Seat belt mystery...

[rarefish]

 For the 1968 model year. Does anyone know what the option code 550 that was for Deluxe Seat Belts got you?    They were a $10.50 option. They were ordered on my car, but the option never showed up on the window sticker, so I'm assuming that my car ended up having the standard seat belts installed at the factory.

[tan top]

wonder if that's front & rear shoulder belts  , or just the front sholder belt 

[Baldwinvette77]

Unrelated, but what was the first year for seat belts as standard equipment 

[xs29bb1]

I've looked into this a few times and have been able to find nothing on it.  

Code 550 reads as:  Deluxe 2 front 2 rear

However, the car is said to come with 2 front and 2 rear belts as standard equipment - so Deluxe implies something above and beyond that.  My guess is that it doesn't involve shoulder belts only because 550 is only a $10.50 option, but the shoulder belt options are $26.45 for the 2 front... and another $26.45 for the 2 rear, so I can't see them including them for 10 bucks.  

Also the "2 front and 2 rear" implies that whatever deluxe is, it applies to 4 belts.

I'm very interested if anyone has any info on this - I've searched the net and asked around and I haven't been able to get an answer.

[tan top]

 been thinking about this , had a flash back  , seem to recall something about this in another thread sometime ago ,   & the plastic  buckle storage clips that  screw on to the bottom on the seats come to mind  
wernt they optional on a 68  , just a guess , I await to be corrected 

[Hard Charger]

my 68 has 3 rear seat belts.

is this a possibility?

[Indygenerallee]

Yes, it's probably the plastic clips that go on the bottom of the back seat to hold the seat belts in place when not in use. My 69 had them, not sure about 68's

[Tilar]

Unrelated, but what was the first year for seat belts as standard equipment 

You're pushing the envelope here but if memory serves me right it was 1964. 

[UFO]

" Deluxe" means chrome buckles.

http://www.hamtramck-historical.com/images/dealerships/FleetBook/1968/68%20Fleet%20Buyers%20guide_Page_075.jpg

Center lap belts front and rear were a option in 68.

http://www.hamtramck-historical.com/images/dealerships/DealershipDataBook/1968/68_Charger0016.jpg

[Hard Charger]

Unrelated, but what was the first year for seat belts as standard equipment 

You're pushing the envelope here but if memory serves me right it was 1964. 

1968 seat belts were made mandatory in US.

[Ghoste]

Unrelated, but what was the first year for seat belts as standard equipment 

You're pushing the envelope here but if memory serves me right it was 1964. 

Sure it wasn't 67?  A buddy of mine had a 66 VW without belts but being an import may have had something to do with that.

[Indygenerallee]

January 1st 1968 was the federal mandate for mandatory seatbelts.

[Tilar]

Unrelated, but what was the first year for seat belts as standard equipment 

You're pushing the envelope here but if memory serves me right it was 1964. 

Sure it wasn't 67?  A buddy of mine had a 66 VW without belts but being an import may have had something to do with that.

After a little research, 1967 was the first year as standard equipment in UK built cars. Saab (Swedish) was the first car manufacturer to introduce seat belts as standard equipment in 1958.. US manufacturers made them standard equipment in 1966 and the government made them mandatory for 1968. My 1964 Galaxie 500 had them but I don't know if they were ever bucked together. 

[Tilar]

Looking at the pics that Tan top posted reminded me that I have a center console that is "supposedly" out of a 68 that has 2 of those plastic retainers screwed into the back of the console. It looks factory but I don't know for sure.

[rarefish]

Here is the original salesman order sheet. On it are two seat belt options that were ordered for the car, but never showed up on the Invoice. The first option was the "3rd Belt" costing $6.50   The other was the "Deluxe Seat Belt" costing $10.50

[rarefish]

Here is the copy of the Dealers order sheet sent to the factory. It show that the seat belt options were checked off.  Codes 550 and 557
Tomorrow I will try to post a copy of the car's invoice.

[rarefish]

OK, here is the Invoice. Both of the seat belt codes 550 "Deluxe Seat Belts" and 557 "Center Passenger Rear Seat Belt" do not appear on the invoice.  The car did come from the factory with a rear center belt.  Maybe the 557 code was an option at the start of the model year and became standard equipment mid year.
The code 550 Deluxe Belt option is still a mystery to me. The guy paid for them when ordering the car, but never received them.

[lloyd3]

Cool documentation! Yet another stripe delete car I see. Question: how common was the stripe delete situation and why would someone delete this very attractive option?  Did they actually think this would make the car a "sleeper"?

[rarefish]

My Charger was ordered from a very small dealer. The paper work that I have posted was filled out by the owner of the dealership. I have heard that he had two other salesman working for him, but the owner himself sold many of the cars.
When it came to stripes on cars. I was told that the owner always recommended that the buyer delete them. He said that the cops look for them and you will just be asking for a ticket if you have them on your car.
Remember that 1968 was the first year for the Scat Pack Stripes and at that time a lot of the older buyers just did not want them on their car.

[lloyd3]

The story I doped out on my car was that the original owner had been an officer at Offut Air Force Base in the Summer of 1968 (Strategic Air Command anyone?). Perhaps he wanted to be circumspect about his hot new toy as well?  I'll never be able to confirm that, as the letter I sent to him probably 15-years ago (after tracking him down thru Nebraska DMV, pre-9/11) was returned, indicating that the addressee was deceased.

[Ghoste]

But in general, stripe delete was not all that common.  Not rare exactly either but definitely not common.

[Troy]

But in general, stripe delete was not all that common.  Not rare exactly either but definitely not common.

Both of my 68 R/Ts are/were stripe delete. I have a habit of finding oddball cars though. White interior is rare too but all but one of my cars (at one point) had it.

Troy

[HeavyFuel]

Another '68 stripe delete here.   

[maxwellwedge]

I can understand that the order form was written up incorrectly from the hand written "deal" form.....but it was put on the order form.


Looks like the factory flat out missed them.

[hemigeno]

According to that order form, the "Center Front Seat w/ Arm Rest" was standard equipment on "Charger" (i.e. non-R/T Chargers).  Was that really the case, or is the order form incorrect on that point?  I don't remember reading about such anywhere else, and it's not designated that way on the 1968 Dodge Ordering Information sheets either.

I did some digging through at least part of Hamtramck-Historical/com's 1968 information, and still didn't get a good idea of what 1968's "Deluxe Seat Belts" were.  They did show some brushed aluminum buckle release handles (in lieu of regular color-keyed) in the Accessories book     Does the 1968 Parts Book show different part numbers and/or illustrations for the "deluxe" seat belts?

The rear center seat belt may have been installed as standard equipment on this particular car (and as such omitted from Chrysler Corp.'s invoice), since the car's build date was after 1/1/68 - when seat belts became mandatory.  I'm pretty sure that Chrysler marketed the Charger as a 5-passenger vehicle, and you got 5 seat belts as standard equipment in 1969 (and a sixth belt was added without a separate identified cost if C21 Center Armrest was purchased).  A similar thing happened with head restraints in '69 - they stopped showing up on window stickers and invoices after 1/1/69, although some dealers may have capitalized on the opportunity to make a few extra bucks by leaving those formerly-Optional-Equipment charges on the customer's sales tickets.

Just thinking out loud...

[UFO]

Link to the full page in my post on page 1.

[rarefish]

According to that order form, the "Center Front Seat w/ Arm Rest" was standard equipment on "Charger" (i.e. non-R/T Chargers).  Was that really the case, or is the order form incorrect on that point?  I don't remember reading about such anywhere else, and it's not designated that way on the 1968 Dodge Ordering Information sheets either.

I did some digging through at least part of Hamtramck-Historical/com's 1968 information, and still didn't get a good idea of what 1968's "Deluxe Seat Belts" were.  They did show some brushed aluminum buckle release handles (in lieu of regular color-keyed) in the Accessories book    Does the 1968 Parts Book show different part numbers and/or illustrations for the "deluxe" seat belts?

The rear center seat belt may have been installed as standard equipment on this particular car (and as such omitted from Chrysler Corp.'s invoice), since the car's build date was after 1/1/68 - when seat belts became mandatory.  I'm pretty sure that Chrysler marketed the Charger as a 5-passenger vehicle, and you got 5 seat belts as standard equipment in 1969 (and a sixth belt was added without a separate identified cost if C21 Center Armrest was purchased).  A similar thing happened with head restraints in '69 - they stopped showing up on window stickers and invoices after 1/1/69, although some dealers may have capitalized on the opportunity to make a few extra bucks by leaving those formerly-Optional-Equipment charges on the customer's sales tickets.

Just thinking out loud...

I thinking that the order forms that were used were early model year paper work. I believe that the Center Passenger-Rear Seat Belt "Code 557"  was standard equipment at the time the car was built. Also I believe that the Deluxe Seat Belts- 2 Front & 2 Rear "Code 550" ended up being a discontinued option some time after the production year started.

From The 1970 Hamtramck Registry site Library only the Rear Shoulder Belt "Code 566" is listed as a seat belt option.
So one question would remain. Does anyone have a 68 Charger that has only 2 seat belts in the rear from the factory? Maybe a 68 early production car??
I can also say that the guy who order my Charger got duped out of $17 in options. With that money he could have got the rear seat speaker...

[MoparMotel]

Yes, it's probably the plastic clips that go on the bottom of the back seat to hold the seat belts in place when not in use. My 69 had them, not sure about 68's

my '68 has those as well....wondered about that

[rarefish]

The car did get the center belt in the rear as shown in this photo. I would say that all 68 Chargers had the clips at the base of the rear seat to store the seat belts on.