Crash Test 59 Chevy vs New Malibu

442w30 · #1 09-25-2009, 04:05 AM

So far, only the Mopar and Chevy people are skeptical. Everyone else seems to "get it."

htweelz · #2 09-25-2009, 05:43 PM

I always drive my '68 defensively. I do want to put some three point harnesses in it. I know they aren't as safe as the new cars but they are still a blast to drive.

Kim_Howie · #3 09-25-2009, 05:45 PM

Whatever

Norm reynolds · #4 09-27-2009, 07:33 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not buying any of it!! Looks like 100% staged to me. There is no way that a "Sherman Tank" like that 59 is going to crumble like that by being hit by that new Chevy.. I see lots of accidents in my job and this is just not going to happen!! Somebody "made up" this video....

[/ QUOTE ]

I am with you with that THERE IS NO WAY an 09 malbu is safer than the 59 I have worked on many 59 chevys and they were tanks like to see what a 59 caddy or Imperal would to to the new malbu
THIS WAS STAGED I am NOT BUYING IN TO THIS

hep1966 · #5 09-27-2009, 05:00 PM

A 1959 is safer than a 2009?

**Tommy** · #6 09-27-2009, 07:33 PM

Personally, I think it is real. Safety has come a long way since then. If I am not mistaken in 59 they hadn't gone to a telescopic steering shaft yet A harder impact might impale the driver. Also getting hit in the driver door in our old cars would be very bad. If you ever look inside the doors of new cars and trucks you will see steel tubing similiar to roll bars. I am in the new/used parts business. Picking up a 68 Nova door and a new malibu door are two totally different monsters. I would hate to think what would happen if a suburban ran a light and hit me in the driver door of my Nova.... It would probably stop somewhere in the middle of my bench seat...

Tommy

**Tommy** · #7 09-27-2009, 07:37 PM

one reason the safety tests speak so much of the door lock holding is probably because of the roll bar material in the door. It is just one more thing to keep the car or truck intact. If the door of the malibu had opened, the front end may have been forced back further. They total alot more cars these days but they don't total as many of us these days...

Tommy

**njsteve** · #8 09-27-2009, 08:19 PM

Its not staged. That is the reality of old versus new construction methods.

The 59 was built like a tank, and since it was built like a tank there were no predesigned crumple zones that would take the impact and redistribute it away from the passenger compartment. In essence, the only crumple zone is the driver's body. Once the car hits and reaches its structural limits, it folds up into a ball of metal with no regard for the integrity of the passenger compartment.

Remember, the 59 was a body-on-frame design. All it takes to defeat that design is a hard enough hit to shear those front body-to-frame mounting bolts and then the shell takes the rest of the impact while the frame underrides the impacting vehicle. That is exactly what you are observing in the video.

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