As I mentioned in the previous posts, it’s hard to find information on the rear seat retaining strap. Outside of the owner’s manual for the 1966 model, you probably wouldn’t even know of its existence. If you google it, you will no doubt find information related to the rubber strap that holds your seat from falling forward. So, it is a bit of a journey to put all of this together.

Middle picture shows the retaining strap.

Oddly, the 1966 owner’s manual doesn’t even refer to the strap as a retaining strap. It just states that the back seat can be folded forward and secured. The owners’ manuals that followed later did a better job of explaining the strap, how it works, and where it would be fastened when used or when not in use.

This brings us to my Sea Blue Beetle’s missing strap. The two previous blog posts talk about how I found the strap and dyed the strap. This post is really more about the attachment of the strap to the back seat. I will admit, it is not attached as it would have been from the factory since it would have been attached with a small metal piece that would have been pressed into the backseat under the carpet.

So, I had a couple challenges. The first was that the stock belt I received was a bit shorter than it should be. Now, whether that was from dying it, or just due to the way it was removed, I can’t say. The second issue related to how I would fasten it inside the back seat rail slot.

To simplify attaching it, and due to its shorter length, I just screwed it inside the rail (using the slots rail screw). I have no idea how well this will hold up, but it seems secure at this point. I am hoping the material stretches a bit over time.

Retaining strap inserted into back of rear seat.

My fallback position in the event the material just can’t hold up is to buy the same cotton strap on-line and then make a longer version of it. I will probably take that strap to an upholstery shop and have it sewn with heavy duty thread, and perhaps a gromet that the rail screw could go through to better secure it. However, let’s see how this goes.

In the above picture you can see the strap inserted in the top rail, and the lower clip inside the lower back seat cushion support rail. In addition, if you look really close you can see the rubber seat strap that holds the seat back in place, when it is a passenger seat. That strap is next to the passenger side wall and hooks into a metal clip, which you can see above the rear speaker. That strap was also missing from my bug, so I added that too.

So, what have I learned from all of this?

  1. It’s great to have purist friends like Dario to send a multitude of pictures to help source and install the strap. The folks in my VW group, were also helpful, and curious about how all of this would fit together.
  2. The reproduction straps are not even close to the original equipment. In fact, the WolfsburgWest strap wouldn’t work in my back seat insert. Other aftermarket straps will work as their clasp isn’t bent as much the WW one. Those will get the job done if you are just looking for something functional but not authentic. It is completely understandable to use one of the aftermarket straps, since you won’t be required to futz around as much. I think you know what I mean by that.
  3. There is not a lot of space for the lower clip as it fits into the lower track. It’s best to insert the curved part first then pull it upwards. I was hoping I could gain a little more space between the rear seat cushion and the rail but that was a pipe dream.
  4. Any vintage strap that you buy is probably going to be faded. You may choose to dye it back to a grey color, and that will be fun – not really.
  5. There is a definite lack of information regarding the strap, so it can be frustrating.
  6. You won’t find the metal band that originally fastened the strap to the rear seat under the carpet. Ask me how I know. Hours of looking and I found nothing about it. To me, that is not a big deal because any flat piece of metal with a few screws would work. However, you would need a large enough strap to reach that area, and I do not. Plus, I don’t want to remove my carpet. This again speaks to how VW missed the boat on continuing to support the VW culture with original parts.
  7. The on-line community, like thesamba.com, and the vintage Volkswagen groups on Facebook are great resources for old information.
  8. The retaining strap was a smart design from VW, just not explained well or really featured much in their owner’s manual.
This is the metal band mentioned in #6 above.

So that concludes the retaining strap three post fiasco. I hope you have enjoyed the journey, and for those of you who helped – many thanks! Now what else can I dig into?