When I was young one of these transported our family of 7. Ah, those were the days...Clunky but good.
Posted on 12/06/2017 7:49:25 PM PST by sparklite2
Flat out false.
1959 Chevrolet Bel Air vs. 2009 Chevrolet Malibu IIHS crash test
The guy in the '59 Bel Air went to the morgue. The guy in the '09 Malibu walked away.
Because they’re trying to kill us?
I remember when you actually had to drive a car. Operate the machine. The safety systems in cars today mean you don’t have to pay as much attention to the vehicle or the road. Many people can and do make the same mistake many times.
You used to get one chance and if you got it wrong you probably did not get a second chance. All the safety systems are just diluting the chlorine in the gene pool.
Go ahead and flame me... Just don’t do it while driving unless you disagree with me.
Probably the worst thing about the old ones was the steering column was basically a spear aimed at your chest anytime the front hit anything.
Seat belts and air bags overall save lives but they still sometimes kill too.
I remember when Chrysler first came out with airbags, two cars so equipped ran into each other at speed in the California mountains. Each driver walked away from the crash.
As an aside, the first two autos to ever be driven in New York City, managed to run into each other. totaling both cars.
At least they couldn’t be hacked. They were EMP proof, and when you turned off the key the engine shut off, and without the steering wheel locking to boot.
And a couple of screw drivers, and a pair of pliers could fix most things enough to get home. I can even think of more things.
The front passenger seat was call the ‘death seat’ because in an accident that person would often go through the windshild and die. In spite of that most of us didn’t use seat belts for the first few years... they were ‘lap belts’ and uncomfortable.
I think electric starters were more of an advance, but I ain’t really that old. LOL
I remember being in an accident at an intersection with my Mother driving our 1952 Nash Rambler back around 1955 when I was 5 and my brother was 3. My brother and I went flying toward the full steel dash after the collision and bounced around (no seatbelts back then), but we were unharmed, except for a bruise or two.
In the late 1960s, I installed Pep Boys seat belts in my 1960 Volkswagon a week after three high school friends of mine were killed when they were thrown out of their vehicle after hitting a center divider at high speed.
Their car just spun around throwing them out with no damage to the vehicle.
We didn't.
Cars today are so safe that about the only way to get killed in one is to get thrown out of it.
Exactly. That and the fact it took about two miles to get up to 60 miles an hour.
Interesting.
In the 50’s and 60’s on long trips, my dad always packed tools, points, starter, generator, water pump, etc. You just knew one of them would go out.
“You could have a head on collision and both drivers would ligh up smokes and walk away.”
Most likely they would just hose you off the steel dashboard.
Yes, it does. A whole lot of people who don't know much about mass and energy.
Anyhow, take a peek at the short video I posted in post 41.
I'll take my chances in today's cars, thank you very much (plus, they start when it's cold outside).
And no texting back then. If I wanted to use the car phone in my early 60’s Ford, all I had to do was pick up the receiver and say “Sarah could you connect me to the diner?” :)
But really, cars were as safe for their time back then as they are today. We had less traffic, less constant travelling and as someone mentioned cars were steel and built like tanks.
From my old house to the grocery store 1 1/4 miles away in 1968 there were no stop lights and few cars other than 8am and 5pm. Today there are 5 stoplights to that same shopping center and backed up traffic 24/7.
Yes, crumple zones are good things. In a wreck, I'd much rather be in that Malibu (though the Bel Air is a classic).
It’s likely you had windshield wipers that operated off manifold vacuum instead of electric, which was probably a blessing because generators, as opposed to alternators, could barely keep up with electrical demand.
Problem was every you time accelerated or put the engine under load, manifold vacuum pressure would drop, stopping the wipers. Going up hill in the rain usually meant stick your head out the window. LOL
It’s really not fair to hold 1957 cars up to 2017 safety standards.
They were as far ahead of the first mass produced cars as present day cars are to them.
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