Hot Rods Seat belts in a Model A roadster?

Do you have seat belts in your roadster?

 

Laydees and jjjnnlllmmmnnn.... in the red corner..........

Chris

 

I put seat belts in every old car I've had, especially for the wife and kids...

 

Put em in my 31 roadster. Figure its better to have them than not.

 

I had them in my '32 roadster, at least in a accident it would hopefully keep you from being ejected. HRP

 

Put them in mine. Lap belts mounted to frame and subframe. It's not 40hp and 1935 anymore, be safe.

 

I didnt have seatbelts. When I ran over a concrete/brick mailbox at 45 mph, the seat slid forward pushing me into the steering wheel. Both hands holding the steering wheel hit the windshield which was open, breaking the gl*** and cutting my hands. The steering wheel was bent severely, destroying it and breaking my ribs.

 

Yep. 5 point harness to frame.

 

Where did you get your 5 point?

 

Simpson. Sprint car guys have to keep their belts current. I bought a set of 1 year old belts for $20.

 

I only do so I can participate in the HAMB drags

 

Well, heck yeah. Fast car, bench seat...it'd be stupid not to.

 

I have always had them in all my cars. Presently have them in my '30 coupe and '34 pickup.

 

how are they attached in your coupe?

 

Yah.

 

Is a belt attached to the frame a problem if the hit moves the body on the frame? You would be in a moving body but attached to the frame.

 

Had the experience recently of doing a 360 on I-90 & whacking the guard rail on way around..........had seatbelt secured & good thing it was or I likely would have been tossed out.............****ed my back up a bit but I walked away from this write-off...............ALWAYS have belts & USE them...............FYI I've held a race license for many years and have several on-track incidents during that time in my BBC vintage roadrace Corvette..........

 

In offroad racing (and probably also on-road car racing), you attach the seats to the roll cage, and the belts to the roll cage. Even if there's still a traditional frame.

If there's no roll cage, I would probably figure out a way to attach the belts to the seat itself, ***uming that the seat is very securely attached to the body. Or, make a good strong crossmember that is on the body, and not the frame, and attach the belts to that.

I put belts in everything. At the very least, lap belt. It's just habit for me to use belts, so it doesn't bother me to put belts in a vehicle that didn't originally have them.

 

Lap belts in my Model A's, bolt thru the subrail at the back of the seat with a piece of 1/4 plate in it. Stronger than thru the floors of a new car.

 

Seatbelts are a necessity in the time we live in now, especially if you live in a populated area. This is what I did when I was building my 1929 roadster on original model a frame rails..
I made a inner roll bar out of 1.5 DOM x .125 wall with a 4 point in the roadster for the seatbelts. It also served a few purposes one its backing for the seat and belts , mounting fuel tank and also battery box(antique Cooler) . This also gave the body support with a sheetmetal barrier between the seatback and trunk area. The rollbar front get mounted bolted thru the subrails to L bracket to frame and rear gets mounted to the frame thru the body at the rear legs to the rear crossmember .
The seatbelts are old racecar deist and just lap belts and dont see why you couldn’t put a harness in. You can’t see the bar with the seat in it and deck lid closed..

 

continentaljohn, thanks for the pictures. I have been thinking of a bar like that to attach the top of the belt.

 

Seatbelts in a small car make it easier to find the body after the wreck. I have them in a 31 coupe.

 

Where did you attach yours?

 

Almostdone I agree completely. I always wear mine and any p***enger also does in my roadster. I always tell them I want to keep everything in one place or the EMT workers!

 

I attached mine [coupe] behind the seats, attached to 3/8ths eyebolts that bolt down through the floor, through the top rail of the frame with a 3/8ths steel backer welded under the top rail. I know my body will not move on my frame in a wreck because a model 40 has about 35 body mount bolts! True story.

 

Every thing I've ever built had seat belts. Plain stupid not to!

 

I've seen some old black and white news clips of T's and A's getting t-boned and knocking the whole body off the frame, with the driver still in the body. Imagine if your seat belts were bolted to the frame.

 

How did you mount the shoulder harness's?

 

The age old seatbelt question. next comes the age roll bar question. LOL