Child seats in classic cars
Discussion
Good afternoon.
Our 1958 A35 came out of the factory without any seatbelts.
As part of the bare metal restoration, I'm installing suitable backing plates/reinforcements and mount points for new 3point seatbelts in all 4 seat positions.
Now, at some point we will probably have a sprog and would like to use the car to go on holidays, days out and shows.
Had anyone looked at our successfully implemented ISOFIX points in their classic? ISOFIX points are only rated to 35kgs, so even at 10G, that's a peak load of 350kgs, so I'm not particularly worried about strength as that can easily be achieved, normal seat belt mounts should be much stronger than that in any case.
What do other folks do about child seats in classics?
Would love to see solutions!
Our 1958 A35 came out of the factory without any seatbelts.
As part of the bare metal restoration, I'm installing suitable backing plates/reinforcements and mount points for new 3point seatbelts in all 4 seat positions.
Now, at some point we will probably have a sprog and would like to use the car to go on holidays, days out and shows.
Had anyone looked at our successfully implemented ISOFIX points in their classic? ISOFIX points are only rated to 35kgs, so even at 10G, that's a peak load of 350kgs, so I'm not particularly worried about strength as that can easily be achieved, normal seat belt mounts should be much stronger than that in any case.
What do other folks do about child seats in classics?
Would love to see solutions!
balham123 said:
I just used non-isofix seats (the ones you feed the seatbelt through) and never worried about it.
I'm sure someone will be along in a minute to explain why this is reckless/dangerous/now illegal
Absolutely right. Isofix is no safer than a properly fitted/mounted seatbelt. It's only benefit is that it's easier to fit correctly. Loads of folks obsess over tracking down Focus or Passat isofix bars needlessly and then trying to mount them properly, which is totally pointless in a non-isofix car.I'm sure someone will be along in a minute to explain why this is reckless/dangerous/now illegal
goodwoodweirdo said:
you can buy new ISOFIX mountings online, Its mostly newer cars, however no reason why you couldn't weld it into a older car.
I have a 92 Saab convertible and had the same idea but not come to anything yet.
keep us posted ...
When I put my kids into my 900 Monte Carlo I just used regular child seats and regular seatbelts. They were fine back there, up to about 60mph, after which it got a bit buffety for them.I have a 92 Saab convertible and had the same idea but not come to anything yet.
keep us posted ...
Child seats are so enormous these days that you need a decent size car to get 2 in: very few moderns will take 3 across the back comfortably.
we used to put the children in our Jensen CV8
I had Quickfit, captioned above, fit custom rear seat belts and then took the CV8 to mothercare to find a car seat that would fit properly into the seat space as it had a high and wide transmission tunnel. We then threaded the belts through in the usual manner, never even considered putting isofix in, the seatbelt secured seats being perfectly safe and legal.
Quickfits knew we were putting the belts in for this purpose so made them, I think, slightly longer so that they were easier to thread up through the childseat.
I thought Isofix was just for ease of attachment and removal rather than being "safer" per se.
I had Quickfit, captioned above, fit custom rear seat belts and then took the CV8 to mothercare to find a car seat that would fit properly into the seat space as it had a high and wide transmission tunnel. We then threaded the belts through in the usual manner, never even considered putting isofix in, the seatbelt secured seats being perfectly safe and legal.
Quickfits knew we were putting the belts in for this purpose so made them, I think, slightly longer so that they were easier to thread up through the childseat.
I thought Isofix was just for ease of attachment and removal rather than being "safer" per se.
I’ve had various classics, if you are at the bare metal stage I’d suggest adding 4X threaded nuts to take race harness type webbing. You can then secure pretty much any seat via this webbing (for phase one when they are young) then revert to either 4X or 3X point standard seat belts (with boosters / then without) as they grow.
We had the basic Halfords 123 type seats that were fixed to the car, we then used the harness set that came with them (up to around 10kg from memory) to secure the kiddies to the seat.
We then moved to the belts holding the children AND the seats when they got 10kg plus.
Beauty of being at the metal stage is you can configure exactly as you need but add in all the supports now for when they grow.
I think even as they get older you need to be cautious about using fully rigid belts (that don’t have any give) as in an impact, all the force is transferred through the body (unlike on inertia belts that have a little give).
After market 3X point inertia belts are available though if you have the options of decent anchor points (I’d use the bolt eye type and clip on end belts so everything can be removed later down the line if you so wished…)
The main area to explore when they are young is head protection, so have large head cushions on whatever seats you choose until they are as old as possible.
If you can fabricate, maybe build some aluminium shells and pad these out in keeping with the car that integrates the belt system?
We had the basic Halfords 123 type seats that were fixed to the car, we then used the harness set that came with them (up to around 10kg from memory) to secure the kiddies to the seat.
We then moved to the belts holding the children AND the seats when they got 10kg plus.
Beauty of being at the metal stage is you can configure exactly as you need but add in all the supports now for when they grow.
I think even as they get older you need to be cautious about using fully rigid belts (that don’t have any give) as in an impact, all the force is transferred through the body (unlike on inertia belts that have a little give).
After market 3X point inertia belts are available though if you have the options of decent anchor points (I’d use the bolt eye type and clip on end belts so everything can be removed later down the line if you so wished…)
The main area to explore when they are young is head protection, so have large head cushions on whatever seats you choose until they are as old as possible.
If you can fabricate, maybe build some aluminium shells and pad these out in keeping with the car that integrates the belt system?
bnseven said:
we used to put the children in our Jensen CV8
I had Quickfit, captioned above, fit custom rear seat belts and then took the CV8 to mothercare to find a car seat that would fit properly into the seat space as it had a high and wide transmission tunnel. We then threaded the belts through in the usual manner, never even considered putting isofix in, the seatbelt secured seats being perfectly safe and legal.
Quickfits knew we were putting the belts in for this purpose so made them, I think, slightly longer so that they were easier to thread up through the childseat.
I thought Isofix was just for ease of attachment and removal rather than being "safer" per se.
They fitted rear seatbelts to my T25 which we used with child seats without issue. One of them is now playing up but it has been 10 years... I had Quickfit, captioned above, fit custom rear seat belts and then took the CV8 to mothercare to find a car seat that would fit properly into the seat space as it had a high and wide transmission tunnel. We then threaded the belts through in the usual manner, never even considered putting isofix in, the seatbelt secured seats being perfectly safe and legal.
Quickfits knew we were putting the belts in for this purpose so made them, I think, slightly longer so that they were easier to thread up through the childseat.
I thought Isofix was just for ease of attachment and removal rather than being "safer" per se.
I had ISOFIX mounts fitted to a classic car when my kids were tiddlers - it was surprisingly easy. From memory they used Ford ISOFIX mounts as there was some model that had bolt in mounts and they were bolted to the seat belt mounting points. It all worked really well. Sorry I can't remember all the details now, but the mounts were definitely Ford as I remember seeing the oval Ford badge on them.
I would suggest looking at something like Ford Focus ISOFIX mounts and installing your mounting plates at a spacing to suit those. Being a standardised mounting system it should be relatively straightforward to fit ISOFIX mounts so long as you get the mounting spacing correct for the captive nuts on the body.
It sure was easy taking little ones in the car with the ISOFIX mounts - just whacked the car seat in, 'click, click', strap them into the seat and away we went. They used to love it too!
I would suggest looking at something like Ford Focus ISOFIX mounts and installing your mounting plates at a spacing to suit those. Being a standardised mounting system it should be relatively straightforward to fit ISOFIX mounts so long as you get the mounting spacing correct for the captive nuts on the body.
It sure was easy taking little ones in the car with the ISOFIX mounts - just whacked the car seat in, 'click, click', strap them into the seat and away we went. They used to love it too!
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