MTFCA Forum

Hey all, I grew up around T's and have been riding in them my whole life, I now am fortunate enough to share this passion with my son , he is 5 and loves going for rides and working on the T's. Recently after a ride this weekend his mother (my ex) has shown great displeasure in him riding in the car without a carseat or seatbelts, hours of attempting to explain prob safer without a carseat in these cars hasnt gotten me anywhere, so now i want to see your pictures or ideas on how you have put a carseat and securely attached it in the car. We have brass era tourning cars.

Thanks in advance!

You're between a rock and a hard place - trying to talk sense to an ex who doesn't get old cars and wants to use your kid and the old car hobby to "get back" at you is like tinkling into the wind... Because now that she's "aware" I'll bet dimes to donuts next time you take your son for a ride, she'll be filing for custody and calling the law on you. Unfortunately - I've seen it happen.

Yes, I've seen breakups like that, it's awful, but you're stuck. Sorry for your misfortune.

Saying that - you need to rig sturdy straps around the wooden members of the body of your car, tie in D rings to that strap, then (depending on the seat) hook a belt to it to secure a carseat or rig the seat directly to the straps. you can also go thru the wood on the body, but that would be pretty invasive to the car's structure.

DO NOT let this battle contaminate your kid. Seriously - this can ruin a lot more than just his budding love for old cars or his pops. Play the game, and drive really careful.

Susanne wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 13, 2020 7:56 pm

You're between a rock and a hard place - trying to talk sense to an ex who doesn't get old cars and wants to use your kid and the old car hobby to "get back" at you is like tinkling into the wind... Because now that she's "aware" I'll bet dimes to donuts next time you take your son for a ride, she'll be filing for custody and calling the law on you. Unfortunately - I've seen it happen.

Yes, I've seen breakups like that, it's awful, but you're stuck. Sorry for your misfortune.

Saying that - you need to rig sturdy straps around the wooden members of the body of your car, tie in D rings to that strap, then (depending on the seat) hook a belt to it to secure a carseat or rig the seat directly to the straps. you can also go thru the wood on the body, but that would be pretty invasive to the car's structure.

DO NOT let this battle contaminate your kid. Seriously - this can ruin a lot more than just his budding love for old cars or his pops. Play the game, and drive really careful.

I agree wholeheartedly! If she's determined don't bother with trying to fashion seats. A bad attorney would kill that. Let him see the joy and fun you have when playing with it. He'll take care of Mom letting him get ride way easier than you or your attorney ever will! For free!

You've got a real problem there Tyler. Riding the kid around out of a safety seat might be illegal. That's #1. #2 is can you even properly anchor a safety seat in a T? #3 is even if you could anchor it would that be safe in itself as the car has no truly safe means of operating it especially in todays traffic. Add the ex into this and you've got a losing proposition no matter what you do. In my opinion even if you do get an acceptable seat installation in a T she'll still have recourse to bust chops because the car is inherently unsafe to begin with.

I’ve got a 3 year old and 5 year old, and we take the car everyday to our community pool about a mile away. I’ve never taken them on a main road - way too dangerous with idiot drivers. Luckily my neighborhood is small and self contained to about 15 mph on the streets. I compare it to driving around in a golf cart in a gated neighborhood. Anything else elevates the danger in my mind, but that’s the unfortunate time we live in. My only trouble is the kids bleaching my seats with their dang suntan lotion. Burns my seats white! Going for the drive with the kids is the best part of the day though - they love it. Just have to do it safely away from the perils of distracted drivers

I have mentioned before that we took our 2 1/2 year old to Glacier for the MTFCA Tour a few years ago. 700 miles to, 700 back and the tour. I made half a cushion for the back seat and Joy sat in it. This allowed the car seat to sit lower and less wind. The trip was 11 days total and went very nicely. When our little girl would get restless we could find the nearest playground (schools were closed) to wear her out.
There was little traffic on nicely paved secondary roads. Kalispell was the only busy spot.
I normally use just a belt for the kids under 3 or so. It keeps them from falling out when they sleep. A major accident would change everything but we take limited trips with little traffic and are as careful as we can be. Life is too short not to enjoy our passions.
Rich

I find that the wiggly little kid butts don’t stay where you put ‘em very long... unless squeezed into a seat narrow enough to keep ‘em from sliding around. So if you find that your seats are too wide... cram additional wiggly little kid butts into the seat until the excess seat space is filled and the wiggly little kid butts are tightly secured

I am no lawyer, and rarely offer good advice, but this works pretty well for my two little girls

Funny Kevin !!!

I like Rich's idea regarding a 1/2 seat cushion to lower the child's seat - I installed a lap belt in the center of the rear seat in the '14 Touring so our 5 y.o grand daughter can see out between me & Nana.

My, how times have changed.

We made mountings for two car seats in the back of my tourer. 4 loops of 1/4" rod were welded to a length of 2" angle iron. That is screwed down through the rear seat frame and into the wooden riser below that. With seat cushion in place, none of this is seen. The seat straps are fastened to the loops to hold the child seat down. The tether trap at the top of the seat passes between the top and the back panel, and down the outside of the body to an anchor point on the spare tyre carrier. That anchor is a direct take from a modern car.

An engineer friend of my son opined that it may even pass inspection with the addition of steel straps to connect the angle to the frame, although he added that if what we had made was going to be torn out we were already in deep trouble.

It has allowed us to comply with state directives re child restraints, and gives peace of mind knowing that grandkids are held in place and are comfortable, with an elevated viewing platform to boot.

Allan from down under.