Booted, Buckled and Revved for Action - 1968 Chevrolet Bel Air Wagon Seatbelt Installation

After bashing our knuckles and removing the stubborn old anchor bolts, the front retractor was hand-threaded into place.

If you're wondering about the pivot point of the arm, we popped open the cover to take a look. The bolt is welded into place and there is no possibility it could unthread itself over time.

After we located the anchor points in the roof, the mounting plate bolts right in with a 3/16th Allen wrench. It shouldn't take more than 15 minutes to install one of the retractable belts; everything is truly a bolt-in job. As an added bonus, the mounting plate is black powdercoated stainless steel. The seatbelts come in other colors, but we chose black.

Here is the important part: Hidden underneath the headliner just behind the B-pillar, GM saw fit to include anchor points for belts, even though they didn't come with the car; it must have been an option in some vehicles and not others. Either way, we're glad the wagon came from the factory this way. Hopefully, you can also see what makes these seatbelts better than the average three-point set. This swing arm lowers the belt just enough that it will comfortably run across your shoulders.

The front is finally done, so all that's left is the back. We sprayed some penetrating oil into the old holes before we bolted in the back seatbelts. It made it a bit easier to batten down the belts.

The same 8mm Allen wrench we bought worked for the bottom bolts, as well.

And here is a shot of the back seat with all the lap belts installed. There should be no problem strapping in the kids' car seats now. One thing we did not realize until the whole job was done was that GM also made anchor points in the roof for three-point belts in the back seats. Instead of lap belts in the back, we could also put in a three-point belt.

Take a look at what the seatbelts in the front look now. They look factory-installed, don't they?