VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1965-1970 1966 Chevelle Shoulder Belts

In 1966, to the best of my knowledge, Chevelle offered a shoulder belt as an RPO option to the Deluxe Seat Belt Option. The shoulder belt was RPO A85 and could be ordered IF you also ordered RPO A39 ( deluxe seat belts ). Out of a possible 447,364 Chevelles, the RPO A85 shoulder belt was actually ordered on only 119 Chevelles.
Does anyone have any other information on this rare accessory?

dtm

Dave,

What you outline sounds correct for what I have found. They are a RARE option.

Shoulder belts were introduced in the second half (late Jan./early Feb.) of the 1966 production run. Also, I found that they were available March, 1996. If your car had been built later and did have mounting points for shoulder belts you would have had a small 3/16" hole punched in your cowl tag to the left of "BODY BY FISHER", at the bottom of the tag. I'm attaching a picture of a 1966 Chevelle tag that has the hole as an example. Beginning around the 1st or second week of January 1966 a single small hole was punched into the tag, generally around the lower left corner, to indicate the car was equipped with anchor locations for the optional shoulder belt.



They used clips to keep the belt secured when not in use. Sort of went to the A-pillar and back. The mounting holes are near the coat hangers, not sure about a convertible, must come from the rear seat area.

Here's a pic of the hole location under the headliner on a 67 GTO. The first hole is about 1" ahead of the coat hook and the second is 2" on center with the first. They appear to be 1/4x20.




Here is a photo from a Caprice.




Eckler's sells them as a kit. Perhaps they are not total correct. It talks about drilling two additional holes on 66-72 Convertibles. Click HERE .

Hello Chevykid: You are correct. It is a rare accessory. Eckler's sell's a shoulder belt for the 66 Chevelle, but it obviously is not made as the original GM seat belts. In Ohio, there is a seat belt vendor who lives about 1 hour from me. He manufactures EXACT looking original style 1966 Chevelle chrome deluxe seat belts with correct date codes on the webbing tag. His work looks superb. He now started making the 1966 Chevelle shoulder belts. Since my chrome deluxe seat belts were dated for the 3rd week in May 1966, I figured that the shoulder belts should have the same dating. My car was built in June of 1966.
My dad and mom's best friends were driving their 1930 Model A F--d and were hit by someone who ran a red light. The wife in the Model A hit the dash with her knees and crushed both knees. They did not have seat belts in their car. Years later, this lady is still recovering from this accident. I just figured that shoulder belts might be a good investment for my Chevelle......like when I drive it to Lake Tahoe for the 55th Anniversary Meet in 2016.
See you Chevykid in Lake Tahoe in April for the National Board of Directors meeting.

Just getting around to reading this post.

Upon checking my 10/66 Corvair/ChevyII/Chevelle/Camaro P&A parts catalog, gr. 14.875 is listed lots of 1966 models including convert for "Strap unit, frt seat shldr". Some list the word "harness" too. 22 different ones, depending on application and color...all for 1966. Have part numbers and cost of $13.50 back in the day.

Hope the info is helpful. Ron

Thank you Ron for the follow-up. I will be installing the factory authorized accessory on my Chevelle before springtime.

dtm