correct 289 COBRA "impact" / "ray brown" seat belts

[Dan Case]

March 2018 Update: Since 2007 more examples of unrestored cars with original belts in the lengths Cobras used have been available for study. (The assemblies for Cobras are significantly shorter than required for a Mustang chassis for example.)

Intact assemblies or sets have been tagged as being manufactured under the IMPACT® name by Ray Brown Automotive. Jim Cowles sells an excellent replacement label. Exact details of belt assembly construction varied between 1963 and 1964 when most belts were made so far. Between “early” and “late” belts it seems everything but the anchor bolt hooks and label design changed. Different versions of parts and materials has made detailed restorations of original cars more challenging. Example: Assemblies like a CSX25xx chassis might have gotten wouldn’t make sense for a chassis finished in the first quarter of 1963.

The labels of assembled belts got a MMM-DD-YYYY date code ink stamped on them. Based on the few I have seen still with the car they started with only a few production runs were made, i.e. there was a just a few dates apparently. No I have not started a registry of chassis and belt assembly dates.

Because of variations in parts and assemblies “seat belts” is just too complicated for a simple discussion. Of the cars I have participated in the restoration of we did a case by case study to determine what chassis completed into running cars around them were fitted with.

That’s Cobras. Offered as examples only, 427 Cobra wise a very low mile unrestored CSX30xx had Cummings & Sander, Inc. 1966 belts and unrestored CSX33xxchassis had CS (Cummings & Sander) IMPACT® name belts. The serious 427 Cobra restorers that I know are not looking for Ray Brown anything seat belt wise.