Classic Mustangs List Archive

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Mail From: Dr. Paul R. Sawyer (email redacted)

Anyone have any advice about putting a baby seat in a 66 Mustang? This will
soon be a concern for my wife and me. Do they make seats that can hook into
the existing lap belts? Will I need to rig a shoulder belt somewhere?

Thanks!

--Paul

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Mail From: A 64 'n' a Half (email redacted)

Congrats Paul. I'd get a seat soon so that you can dye it to match your
interior. I think that we used "Century" baby seats. (Ask your insurance
company for recommendations) In any case, most are made so that only a lap
belt is necessary. In fact, to secure the seat when a shoulder belt exsists,
you have to use a small metal loop to hold the shoulder belt to the lap
belt. I never really trusted those, but having never had an accident with a
car seat installed, I really can't say how well they work. In any case... I
think that you are better off with "just" a lap belt.


K.E.Martin
64 1/2 289-4V Coupe
Sierra Vista, AZ


>Anyone have any advice about putting a baby seat in a 66 Mustang? This
>will
>soon be a concern for my wife and me. Do they make seats that can hook
>into
>the existing lap belts? Will I need to rig a shoulder belt somewhere?
>
>Thanks!
>
>--Paul
>










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This read-only message was archived from a public mail list.
Mail From: Zadra Dennis D CRBE (email redacted)

I used an infant seat (2 year old) and a todler seat (4 year old) at the same time in the back fo my 65 Mustang coupe. I installed the factory seat belts and these worked fine. It was only used on weekends. In fact both my kids rode in these seat for the first American Pony Drive in 1989 I think it was (Pittsburg to Baltimore/Washington segment. It was a strange site to see 2 car seats in the back of a Mustang, but people thought it was neat that we brought the kids along for the ride.

-----Original Message-----
From: Dr. Paul R. Sawyer [mailtoemail redacted)]
Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2001 10:22 AM
To: (email redacted)
Subject: [CM] Baby Seat Questions


Anyone have any advice about putting a baby seat in a 66 Mustang? This will
soon be a concern for my wife and me. Do they make seats that can hook into
the existing lap belts? Will I need to rig a shoulder belt somewhere?

Thanks!

--Paul


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Classic-mustangs mailing list
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mix.twistedpair.ca/mailman/listinfo/classic-mustangs

This read-only message was archived from a public mail list.
Mail From: Rich Silva (email redacted)

This likely depends on what kind of seat you wish to buy...
And whether or not you want the kid in front with you or not...

I installed back seat belts in my '65. But I switched the ends on
one side so that I'd have a "middle set" if I chose. We used to put
our child seat back there. (Its a Century model, I'm not sure which
one) There was a slot on each side that allowed us to put the ends through.
We added some foam padding so that the buckle would not be so uncomfortable.
Tightening the belt was sometimes a problem, and I recall climbing into the
car and putting my full weight on it to tighten things sufficiently. It would
be really trivial to have installed a buckle for the new models that have an
attachement at the top (of the seat), then later on you could remove it and
replace the package tray... (and I'd recommend it. The only worry I had about
the attachment of the seat was that it seemed like it was possible in really
bad crash for the seat to flip over...

We were able (when she was older) to put the seat in the front as well. You
just have to make sure that the lap belt is at about a 45 degree angle to work
correctly. In front its easy to tighten as you pull things as tight as you
want,
then slide the seat forward to get it really snug... Only issue in front is
that
the child can easily reach the door handles... and locking them doesnt help...

Hope this helps...
Rich

At 09:22 AM 3/6/2001 -0600, you wrote:
>Anyone have any advice about putting a baby seat in a 66 Mustang? This will
>soon be a concern for my wife and me. Do they make seats that can hook into
>the existing lap belts? Will I need to rig a shoulder belt somewhere?
>
>Thanks!
>
>--Paul
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Classic-mustangs mailing list
>(email redacted)
>mix.twistedpair.ca/mailman/listinfo/classic-mustangs

This read-only message was archived from a public mail list.
Mail From: Michael Brewer (email redacted)

Both of the car seats I've used in my 67 and 68 have
been fine. In fact the old fasioned seat belts worked
better because they didn't have the shoulder belt and
didn't move around. You get them to the size you need
and they stay there. I'm not sure about when the seats
have to be facing backwards when the babies are little
little guys, but in forward facing application we had
no problems. If need be I bet you could take an old
set of belts and make a good extension or have one
made if they don't sell one.



=====
Regards,
Michael R. Brewer II

(~^^~) I am BATMAN!

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This read-only message was archived from a public mail list.
Mail From: (email redacted) (email redacted)

In a message dated 3/6/2001 11:27:41 AM Eastern Standard Time,
(email redacted) writes:

<<
Anyone have any advice about putting a baby seat in a 66 Mustang? This will
soon be a concern for my wife and me. Do they make seats that can hook into
the existing lap belts? Will I need to rig a shoulder belt somewhere?

Thanks!

--Paul
>>

I really don't have much advise on Baby seats in the back of the '66-'68
Mustang, but I can tell you this, If you're gonna have a kid back there, For
God Sakes, Put in a FIRE/Blast sheild (RIVETED IN yourself. Not Screwed in
like the directions say!!!) From Canadian Mustang Parts.. Just as a major
precaution. You never know.

That's about all I can think of.. I installed one last year in my '66
hardtop... C'mon Fire....Come get me....I'm ready.

Tony.

This read-only message was archived from a public mail list.
Mail From: Scott Hall (email redacted)

I did this not too long ago, so I can offer few things:

I *really* like the fischer price baby seat you can buy from toys r us.
it's blue and will fit kids up to 40 lbs. I like this because it can
accept infants (turned around) and toddlers (facing forward). the first
seat we bought was a graco system that had a stroller with it and clicked
into the seat carrier and the stroller. the kid outgrew it at about 5
months when he got too long and heavy for it. plus, he likes the $10
wal-mart special stroller better. as well, the f-p seat comes with a
anchor at the top rear of the seat. most seats don't have this. you
drill a hole into the rear deck (or, like on my convertable, you remove
the rear seat and drill into the floor) then anchor the tether to it.
this is a great idea--it keeps the seat from moving forward in an accident
(but this is used more when the seat is facing forward). I bought the
seat mostly for this feature, but I've since noticed (just today, in fact,
when I bought a seat for 40+ lbs.--the kids eats *a*lot* and I expect
he'll be taller than me by, oh, third grade) that most car seats have crap
padding. it seems like it'd be painful to ride in 'em. the f-p seat we
have has decent padding.

anyhow, here's what I did: remove the rear seat, drill for center lap belt
and for anchor tether. mount belt and tether (it's made from belt
material and adjusts sorta like a seat belt). leave tether on floor for
now (or leave it unmounted until 20+ lbs.) at first, I left the seat out
and used carpet for max. stability. eventually I put the seat back in and
cranked the child seat down sor far that it may not move in a nuclear
blast. you will probably ruin the seat, but oh well--he's the only one
who's ever 'sat' back there the kid is worth a new seat. be sure to
secure the seat bottom and back well--mine would have popped loose in an
accident and either forced the seat forward (the seat back, but I think
the tethered seat would have withstood the force, I just didn't want to
risk it), or attempted to move from under the child seat (the seat bottom,
even though I had that seat clamped down on the car's seat bottom, I
didn't want to risk that either). mount child seat and tighten belt
until adjusted correctly, then tighten it as far as possible (keeping
correct alignment). drive. after 20+ lbs., flip seat, adjust, install
tether and crank belts.

you could mount the tether to the tranny hump when seat is reversed (below
20 lbs.) and this would keep the seat completely stable in a wreck.
otherwise you'll notice the seat bobble a little over bumps.

I dislike using shoulder belts on a kid seat, 'cause I want the seat
completely stable, but people do it and it seems okay. I think the bigger
issue might be how close do you want your child to a 30+ year-old door in
a side impact? I try to put mine the the most central location in
anything he drives in (usually center back, center middle in the van).

something else I've noticed looking at child seats--I don't want my son to
experience an accident in them--I don't think it's be good to any human
with an extremely large head wrt body to have his body restrained by a
5-point harness while his head snaps forward. so, even though everybody
makes a huge point about car seats and I went to great lengths to mount
mine correctly, no doubt the best defense is not to get hit at all--I'd
bet the benefits of not being thrown around the cabin are greatly offset
by what a frontal impact would do to a toddler neck. still, though better
than nothing. jmo.

hth

scott

On Tue, 6 Mar 2001, Dr. Paul R. Sawyer wrote:

> Anyone have any advice about putting a baby seat in a 66 Mustang? This will
> soon be a concern for my wife and me. Do they make seats that can hook into
> the existing lap belts? Will I need to rig a shoulder belt somewhere?

This read-only message was archived from a public mail list.
Mail From: (email redacted) (email redacted)

most baby seats i have seen use only the lap portion of the belt. the
shoulder part served no purpose.


Jason
'66 coupe

This read-only message was archived from a public mail list.
Mail From: B Shibley (email redacted)

It's great to hear someone asking for child seat info in advance. You
definitely can't be too careful.

You've had alot of input here so far. Much of it good, none of it complete
due to its' complexity. Crash dynamics have to take into consideration the
skeletal development of the child, internal and external deceleration of
body and vehicle, distribution of the forces, etc. It's truly a science. The
size/age of your child, the available seat positions, choice of child safety
seat, and belt configurations all figure in.

The troubling part of it all is that despite our best intentions, almost 90%
of child safety seats are improperly installed! That's not opinion, that's
fact. I can tell you plenty of horror stories.

The best thing you can do in advance is to carefully research your child
safety seat choice. While multi-use (convertible) seats are very appealing
due to their claim of longer useful life, the experts will tell you that
they tend to be a compromise. If one can afford them, get a rear-facing
infant seat for the first year, a toddler seat for a toddler, and a booster
seat up to 65 lbs, etc. The only seat choice advice you can trust is that it
must be a seat that fits your child properly and fits your vehicle properly.
In other words, plan on buying several seats for your child, and don't buy a
seat until you've walked it out to your car and installed it.

Then go get expert installation/usage advice. It's free, and worth every
second you'll spend doing it. Hospitals, fire departments, child safety
coalitions, and, strange as it sounds, several local car dealerships will
have people trained to assist you. Don't feel bad about questioning your
'experts' qualifications. The National Safety Council has several different
certification levels. You want the help of a Certified Child Safety Seat
technician or instructor. The technicians have a rigorous 4 day course,
exam, and live experience. They'll teach you to install your seat properly.
Here's a link to a site that can direct you to a local expert, the National
Safety Council nsc.org/, as well as explain the ten most common
child safety seat mistakes. Please pardon my association with its sponsor:
www.fitforakid.com. safekids.org/buckleup/childseat.cfm

Take it from me, even as a best intentioned parent having read all the
propaganda, owners manuals, installation guides, etc., I still made many
grave mistakes. Fortunately my kids were lucky, I never had a wreck.

Bruce
Certified Child Safety Seat Technician

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dr. Paul R. Sawyer" <(email redacted)>
To: <(email redacted)>
Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2001 7:22 AM
Subject: [CM] Baby Seat Questions


> Anyone have any advice about putting a baby seat in a 66 Mustang? This
will
> soon be a concern for my wife and me. Do they make seats that can hook
into
> the existing lap belts? Will I need to rig a shoulder belt somewhere?
>
> Thanks!
>
> --Paul
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Classic-mustangs mailing list
> (email redacted)
> mix.twistedpair.ca/mailman/listinfo/classic-mustangs
>