1960 Rear Seat Belt Wind Up Organizer

[jpannier]

I recently had seat belts added to my rear seat but they are not very tidy. I remember having a 1965 Mercury Comet and I found some spring loaded wind up organizer for them at an auto parts store or somewhere to keep them tidy and organized. I looked for something like that but, could not find anything. Does anyone know of something like this or have any other idea of how to fix this?

 

[ICON 56]

Saw this on a Walmart site: Click on the Human or Robot...

Robot or human?

 

[fordomanic]

Factory and aftermarket seatbelt winders/retractors do exist - for outboard belts only (mounted to the floor between the seats and the rockers/door sills). I'm not sure when Ford first made them available but I have them in my '64 Falcon and I have a spare set because I want to install them in my '65 Falcon as well (I do not have them in my '57 Bird). There is also a plastic sleeve through which the belt can pass near the winders which will keep the tip of the outboard belts raised up in easier reach of the passenger. The retractors will work without the sleeves and I have seen the retractors used with and without the sleeve. I don't believe that the retractors were available from Ford in the '50's but if you are not overly anal about correct appearance they will certainly keep your seatbelts organized. If you were concerned about correctness you would want the original style seat belts which did not have a clip together buckle but rather, they were a coarse weave which fed through a buckle which had teeth that would simply clamp the webbing - like early aircraft seatbelts. I have a set of those as well and am amazed at the prices they command on ebay, etc. I think I still have the Rotunda packaging for my retractors and will see if I can find them to give you the part number. Green Sales, ebay or similar outlet may have them.