New Diamond back tires on

[Penelope]

It sounds like the rules are much the same in Oz as the states and similar to those in Canada & Sweden. I too have belts fitted in my bird and wouldn't drive anywhere in anything without them.

It's great to get a "world perspective" rather than just knowing what happens in your patch, thanks guys.

Bill

[scumdog]

A little off topic but in the current subject, do you guys over in the states have to have seat belts installed?

Bill

Here in NZ things are different:
All cars newer than 1955 must have belts, the type of belt gets more stringent the later the vehicle was made.

My '66 'bird came with factory lap-belts front and rear, as there are no suitable factory mounts for lap-and-digonal belts I am allowed to keep the factory belts.

HOWEVER if I was to modify it to any extent (supercharger, air-bag suspension etc) there is every liklihood I would be required to 'somehow' fit lap&diagonal belts.

NO repairs to seat-belts allowed - had to send one of mine to Snakeoyl Products in Texas just to get a new buckle fitted!!

[Penelope]

"My '66 'bird came with factory lap-belts front and rear, as there are no suitable factory mounts for lap-and-digonal belts I am allowed to keep the factory belts.

HOWEVER if I was to modify it to any extent (supercharger, air-bag suspension etc) there is every liklihood I would be required to 'somehow' fit lap&diagonal belts."


It will be interesting to see how Alistair (Petrolhead) gets on with his 62 on bags!

Bill

[Anders]

It sounds like the rules are much the same in Oz as the states and similar to those in Canada & Sweden. I too have belts fitted in my bird and wouldn't drive anywhere in anything without them.

It's great to get a "world perspective" rather than just knowing what happens in your patch, thanks guys.

Bill

I have not put any belts in as I am not sure at all if it is safer, du to the reason there is no stop on the backrest.
If crashing, it will be like sitting in a mousetrap. Not sure whats most dangerous to be honest.
But I drive this car very carefully, and that is totally opposite from my Volvo, with all safety equippment in the world. With that one, I have developed some kind of all on-all off driving style....

[Penelope]

Anders, my son has a 63 Chevvy Bel Air and he wont put seat belts in for that very reason despite me whinging about safety, so I showed him your post. He says if you work for Volvo you must be right about safety, so I lost the argument!

I guess it's a ****ed if you do, ****ed if you dont kinda thing.

Bill

[Anders]

Hey, hey, hey....
I´m working in the Styling Dept.
Not in the Safety centre.....
They would most probably tell me to mount 3 point safety belts, A lock on the backrest, and at least a few airbags.

[scumdog]

"My '66 'bird came with factory lap-belts front and rear, as there are no suitable factory mounts for lap-and-digonal belts I am allowed to keep the factory belts.

HOWEVER if I was to modify it to any extent (supercharger, air-bag suspension etc) there is every liklihood I would be required to 'somehow' fit lap&diagonal belts."


It will be interesting to see how Alistair (Petrolhead) gets on with his 62 on bags!

Bill

True, I will be watching and see what happens too!

The law here says that if the seat base is less than XXX millimetres below the sill AND the 'C' pillar is more than yyy millimetres behind the seat back you don't need anything more than lap-belts - BUT a lot hinges on how the Low Volume Vehicle Certifier 'interprets' things.
(I'm prepared to stand corrected - the above is all from my not-so-good memory!)

All vehicles with modifications such as Alistairs (or any other engine transplants, chassis modifications etc) MUST be certified (for safety reasons)to be on New Zealand roads.

Some buts of the law are over the top - i.e. replace a 1300cc engine with a 1600cc engine of same type and dimensions means you need to get the car certified - luckily most don't know the difference between the two and I drove my Anglia for years with a 1600cc engine!!!

Quite a few modified cars have been imported into NZ from the USA and have modifications so unsafe you wouldn't beleive, often it means $1,000s spent to get it 'right'.

Those who don't give a **** about the law obviously do stuff (often unsafely) and just drive, sometimes with disasterous consequences.

[Penelope]

Hey, hey, hey....
I´m working in the Styling Dept.
Not in the Safety centre.....
They would most probably tell me to mount 3 point safety belts, A lock on the backrest, and at least a few airbags.

When you have completed the concept drawings for that set up, please put them on the site Anders

[Penelope]

Quite a few modified cars have been imported into NZ from the USA and have modifications so unsafe you wouldn't beleive, often it means $1,000s spent to get it 'right'.

Those who don't give a **** about the law obviously do stuff (often unsafely) and just drive, sometimes with disasterous consequences.

Same here, but they get caught one way or the other.

Bill