Looking for Survivor 1964 Corvairs with Original Standard Seat Belts

I am looking for any survivor (unrestored) 1964 cars with build dates between 01A and 07E (from January 1, 1964 through end of 64 model year) that were equipped with standard seat belts. These cars should have NO Group 5 codes on the Fisher Body tag ACC line. Preferably the car would still have the original seat belts. If you know of such a car, please contact me or leave a comment to this post.

Here’s the background information. On January 1, 1964, front seat belts for driver and passenger became standard for all GM cars. However, options were available to either delete the seat belts or to upgrade them to a nicer version. We have monthly production data from which we can calculate that there were 112,071 Corvair cars produced from Jan 1, 1964 through end of the model year. We also have Dave Newell’s recently published 1964 model option data from which we know how many cars ordered RPO A49 Custom Deluxe seat belts with retractors (26,018) and how many ordered RPO A62 seat belts deleted (67,375). By subtracting those numbers, we arrive at a number of cars remaining (18,678) that should’ve had the “standard” seat belts. However, it was also possible to order RPO A37 Custom Deluxe seat belts without retractors from September 1963 through the end of January 1964 and we do not have a breakdown for just the month of January, so the number of standard belts could be even lower. 

We know what the Custom Deluxe belts look like and we know those were manufactured by Irving Air Chute in Lexington, KY.

We’ve been told the “standard” seat belts had a plastic buckle and were only available in black, but previous seat belt articles have not included a photo of this belt. 

I’ve gone through the massive collection of seat belts at the Corvair Ranch, sorting them by year/model/application and have discovered 6 belts that MAY be the mysterious 1964 “standard” belt. 

However, in doing so, I have found that these belts, as well as many, if not most, of the standard, plastic buckle belts for 1965-69, were made by the Jim Robbins company located in Royal Oak, Michigan. The earliest of the Robbins belts were made by their “Auto-Crat” division in Ypsilanti, later versions just labeled Jim Robbins. I also found many standard belts built by Irving Air Chute, however, so it seems that GM was using both suppliers. 

I’ve also found one 1964 Corvair at the Ranch with a June build date that has 1965 standard seat belts. These belts are almost identical to the 1964 belts except for the addition of the Fisher Body carriage logo to the buckle and they are also made by Auto-Crat/Robbins.

We don’t know for certain, of course, that these belts are original to the car, but the Fisher tag has no group 5 codes, so we know it would’ve been equipped with standard belts and the belts are black in a car with red/white interior. This car raises the possibility, therefore, that GM might’ve started putting the 1965 style standard belts into 1964 cars near the end of the model run. If so, it would offer further explanation as to why we’ve seen so few of the the plain plastic buckle belts. 

It’s also of note that the some of the 1965-66 style belts I found have date codes for 1964, indicating that these belts were certainly being manufactured during the 1964 model run. Whether or not they were simply building inventory for 1965 or actually installing them in 1964 is something yet to be determined.

So now we need to find survivor 1964 cars that should’ve been equipped with standard belts (build date 01A or later and no ACC Group 5 code) so we can hopefully gather “in situ” data. 

Thanks!