Re: Rear belts in GT Junior?

[Scott Fisher <sfisher71@domain.elided>]

--- James Barbour <james.barbour@domain.elided> wrote:
> Hi all
> 
> Does anyone on the Digest have any advice /
> experience with fitting rear seatbelts to a 
> GTV / GT Junior?  Since the arrival of our son in 
> December this could be a make or break issue for my
> car, so I desperately need a way round this!

Been there, done that, in a Junior no less.  I bought
three-point harnesses from a British-car vendor near
where I used to live (O'Connell Classics in Santa
Clara), because I happened to see them when getting
parts for some of my other cars, but you should be
able to get them anywhere.  For a safety seat, you may
be able to use a two-point rather than three-point
system, threading the lap belt through the seat's
retaining system.

You will need to drill holes in your car.  To figure
out where, get a copy of the Sports Car Club of
America's General Competition Regulations, as they
offer practical advice on the mounting of restraint
systems.  

The whole process was easy and inexpensive, and my
children were comfortable in the back seat up to about
the age of 8 or 9 -- after that we stopped using that
car.  But we did take a family vacation in it when the
girls were 5 and almost 9, the summer before Charlie
was born.

Now, for the bad news: You may not be able to get an
infant safety seat into the rear of your Junior.  At
least we never could fit the one we had.  There simply
was not enough depth for the seat we had and the car
we had.  

Seriously, though -- do a trial-fit of the baby seat
now, before you drill any holes or buy any straps.  It
may be that there's a better brand that can fit, and
you may have to take the car to your local baby-gear
store and test-fit a bunch of floor models to see
whether one of them can work, regardless of belts.

We simply couldn't wedge the rear-facing infant seat
that we had (and I have no idea what brand it was...
the boy starts kindergarten next fall) into our Junior
in the back seat, but only in the front.  This meant
we tended not to use the Junior as a family car much
after that, though since the boy in question has two
older sisters, it was sort of a moot point anyway.

One day I'll have to post some photos of the seat
belts in the back seat of my Spider.  I bought it that
way...

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin, Oregon
  two Alfas, three kids
.
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http://sports.yahoo.com/

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