1964 Buick seat belts.

I've been collecting 1964 Buick seat belts and last night I made a discovery and I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed this. There are two styles of male ends to the seat belts. One is square and the other is triangular. The female ends look identical. I can't tell them apart. BUT they cannot be interchanged. I know that '64 belts are unique to '64 but this has me stumped. Two different manufacturers? As Ferris Bueller's teacher would say "anyone? anyone?"

Ed

I've been collecting 1964 Buick seat belts and last night I made a discovery and I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed this. There are two styles of male ends to the seat belts. One is square and the other is triangular. The female ends look identical. I can't tell them apart. BUT they cannot be interchanged. I know that '64 belts are unique to '64 but this has me stumped. Two different manufacturers? As Ferris Bueller's teacher would say "anyone? anyone?"

Ed

I checked the belts on my '64 which I know is original. I have the "square" male end. The tag on the belt:

Model RCF-50-C 1964

Hamill Mfg. Co, Washington, Michigan

I'll check the tags on the ones I have to see who made them. Could be that different manufacturers had different belts and were just told by Buick what they wanted the buckle to look like.

Ed

The belts on my 63 (non oem I presume) are raised triangle shape on the square clasp, the male has a triangle pattern cut out also. There are no belts I've found in the rear, are these 64? My engine and not yet verified tran is 64. I'll have to get a photo the next time I see it.

I'll check the tags on the ones I have to see who made them. Could be that different manufacturers had different belts and were just told by Buick what they wanted the buckle to look like.

Ed

Ed, prior to 1963 there were many small companies manufacturing seat belts for the aftermarket. When they became mandatory in January of 1964 there weren't any

vendors with the capacity to provide all the seat belts for GM, so in the early years GM used quite a few different suppliers. Some suppliers only did standard or deluxe belts

and some offered both, but the latching mechanism on the belts varied with each vendor, while the buckle exterior style was dictated by GM. Some of the suppliers in 1964

for GM seat belts were Hamill, General Safety, Bay Trim,DAAL, and Robbins, as well as a few others. In some cases the vendor only provided the belts for a single auto plant.