Thread: Seat belts?

Originally Posted by isuzurover

That's as maybe - the fact remains that you can legally register a vehicle made before 1 Jan 1969 without seatbelts.

I have personally registered 2x 1968 landies without belts.

Ben

Don't get me wrong on this, I think we are agreeing of sorts. Yes ADR 4 was gazetted on 1 Jan 1969, however I believe that there were various state based legislation/regulation which required seatbelts to be fitted to cars before 1969. e.g. S.A. requires seatbelts (meeting a particular AS) be fitted to all vehicles built after 1966 and belts meeting ADR 4 after 31 Dec 1968.http://www.ezyreg.sa.gov.au -Automotive Instruction 70 It seems that the 1967-1968 gap will depend on which State you live.

However having been around during the advent of mandatory seat-belts in Aussie cars (I can even sing you the 1966 decimal currency song) I seem to remember that until the late 1970's most Land Rovers were registered as light commercial vehicles and as such were not required to have seat belts till quite a lot later than cars, although I can not give you a date.

I would be interested to find the particular dates between cars and light commercial vehicles?

Diana

Holdens had front lap/sash belts fitted as standard from Jan. 1969. Before that they were optional. The seat belts were added to the bottom of the manufacturing invoice as the belts were exempt sales tax.

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

Holdens had front lap/sash belts fitted as standard from Jan. 1969. Before that they were optional. The seat belts were added to the bottom of the manufacturing invoice as the belts were exempt sales tax.

Brian

I don't want to dispute your recollection, however our 1967 HR Holden station wagon (NSW, Pagewood build) was a base model and had seat belts. The fact they were fitted really annoyed my father as he didn't want to wear the belts and went out of the way to pretend. He would have never ordered a car that was optioned up with the belts.

Just my recollection as a teenager.

Diana

Diana, I was there. Recall it clearly as the seat belts had to be retro-fitted to plant stock for sale in 1970 (before compliance plates) and the preprinted invoices altered by hand. yours could have been a dealer order with belts, or could have been fitted by the dealer.

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

Diana, I was there. Recall it clearly

Brian

I will have to defer to your knowledge and suggested options.

Could there have been different specifications for each state? Particularly as back in those days there were NSW assembly plants as well as the larger plants in Melbourne and Adelaide etc.

Diana

My father's 1967 Holden HR special had belts for all 5 seats.

However - as mentioned above - I registered 2x 1968 landies with no belts at all in QLD. One in 1996 and one in 1998. It was no problem either time - I simply told them that the vehicle was never fitted with seat belts (which was true), and no further questions were asked.

I have never heard of anyone having problems (re)registering a pre-1969 vehicle without belts. Have you????

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

Brian

I will have to defer to your knowledge and suggested options.

Could there have been different specifications for each state? Particularly as back in those days there were NSW assembly plants as well as the larger plants in Melbourne and Adelaide etc.

Diana

The only state to state difference I can recall was between NSW and Qld. as to Qld. requiring fitting of a left hand external mirror but this was about 1972. Pagewood was building Statesman, coupes, and anything with a 350 engine other than a One Tonner for Qld. zone. Acacia Ridge was building Toranas and panel vans (other than those with a 350) for NSW zone. Vans with a special vehicle order for a 350 came from Dandenong, and 350 One Tonners from Elizabeth. A matter of which plant had the appropriate framing and drilling jigs & fixtures.

Seat belts were a factory option before compulsory fitment and were not popular. Popularity was increasing towards 69-70 and some plant stock were built with belts. Mostly belts were fitted to dealer orders which were presold, although I suppose some dealer stock may have been ordered that way. Country dealers rarely, if ever, ordered belts, certainly not for stock, claiming nobody in the bush wanted them.

Late 1970 not long beforeChristmas shutdown, we built a run of cars (HG's) with full tint armour glass windscreens to run out the stock of this item. The ADR's were about to regulate windscreen tint and full tint would not be permitted after 31/12/70. Dealers squealed when they found this item on their invoices when they had not ordered it. With typical GM aplomb nothing was done, offered, or credited. Probably would have cost more to process a credit as this was a quite low cost option. Later, the optional Salisbury diff. was run out by fitting every car down the line with one until stock was exhausted. Dealers did really squeal at this as a Salisbury was a relatively expensive and thus unpopular option. A credit was given if the car was a presold dealer order, but not for a stock vehicle.

So if my landy has "ADR4" on the compliance plate, then it should have seatbelts and if not i will have to fit them for roadworthy??? is this right?

I'm in QLD by the way and the previous owner redgestered my 11/1970 IIA in 1995 without seatbelts - no problems, just said as someone else said before "this car didn't come with seatbelts"