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Act required all cars, except convertibles, produced after 1/1/1968 to have lap and shoulder belts for the outboard front seat passengers.

Quote from the NHTSA's site-
Standard No. 208 - Occupant Crash Protection This standard originally specified the type of occupant restraints (i.e., seat belts) required. It was amended to specify performance requirements for anthropomorphic test dummies seated in the front outboard seats of passenger cars and of certain multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, and buses, including the active and passive restraint systems identified below. The purpose of the standard is to reduce the number of fatalities and the number and severity of injuries to occupants involved in frontal crashes. Generally, the requirements are as follows:Passenger Cars (Effective 1-1-68)
Lap or lap and shoulder seat belt assemblies for each designated seating position. Except in convertibles, lap and shoulder seat belt assemblies are required in each front outboard seating position.


Chevrolet and Chevelle advertising literature touts the safety features for 1968, listing many items that were required by the new law including "Shoulder belts for driver and right front passenger with pushbutton buckles and convenient stowage provision on all models except convertibles".
Although they weren't required until January, IMO, the belts were fitted to all '68 production cars. Standard style shoulder belts were an option for the convertibles, RPO # AS1, and rear shoulder belts were available as RPO # A55 on both convertible and roofed Chevelles. The "Custom Deluxe" belts (metal buckle) were optional on all cars under RPO's A85 and A85/AS4 for convertibles and RPO ZK3 for coupes, sedans and wagons.
The shoulder belts mount to the roof, there are two threaded holes in the roof structure to attach them. There are separate buckles for each belt, so there are 4 buckles for bucket seats, 5 for bench seats.
BillL

which seatbelts would be correct for a 68 with buick interior, buckets seats?Are they the plastic ones or the metal ones? did they all have the shoulder belt mounted to the roof? How does the shoulder and lap belt connect? is there two buckles?


Chris, Sent you an email....