One of our forum members was seeking information with regards to the proper orientation of the red seatbelt release lever on early cars w/o retractable belts. Several members seem to think that the release should be on top of the belt mechanism.

As long as I've owned my 70/4, 39 years, the red release has always been on the bottom.
I just checked the owners' manual, and it shows the release button on the bottom as well.

I know it's a very minor point, but this poor forum seems to have exhausted just about every little nuance of our cars.

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Quoting from the owners' manual.......

"Opening the belt: At the end of you drive, or to release the belt quickly in an emergency, pull up the red lever on the buckle. This will open the safety-belt immediately."

Pictures and text on page 32 of the 1970 914/4 owner's manual, Edition X/69

this is from a video dated 1969
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and another
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from the owner's manual (Edition X/69), and I would add that the seatbelts on my 70/4 have always been installed this way.....

close up pics....

I suppose that if the correctly installed belts are twisted (an easy thing to do when confronted with 3 sets of belts), or at some point had been removed and re-installed improperly, then you would get the release lever up-side-down.

Paul

I think they put them in wrong in the prototype in my post above

So i dug out my NOS belt
Click to view attachment

This is what the parts manual shows:
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Does the part manual have a listing for Driver side and Passenger side? The pictues show the "drivers" side for instance

Could be, if only one version made, that the driver would "pull up" but the passenger would "push down".

What do the taildraggers of same vintage do?
I expect teeners will be the same.