Funny how you can own a car for almost thirty years, and take so many details about them for granted after awhile, that you sometimes fail to notice many of the small differences from year to year, even after you thought you knew most all of them. I think in the case of II's, it's largely due in part to the fact we see so few of them in person, (and usually are focusing on the ones most like our own), in addition to the need to rely on what seems to be a rather limited amount of factory and advertising photos when making such observations and comparisons for the sake of conversation.
For example, while in the process of reinstalling the interior in my car, I broke one of the plastic seat belt guide pieces that snaps into a bracket that is attached to the underside of the headrest assembly. Thinking I'd use one from another set of seats I had, proved to be an incorrect assumption, as the parts did not exist on the other seats. A study of factory advertising photos tonight, seemed to indicate that this piece was apparently discontinued sometime during the '77 model year.... and the other seats were in fact from a late '77 model. Further study has resulted in what appears to be four different configurations of seat belts used from '74-'78.
Heres what I found:
Factory shots of early '74's shows a belt arrangement seemingly unlike any others, with what appears to be a belt which attaches about head level to a strap with a chrome ring which hangs from above. This appears to be a system that uses only one retractor, being at the floor level.
Most 1975 and 1976 cars use a twin retractor system, with the chrome ring being directly suspended from the edge of the roof interior. This belt then runs down thru a guide that attaches to the headrest as stated above, and continues to where it connects to the lap belt that retracts into the doorsill.
Other pics of some (early?) '75 cars show a similar setup, but with the guide piece in a position that seems to be atop and behind the headrest, as opposed to being alongside it. In this case, the belts appear to drape over the seatback somewhat too as a result, as opposed to laying flat along the side of the seat when not in use.
Finally, the later cars appear to use no such guide piece at all. Trying this configuration on my car resulted in a belt that hangs quite freely with a bit more free play, but does not follow the seat when folded to allow easy unobstructed entry into the rear seats. It also results in a tendency for the seat belt to ride up and onto your neck when in use.
If all this wasn't odd enough, I also noticed a couple of pictures that show seats that do not have a chrome latch assembly (to facilitate folding forward) which is usually seen on the seatbacks side at its midpoint. Does this mean that some seats had a different style release, being at the bottom of the seatback?
Am I the only one here who never noticed all this before?
For example, while in the process of reinstalling the interior in my car, I broke one of the plastic seat belt guide pieces that snaps into a bracket that is attached to the underside of the headrest assembly. Thinking I'd use one from another set of seats I had, proved to be an incorrect assumption, as the parts did not exist on the other seats. A study of factory advertising photos tonight, seemed to indicate that this piece was apparently discontinued sometime during the '77 model year.... and the other seats were in fact from a late '77 model. Further study has resulted in what appears to be four different configurations of seat belts used from '74-'78.
Heres what I found:
Factory shots of early '74's shows a belt arrangement seemingly unlike any others, with what appears to be a belt which attaches about head level to a strap with a chrome ring which hangs from above. This appears to be a system that uses only one retractor, being at the floor level.
Most 1975 and 1976 cars use a twin retractor system, with the chrome ring being directly suspended from the edge of the roof interior. This belt then runs down thru a guide that attaches to the headrest as stated above, and continues to where it connects to the lap belt that retracts into the doorsill.
Other pics of some (early?) '75 cars show a similar setup, but with the guide piece in a position that seems to be atop and behind the headrest, as opposed to being alongside it. In this case, the belts appear to drape over the seatback somewhat too as a result, as opposed to laying flat along the side of the seat when not in use.
Finally, the later cars appear to use no such guide piece at all. Trying this configuration on my car resulted in a belt that hangs quite freely with a bit more free play, but does not follow the seat when folded to allow easy unobstructed entry into the rear seats. It also results in a tendency for the seat belt to ride up and onto your neck when in use.
If all this wasn't odd enough, I also noticed a couple of pictures that show seats that do not have a chrome latch assembly (to facilitate folding forward) which is usually seen on the seatbacks side at its midpoint. Does this mean that some seats had a different style release, being at the bottom of the seatback?
Am I the only one here who never noticed all this before?