Seat belts in the rear

[scooters]

Folks,

As a DAF newby I am after a bit of advice please.
I am likely to purchase a 44 in the next few days and will post more when I do so. However, I have a slight concern - obviously being a 1973 car there are no rear belts and I doubt if there are any anchor points. The issue is that I have an 18 month year old who needs to be in a child seat - now not a huge problem as we have 2 other family cars but it wold be nice to be able to use the 44 for days out - nipping round town etc.

To that end des anyone have ay advice on fitting intertial belts to the rear seats - how to go about it etc - if I can put in rear inertials then I can mount a chld seat no problem.

cheers

[daf44]

hi scooter.

i have a mk1 44 and there is nowhere that i would be happy to mount inertia belts in the back. the later ones may be slightly different though.

that said, my son is 2 in june and his seat is held in the front seat by the original seat belt. this is not ideal as it ties up the front but it IS acceptable to the police in this area as i have asked them. (don't know about legal as it is not recoil, but is acceptable to them)

when i have a little time next week i will be fitting a lap belt into the rear of my44 as it is the top mount for an inertia belt that i was not happy with. the bottom mounts should be fine with washers/spreader plates behind the bolts and most child seats can be used with just a lap belt at a push.
this is the best solution i have come up with so far but other owners out there must have had similar problems and i am sure some of them will have ideas as well.

watch this space.

paul44

[scooters]

cheers Paul,
I have done the deed and bought the 44 which I pick up next week. Having had a good look myself I can see and agree that the back seats are not really suitable for a seat so looks like the wee man will have to sit in the front till I can fit lap belts

[scooters]

yup totally agree with you - however, he apparatchiks that run the UK these days seem very keen to enforce this. The Daf will be very much my hobby car so it's not too drastic as we already have a Euro Lardbox albeit not a new one in the form of the volvo estate. Having said that it would be nice to take the family in the DAF and i makes it easier to sell the project to the wife (which is of course the real reason I'm asking)

AUTOSAFE in London specialise in seat belts in older/classic cars especially unobtrusive ones and they have quoted £192.00 +VAT to fit 2 rear inertial seatbelts and fabricate anchoring systems compatible to the DAF. Cost me £150 + VAT to fit new seatbelts into the family mondeo the other day so this isn't too bad although there are many other jobs I would rather sort first.

[dillyman]

Might look nice, make the car saleable,(but you bought it O.K. without!), satisfy the insurance co. - BUT - would they work? I too am all for rough and tumble in the back, 'specially the tumble.

[Richard DAF Webmeister]

You'll all be amused by the picture on the front cover of our current club magazine, Belting Along...

[scooters]

yeah - it's not so much about securing the child as securing a child seat. The thought police demand it these days. Child seats these days work usually by securing to the seatbelt so as long as you have a seat belt the seat can go in ok