[T3] notch seat belt anchor points

[Soren Jacobsen]

On 08/02 09:53, John LaFrancois wrote:
> I know this is off topic, but I came very close to buying a '62 Beetle
> once that had factory front seat belt anchors. What stopped me was
> that the outboard anchors were in the slightly to moderately rust
> floor.  On topic, my '65 Notch, (European Delivery) has F/R factory
> seat belt anchors.

Ehh, I don't feel like my chances of surviving a bad accident in a 50+
year old VW would be too great even if that mount point were stronger.
They did at least use a thick reinforcement plate ;)

I'm doing the pans on my 1965 Variant, which doesn't have mount points
in the heater channel.  I'll be adding some threaded reinforcement
plates to the floor pan, just like that horrible Beetle, only I'll put
them on the upright section of the pan.  Beats cutting open the heater
channel by the B pillar and trying to weld something to the inside.

What really kills me with both type 1 and 3s prior to 1965 is the
location of the shoulder belt mount.  When VW introduced the shoulder
belt mount (1962 Bugs -- type 3s had them from the beginning), it was
super low, approximately level with the bottom of the side glass.  If
you're of average height or greater, the shoulder belt pivot point is
_below_ your shoulder, so the belt goes up and over your shoulder, then
back down to meet your hip by the tunnel of the car.  It's a real
ergonomic disaster, with the belt always falling off when you're driving
unless you keep it cinched down super tight.  You end up driving with a
jacked up left shoulder in an attempt to keep the belt in place.  A
retractable belt could help by providing slight tension at all times,
but those look bogus in an early car and the design is still lousy.

In 1965, they moved the mount point a few inches higher, which was a
_huge_ improvement.  That previous seat mount point is so bad that if I
ever end up with another pre-1965 car, I'm going to stick with lap
belts only.  My left shoulder has had enough.

Here's a picture of the horrible early mount location:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/62t3ownersgerman/page12.jpg

Soren