When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Might want to take a look at them and see how rusty the mechanism is. When I put new carpet in my 68 I took a look at mine and decided that they were too far gone to try to free up. They were a big rusted mess so I decided it was best to leave well enough alone, hopefully yours are better and you might be able to soak them in something like evaporust to get them moving again. Good Luck, Doug
As of this evening both original shoulder belts and driver lap belt are good to go. I just need to work on the passenger lap belt
I'd owned my 68 since 1972 or 1973, and I never thought it had lap belt retractors. When I sent the belts into Ssnake-Oyl they sent me a repair estimate that included restoring the retractors! Aha...I caught them...I didn't have retractors....I called them up and explained they made a mistake...no they said...I was mistaken...my belts did have retractors....when I took a second look, I did. The retractors are near the floor behind the seat back.
If you have shoulder belts, do you have the little plastic cups that hold the shoulder belt retainers..the little plastic cups that are screwed onto the wall behind the seat backs and in front of the storage compartments? My 68 has a bright light blue interior, and I actually scored the matching color NOS plastic cups for the shoulder belt retainers. The vendor I bought them from said they well could have been the last NOS plastic cups available. I think the 68 shoulder belts were the same as in the 67's.
The use of retracting lap belts has come up in this thread and several people have them on their cars. The NCRS judging guide says that not all 1968 cars were equipped with retractors.
My cars doesn't have them and I finally got around to taking pictures today of what my configuration looks like and have posted them below. They are the original seat belts.
For those of you with retractors can you please post a picture of what the retractor looks like?
JC68, Something is wrong here. My H 27...March 27, 1968 coupe has the retractable seat belts. Mine are installed, and under the seat, so I can't look at them to see what the difference is. Lou.
My Jan 15 build vert has retractors, they're rusted solid but they're there. I wonder if we can get gather enough info to get a better idea whether or not GM changed from one type to another within specific date span similarly like we did with the frame braces on this forum.
So what is the bottom line? Did ALL 68's have retractors? My 68 was produced in Oct 67 and does not have retractors. Maybe they were removed along the years.... ?? Tom.
I am not of the opinion that all 68 corvette had lap belt retractors. I have found too many of them missing the spring component. This was in cars that I found in junk yards. Early 68 corvette use a 67 style retractor. Then, they changed to the later style (these had retractors in them, at least that is what I believe). Then this later style started being produced without the spring and installed in later 68 corvette.
Now, I will add to the mystery. The later 68 lap belt was a bad design. People would withdraw the under seat portion of the belt and think the belt was pulled out to its full extent and latch it. If they got in an accident, the lap belt would get pulled further out and the driver would essentially un-restrained. I believe they stopped installing the retractors because of this issue.
I did buy a set of lap belts for a 68 corvette (NOS) and when I opened the box, guess what, they didn't have any retractor springs and they didn't have any plastic cups to hold the springs. It is a big mystery but I don't thing all 68's had the retractor springs.
Side note, I did manage to find the original spring cups and one spring on a set of old belts off ebay. They seem to be unique to 68 corvette. I heard that when seat belt rebuilders put retractors springs on 68 lap belts, they modify spring assemblies from other cars to fit the retractors. Hmmmm.
Just my humble opinion and observations from my side of the fence.
Originally Posted by tomdoc
So what is the bottom line? Did ALL 68's have retractors? My 68 was produced in Oct 67 and does not have retractors. Maybe they were removed along the years.... ?? Tom.
Recently joined!
My (original owner) 68 L79 coupe is the 40th to the last one built and did NOT have lap belt retractors. It did have separate shoulder belts from the lap belts (two buckles)! There were no guide brackets on the seats. They were a pain to use, so they were rolled up and stuffed behind luggage trim.
The lap belts were rodent damaged. I replaced all with new integrated shoulder/lap belts during recent restoration.
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C3 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2016 C3 of Year Finalist
my oct 67 vette has the under seat retractors, they dont have much in the way of movement if I remember correctly, maybe 6 inches or so....its been a while. I yanked them out and put in 70 series belts with the disconnecting shoulder belts about 5 years ago
Interesting. Our mid-Aug build '68 with saddle interior ("seen on some late '68's") is original, low miles, and does not have retractors. Wish it did!!
I agree with Rescue Rogers. My dads 67 has a seat belt retractor with very little movement. And since I just put the lap belts in my 68, I can undoubtedly say that, at least my car has no retractor. Yes, I put grade 8 bolts on my lap belt reinforcement plate. Just a little extra assurance. It sits under the carpet, so it’ll never be seen anyway. Mine is a February 68 build date L79 with saddle leather interior, if that matters…
