[Dan Case]

All the Cobras and '65 GT350s, some mine and some of friends, that have passed through my garage all had IMPACT®brand belts with a black leather lap shield on the latch side. CSX2310 still wears the belts that are supposed to have been in the car since leaving SAI. I have receipts for all work and or I have talked with the persons that did or had almost all work done on the car since 1966. I can document even things like when wheel alignment was checked but there is no mention of replacing the belts. The ones on CSX2310 are marked "American Safety Model No. CB 500 IMPACT". The forged steel latch body and loop pieces are works of art. The forging tool formed "ASE" (American Safety Equipment), an ASE part number, and the complete Military Specification ("MS") for their design and manufacture in raised letters on the parts. Decades ago I bought a NOS set of '65 350 belts and Cobra competition shoulder harness from a former Shelby (new car) dealer. All the parts were of the "CB" prefix series belts I believe and were still in the American Safety IMPACT® marked boxes. In the 60's through 80's it was very common to replace the seat belts in Cobras for either racing or appearance. The SCCA group I use to hang out with would never accept my "old belts". Any Cobra or GT350 used in competition probably got "new" belts at least once a year while all their magnesium wheels and suspension parts were out being checked for cracks. I had a neighbor that raced a Cobra. He had to Magniflux® (MPI) steel parts and Zyglo® (X-ray and or die penetrate) aluminum and magnesium parts before every season. Old and or worn seat belts were not permitted. In some local regions chroming the roll bar was not allowed. Appearance was another big deal. Nobody that bought a Cobra for whatever high dollar of the time was wanted shabby interior. I just bought CSX2551. It has just over 37,000 miles on it and it has had completely new soft trim and seat belts at least three times. I looked at a 289 Cobra with 1,580 miles on it that had never been in the rain yet as of 1985 it had all its soft trim replaced, repainted, and new belts. The original stuff was all tossed in the trash...I asked about it.

It is really tough figuring out what is "original" for any particular Cobra. No body seems to want to acknowledge that anything about their car is not correct. Example. People, including original owners, claiming that "Made In Germany" wrenches were original to their cars. The "Made In Germany" ones are original only if the car was made after circa 1989 because prior to the Cold War thaw the wrenches were made and marked "Made In W. Germany". The Elora No. 100 wrenches were made and sold for decades, only lately in "Germany".