NOS Seatbelts on Ebay

[Cory J Tate]

I've been on the hunt for some seatbelts for my 63 and came across these on Ebay, 

My guess is that these are actually from 62, as they don't look quite like the 63/64 buckles that I have seen. But, I thought I'd pass these on incase anyone was looking for some 60's Tan NOS belts. 

NOS Tan Seatbelts

[Jason Edge]

These would have been accessory seat belts a dealer would install or what I call "counter" seat belts where someone could go to the parts counter and buy a set of seat belts for their 63 Cadillac. These are listed under part # 990 215 in the 1965 Master Parts Book as beige front seat belts for a 1963 Cadillac.  It has a cross reference to the 148 1601 part # you see on the box. These are not what the 1963 factory seat belts looked like, or the crested buckle type seen in 1964, but I would definitely still consider these correct for a 1963 if you are after originality since a dealer would  have installed them. 

Keep in mind we were just getting into the era of seat belts being a standard and only part way through the 1964 model year production year did front seat belts become standard and not an extra cost option. So with the public becoming more aware of safety and the need for seat belts sets like this would have been a popular upgrade for the dealer to install during a maintenance trek back to the dealership with your 62, 63 or 64 Cadillac. 

I have pulled in a a few 63/64 Cadillacs with these counter/dealer seat belts and the buckles are of course very similar to the 64's but with out the crest.

Here is a picture of the factory seat belts from 1963 looked like for the fronts:

Here is the Cadillac Literature showing the factory 1963 Belts:

Here is the sign of our changing times in January 1964 in this Serviceman Bulletin stating all Cadillacs would have standard front seat belts after VIN 64x057000. Not you could still request to not have them installed!