Posted on 12/06/2017 7:49:25 PM PST by sparklite2
Unpadded metal surfaces, blunt knobs and rods, steering columns that impale—and seatbelts weren’t even on the options list. We may think highly of the 1955 Chevrolet, but like all cars of the era, it didn’t think much of its passengers; here we use it as a lens through which to view the state of automobile safety of the time. Yes, 62 years later, things have become much safer.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.caranddriver.com ...
Tip: Don’t ever leave your box of Crayola crayons on that shelf in a closed car on a scorching hot summer day. Your Dad will get mighty upset. You may not be able to sit down for a while.
They just pretty much suck, as I said.
It’s a shame.
Lol. You’re right, they knew.
I wish we could go back to no seat belts and that little air vent windows cars had on the two front doors.
i remember the big selling point when my parents bought a new 1957 Ford Ranch Station Wagon was that the front dash was padded so it would cushion the impact for the children ...
I really don’t want to live in a safe world. I don’t.
= = =
I actually think the human needs some danger or thrill or excitement or risk for a healthy existence.
Cowboys had to deal with the horse stepping in a gopher hole. A miner had explosives and cave-ins to survive. Capone had the Feds.
Amusement parks are an attempt to provide some of this needed thrill, in measured doses and at a price.
I agree - - without it is madness, and socialism.
I remember those little car seats. I was born in 1951 so the mid ‘50’s are a memory.
You’re exactly right about the catapult.
Our first child was born in 1979 and we got him a car seat about 3 months before he was born.
The point people here miss is that if I were to drive my 57 like a twitchy modern jack rabbit, sure it would be dangerous, but my car isn’t fun to drive that way.
Similarly, if you decide to brush your teeth with a fork, your results will suffer.
If I were on the highway doing 80, I might be at greater risk. But my Bel Air likes to run right at 65, so no problemo.
Agree with you 100%. The old mechanical controls were very tactile and you could find them without taking your eye off the road. You knew exactly where things were set based on the feel of the control. You want the car warmer? Push the slider an inch to the right.
Today, if I want to switch audio from the radio to a different source, I’ve got to hit a soft key about the size of this asterisk —> * all the while trying to hold my finger steady in a bouncing car. It is almost impossible to do. About half the time I punch an adjacent control and everything goes all haywire.
Today’s kid designers have no idea what real man-controls are.
i remember the big selling point when my parents bought a new 1957 Ford Ranch Station Wagon was that the front dash was padded so it would cushion the impact for the children ...
>><<
Funny you mention that. Dad got a new Mercury station wagon in 1957 or 1958 and he bragged about the padded dash. I can still see him pushing in the dash with his thumb. lol
Those were big cars.
Some did not, like my mother in 1953. Gust of wind from a passing semi got the right tires off into the gravel and the car started tumbling.
If she had a seat belt and a collapsible steering wheel, she might not have been ejected through the windshield, after suffering massive chest trauma from the steering wheel.
You mean “three on the tree”?
You mean “three on the tree”?
Seen on a shirt a few years ago:
Chrysler Imperial.
Because there’s never been a Toyoto banned from demolition derbies.
90 percent of the cars I see look like shoes...lol
90 percent of the cars I see look like shoes...lol
If you added airbags surrounded by the amount of steel like in cars from the 50s and 60’s, the survival rate for people in those cars would go way up.
I agree. Never needed bike helmets when I was a kid. Ran around, played in the dirt, swung from trees, explored an old abandoned factory one summer. A few scrapes, a bruised knee. so what? The end result of protecting people from their own stupidity is to live in a world full of fools.
Best car my dad ever bought was a new 1956 Plymouth La Salle. Bought in New Mexico.
In Missouri, he was going to work in the dark, saw a drunk coming, pulled completely off the road, and the drunk still hit him head on. He survived, but from that day on all we could afford were junk cars from the scrap yards in Missouri.
Somebody must as they are the top stolen car.
•Honda Accord (1997), 50,427 stolen.
•Honda Civic (1998), 49,547..
•Ford F-Series Pickup (2006), 32,721..
•Chevrolet Silverado Pickup (2004), 31,238..
•Toyota Camry (2016), 16,732..
•Nissan Altima (2015), 12,221..
•Ram Pickup (2001), 12,128..
•Toyota Corolla (2015), 11,989..
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