Rear seat belts

tonys

Active Member
Following on from another post (in Gallery) where it was highlighted that rear seat belts were an option from new, it got me thinking.

As an impressionable youngster back then, I was very familiar with early P6s due to the number of people we knew who had them, and I don't recall ever seeing one back then fitted with the original Irvin rear belts from new. Front, yes, but even then not all had them when new. Likewise, I've looked in various books I still have (old brochures are long gone now) and have yet to see an early P6 fitted with rear belts when new.

So, my question is does anybody on here have an early P6, say pre-1969, that was fitted with the Irvin rear seat belts when the car was new? Clearly many cars have had rear belts retro-fitted in the intervening decades, but new?

From memory, the popular options back then were probably radio, front seat-belts, heated rear window and, to a lesser degree, one or two foglights. Possibly even in that order.
 
As fitting front belts were only compulsory in the UK from late 60's, rears in 1986, I think you are right that very few would have been ordered with rear belts from the factory . In fact initially it was not even compulsory for new cars to have belts fitted by the manufacturer, it was only compulsory to have them when driven on the road. My first Land Rover I ordered in 1971 came from the factory with anchorages , but without front seat belts, they were usually fitted by the dealer, but I fitted them myself, before driving off the forecourt, to save money.
 
I've seen many, but then I'm special — my expertise is the NADA cars and the vast majority had belts fitted in the rear. All were Irvins, yes. I even have a complete set of the Irvin over-centre buckle belts in a box somewhere that will go on my 67 when I get around to it.

Yours
Vern
 
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