1969 Deluxe Hamill Seat Belts

[Edgemontvillage]

I need to assemble a set of deluxe seat belts for my 1969 Z/28 2B build (Norwood) project.  The CRG research on this subject is comprehensive however information regarding some details is not (yet) available. The 1969 Hamill deluxe seat belts included what appears to be production reference stamps, alpha-numeric, on the reverse side of some belt buckles, on the floor mounted anchors and on the belt clip (D-rings). There is no indication that these are readily decipherable date, model or version codes. On the D-rings the stamp appears either on the flat area below the latch hole or on the cross bar behind the belt webbing. From what I have read these stamps were not all matched, rather each part (anchor, buckle, D-ring) had a different stamp. I would appreciate input on the following questions from information on original 1969 Hamill belts:   

1. Were all D-ring stamps all the same for each car, all buckle stamps the same, all floor anchor bracket stamps the same?
2. Did the D-ring stamps normally appear on the flat of the buckle below the latch hole or on the cross bar behind the belt webbing?
3. Did the Hamill name stamp on the reverse of the buckle appear above the webbing or below the webbing (just above the bottom edge of the buckle)? 

(Please excuse the quality of the photos as they are from the web)








 
   

   

[KevinW]

Lloyd, I shared a lot of my notes and info with Kurt for that article (old memories to dig up!)

1. I would not think so. The different belt sizes had different lengths and accessories, so were probably run in batches or on different lines.  So the week on the tags are usually different from front belts compared to rear belts.  That being said, the codes and tag info on a survivor should be within a couple weeks of each other and the stamped codes should also be very close, especially when comparing front males to front males, etc. 

2. For deluxe, most of the examples I have seen were visible.  Irwin standard D-rings were under the webbing.

3. The location depended on the year, the 68 version was under the hole, 69 versions were above the hole. If I recall the safety warning was changed between those versions too (maybe a federal thing?).

[Edgemontvillage]

Lloyd, I shared a lot of my notes and info with Kurt for that article (old memories to dig up!)

1. I would not think so. The different belt sizes had different lengths and accessories, so were probably run in batches or on different lines.  So the week on the tags are usually different from front belts compared to rear belts.  That being said, the codes and tag info on a survivor should be within a couple weeks of each other and the stamped codes should also be very close, especially when comparing front males to front males, etc. 

2. For deluxe, most of the examples I have seen were visible.  Irwin standard D-rings were under the webbing.

3. The location depended on the year, the 68 version was under the hole, 69 versions were above the hole. If I recall the safety warning was changed between those versions too (maybe a federal thing?).

Kevin, thanks for the information,

1. My question focuses on the stampings on the D-rings rather than dates on the belt tags. Are you saying because the belts were (likely) assembled on different lines due to different lengths etc the stampings on the D-rings are likely from different run groups and therefore will not match (per car)? When you say "and the stamped codes should also be very close, especially when comparing front males to front males, etc.", did you observe a production number sequence when comparing cars that were close in build dates?   

2. Good info, thanks.

3. Would you be able to post a photo of the back of a 1968 and 1969 Hamill buckle to compare?

Correct 1969 Hamill Buckle?




 

 

[KevinW]

1. I mean that if you compared the stampings from the male front belts, they would be close or match,  but they would not match the rears and similarly for the buckle side.

3. you know, I cannot find a pic of the back side of a buckle, go figure! But I have one in front of me at the casting looks the same, but the etching is different.  the words say: WEAR LAP BELT AT ALL TIMES   ADJUST LOW AND SNUG   EXTEND BELT COMPLETELY FROM   ANY NON-LOCKING RETRACTOR   SHOULDER BELTS MUST NOT BE    USED WITHOUT LAP BELT    READ OWNERS MANUAL        HAMMILL RCF-65  then hole and nothing underneath.

Kurt did all the data points and the article says only the 1st month of production got the leftover 68 version belts, rest got the 69 version. 

[Edgemontvillage]

1. I mean that if you compared the stampings from the male front belts, they would be close or match,  but they would not match the rears and similarly for the buckle side.

3. you know, I cannot find a pic of the back side of a buckle, go figure! But I have one in front of me at the casting looks the same, but the etching is different.  the words say: WEAR LAP BELT AT ALL TIMES   ADJUST LOW AND SNUG   EXTEND BELT COMPLETELY FROM   ANY NON-LOCKING RETRACTOR   SHOULDER BELTS MUST NOT BE    USED WITHOUT LAP BELT    READ OWNERS MANUAL        HAMMILL RCF-65  then hole and nothing underneath.

Kurt did all the data points and the article says only the 1st month of production got the leftover 68 version belts, rest got the 69 version. 

Thanks Kevin, that's clearer.  The CRG Research doesn't touch on production run stamps (their location on the belt, D-ring or anchor, nor how they relate to different assembly belt assembly queues as you have talked about). There are no photos of the reverse side of 1969 Hamill buckles which would be a helpful addition.  If you are able to post a photo of the back of a known 1969 Hamill buckle or D-ring that would be appreciated.

[HOT3O2]

This is the back of the buckle on my 69.

[Edgemontvillage]

This is the back of the buckle on my 69.

Thanks for posting the photo Rick, what is the build date of your car?

[HOT3O2]

12B