Good day all. Bought a 68 with lap only front seat belts. Would like to upgrade to front shoulder belts. Does anyone know if a provision for shoulder belts is always in the inside of the roof. A threaded tab of some sort I would think. Hate to cut the headliner to find out. Tough question. Thanks, Denis
After not seeing any replies, I tried to research your question. None of my Fisher Body, Firebird or Camaro documents and sources provided any help. The logic says that Body By Fisher would likely add the mountings for any GM car in 1968 (for evolving fed edicts in that timeframe). But logic does not always seem to apply to these cars.
I did find this video that may help. They seem to confirm that the answer about the probability and location of the mountings are a possibly, maybe, somewhere. They do show how to locate the mounts, if they exist, with minimal disassembly and damage.
I have taken a lot of Firebirds apart. I have never seen a provision for a shoulder belt in the roof. My plans for my convertible always included a three point belt like the second gens used. That is another reason why I am adding a roll bar. It can be the shoulder strap mounting point. The first shoulder belt I came across was in my 1972 Catalina. The belt was removable from the lap belt, and could be stored in clips that were in the headliner above the window channel. I guess no one has a bare coupe to take a pic of that shoulder belt mounting area. I think seat belts became mandatory in 1965. People grudgingly used them at the time [some still don't] . I would be amazed that they actually provided a mounting point for a shoulder belt, unless it was a performance orientated car. That video says they did.
I just checked the Rocky Rotella "Definitive Firebird and Trans Am Guide 1967-1969" and found some interesting trivia about the subject. It says that it was planned that all coupes in '68 were to have shoulder belts but an internal document Aug. 23, 1967 rescinded the plan. They continued with them as optional. 26,616 coupes (about 30% of production) got the Deluxe Belts and Shoulder Harness option in 1968.
Edit 3/30/25: After reading the following post by Dennis, I realized I mis-read the option above. I likely is simply the upgrade to Deluxe belts (lap and shoulder) The 754 option adds front shoulder belts for both standard and Custom (deluxe). The Rotella book shows production numbers for convertibles but not coupes.
