1959 Chevrolet Bel Air Vs. 2009 Chevrolet Malibu (50 Years of Auto Safety)

Youtube ^ | 9/14/2009 | Youtube

[Fresh Wind]

You also have to wonder whether the ‘59 had corrosion issues that might have weakened its structure.

[Jet Jaguar]

Yes. Good point. I would have preferred an in depth video.

[NVDave]

Ya think? Did you see the cloud of rust that came off the ‘59? Whoa.

[reagan_fanatic]

Give me the ‘59 Chevy anyday.

[Fresh Wind]

I looked again, you’re right-that cloud could only be rust!

[Mr. Lucky]

...upholstered with plastic which could be washed off with a garden hose. Not that you would have had any reason to, of course.

[reagan_fanatic]

I will let nostalgic retards drive the death trap from the 50’s.

That's uncalled for.

I've had a '57 Chevy and a '54 Oldsmobile. As far as I know, I'm not retarded.

[svcw]

hummm. Not my car but then I never tried to water the inside. I did not have padding on the dash, however.

[Drew68]

It's far more than that - crumple zones, steering columns, extensive computer analysis, prototype testing - and yes, the explosive component known as an airbag. Keep in mind, that final one's development and manufacturing took a tremendous amount of work, skill, and even literal costs of human lives (when the plants that make them occasionally blow up).

We have come a tremendous way in automotive safety, performance, quality, and efficiency - all through a huge amount of hard work and capital (there's Zer0's least favorite word) investment. It's just that this video is a dumb, dumb way to show it.

In 1959 after a typical accident they towed the car to the body shop and the occupants went to the morgue. Today, the car goes to the scrapyard and the occupants walk away. Cars have become so safe that about the only way to get killed in an accident is to get ejected from the vehicle for not wearing a seatbelt. Not always but very, very often.

[Old Professer]

Take a trip in time:

http://www.superchevy.com/features/pre1977full/sucp_0801_348_409_w_engines/index.html

[Old Professer]

Don’t miss this:

http://www.superchevy.com/features/pre1977full/sucp_0801_348_409_w_engines/index.html

[calex59]

Thanks for the link. Let me tell you a story about my buddy. In 1958(first year the '59 came out)my friends father bought one for my friend, we were both going to graduate in 1959, and he bought the car in nov of 58. Had the 409 in it. We lived in a small county, and the towns had 1954 chevys with 235 six cylinder engines and auto transmissions. We would go flying by the police station every night at about 8:30 and they would crank up the 6 cylinder and follow us, to no avail, the 409 just kept on going.

One night we flew by the cop station and we saw the familiar red light come on but it didn't fall back, it kept getting closer and finally caught us. Cop was a CA highway patrol driving, I think, a Pontiac with an engine that just blew my friends 409 away.

He gave us a lecture(and my friend a huge ticket) and we stopped terrifying the cops in our county after that!

[Just another Joe]

It's far more than that - crumple zones, steering columns, extensive computer analysis, prototype testing

If you look at the crash and the aftermath, the Malibu was damaged just as extensively as the Bel Aire.

The only thing that might have save him was the air bag.

[Publius Valerius]

The truth is the death rate in cars is about the same as it was back then.

Hmm, I don't know about that. MSN Money ran this article this morning, and it contained an interesting chart:

[Publius Valerius]

If you look at the crash and the aftermath, the Malibu was damaged just as extensively as the Bel Aire.

The damage to the car doesn't matter. It's the force that is applied to the driver that determines injury. Crumple zones pretty much guarantee that the car is going to be significantly damaged, but the point of those are to reduce the force of the impact on the driver.

Other than the lack of a seat belt, which allowed the driver to strike the steering column, the 59 also didn't have a padded dash or roof, which would have resulted in significantly worse head injuries for the '59 driver. The doors came open during the crash. The windshield came out. Yes, seat belts and air bags are big deals, but there are numerous other problems with the '59. Compared to the cars on the road today, it's a death trap.

[mysterio]

They should have given me the ‘59 instead of destroying it.

[1010RD]

Kinda puts the lie to Detroit steel.

[TweetEBird007]

I had a 58 gold (1 per dealer) Impala, 348, 250 hp, powerglide, and then ordered a 60 convertible as soon as they could be ordered,around Sept of 59, I think. It had a four speed, close ratio transmission, (2.20 low gear),3 duces, hyd lifters, & 280 hp. Didn’t get car until late Dec after coming home from from college for Christmas. Delay caused by lack of 4 speed transmissions, due to labor problems at plant. Went back to school, came back home after one week, with terible noise in engine. After much fooling around Friday afternoon and evening, Overtime, the mechanics at dealer, dropped the pan, Sat. morning, and found loose bolt on rod cap, was hoping they would blow engine, with their revving, and get mech lifter cam & block. No 409 ci blocks were avaible in 1960. By the way, first morning I had the car, it would not crank, mechanic from dealer, came to, our house. Air filter body shorted out with coil or distributor.