The one and most important thing the author overlooks. The cars were built like TANKS! You could have a head on collision and both drivers would ligh up smokes and walk away.
You could have a head on collision and both drivers would ligh up smokes and walk away.
Actually, the whole article makes a completely opposite case.
I’ve always been under the impression that engineered crumple zones make modern cars better at handling accidents.
[[The cars were built like TANKS! You could have a head on collision ]]
I got in a near headon collision going 50 miles an hour (The woman who hit me was waiting for a fella to turn around in her driveway, when he did- she started into my path- apparently she didn’t look to see if any cars were coming- she was probably ticked that someone made her wait to pull into her own driveway) with an early model suburban- bounced off the car and smashed into another on the side of the road and all that happened was the front end got twisted a bit. The car that hit me was spun around 2 times and ended up across the road in the ditch- she had two kids in the car- her front end was smashed pretty hard- but she survived, I survived, and the other fella who was in a newer suburban also survived
noone was wearing seat belts- I hit the steering wheel so hard it bent it over- but what saved me was the fact that the old suburban was built like a tank and didn’t crumple - plus the fact that it was taller than the car- The front end lifted off the ground and flew into the fella that was turning in her driveway-
They also didn’t go as fast as today’s cars. I remember when a trip from Bakersfield to Pasadena to see relatives was considered a trip! Now I’ll drive there have lunch and drive back.
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.
Exactly. That and the fact it took about two miles to get up to 60 miles an hour.
“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.
No you would both be dead from either crushing your scull against the steering wheel or being ejected through the windshield. Those cars where death traps.
Right, float into the sky to Saint Peter’s Gate.
“The cars were built like TANKS! You could have a head on collision and both drivers would ligh up smokes and walk away.”
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It was called steel. Now days cars are mostly plastic. Case to your point:
Once (in the mid 80’s I think) saw a 50s Studebaker that had been hit by a then newer Volvo - surely with all the safety bells and whistles available at the time.
The fedora-wearing old guy driving the Studebaker was standing on the road scratching his head with a smoke in the other hand. The Volvo’s front end was splayed out so that the wheels angled out to either side.
The Studebaker had a small dimple in one fender ... The female Volvo driver was being carted away by the EMTs on a stretcher.
Not really true. My wife used to drive a ‘55 Chevy as a daily driver, and she ran it into a Tahoe. The ‘55 had substantial damage but the Tahoe didn’t.
The ‘55 Chevy is still one of the coolest cars ever built, though.
The car might survive but you would be jelly.