[eaglesan13]

About three years ago I was in a local Pick N Pull yard and came across a 1971 Firebird. It was mostly picked clean, but the deluxe seatbelts were still there (although it was missing the shoulder harnesses), so I grabbed the belts. About a year or so later, I bought my 1971 trans am, which came equipped with standard seatbelts. Sometime later I was doing some parts buying/trading with James (blue71ta), and as part of the deal, I dealt the deluxe seatbelts to James. They were saddle, and needed restoration, so I figured I didn't need them.

I think it was about a year later when I saw an eBay auction for a complete set of deluxe saddle seatbelts. The bid was fairly low, so I placed a bid, even though I expected to be outbid. I was surprised when I won the auction. Later, when the belts arrived and I saw the return address, I realized I had just bought my belts back from James. I think I paid less than I got for them, and I even got the shoulder belts which were missing when I sold them (Thanks James).

I'd never had seatbelts restored before, but I'd heard it was quite expensive, so I did some shopping around and located a woman in Texas who said she used to work for Snake Oyl, and had started her own seatbelt restoration company. The price she quoted was very reasonable compared to what I had been told it cost to have belts restored, so I decided to get my belts redone. Part of my decision to get the belts done was because every frigging buckle in my car rattles. I've heard there is a foam piece in the buckle that acts as an "anti rattle" device (I don't know if that's true or not). Anyway, I was told the foam piece deteriorates over time, and then the buckles will rattle. I checked all the deluxe buckles I had and none of them rattled when I shook them, so I figured maybe there were made differently.

Anyway, I went ahead and authorized the work last October, and since they were deluxe belts and my interior is blue, I had the belts restored in blue. The belts were supposed to be done in eight weeks, but that didn't happen. There were many excuses, (I won't cite them all here), but three weeks ago I said "enough." I sent an email advising that if the belts were not done within the next two weeks, I wanted to cancel the order. I received a reply apologizing for the delays with a promise to complete the work within the next two weeks. I was also told I would receive a 20% discount for my trouble.

The belts were not done when promised, but it was only a few extra days when I received an email stating they were done and had been shipped (I got a tracking number). The belts arrived today, and they look very nice. I'm still not sure if I'm going to install them or just stick with the originals in the car, but I'm very happy with how this turned out. I know a used set of blue deluxe seatbelts sold on eBay about a year ago for $750.00, and I'm into these for a lot less, so I guess it worked out.

Regarding the labels, I used the original belt date codes as reference and just had them duplicated on the restored ones (which is why some of the dates are different).