Crash Test 59 Chevy vs New Malibu

[The Dude]

Pic from back in the day, when these cars were NOT rusted. A 59 hitting another 59. So much for the compromised integrity argument.

[Kim_Howie]

The speed limit was 70mph back then, I doubt if both cars were doing 40mph as in the test.JMO

[king_midas]

It's interesting that some are unable to grasp that the '59 is structurally unsafe by construction.

[COPO CARTEL]

WOW....Stop all the B/S and move on guys..life is getting shorter as you type away. Agree to disagree.

[Kim_Howie]

It's interesting YOU must be a expert, Grasped that!! I,m done.

[442w30]

You're not done - this is your opportunity to show right-thinking North Americans what you know.

Now I don't profess to know about the structural integrity of cars, but as someone who is in the middle of the Bell Curve when it comes to intelligence, I can be objective (without a video, no less) and figure out that old cars aren't as safe as new ones. Your subjective outrage could be better used to ask why in the hell did they destroy a classic to prove a point we already know.

[Norm reynolds]

[ QUOTE ]
old cars aren't as safe as new ones

[/ QUOTE ]
NOW I HAVE TO DISAGREE New cars just are not as safe as the older heavy cars My wife is livlng proof of that
Back in 82 my wife had a chevy cavalier I had a 1970 Monte Carlo
One Sunday morning she got up early and decided to get some donuts.
I was still asleep in bed when I got the call that she was just rear ended
I got up got dressed grabbed my keys and went out only to find the cavalier
Out front but no Monte Carlo When I got there was my Monte Carlo really missed up
My wife was ok . The cops told me there were chasseing girl for 10 blocks and told me that
My wife was stopped at a red light They also told me the girl was going at least 60-65 mph when she hit
My wife . They also said that my Monte Carlo saved her life because if she were in a smaller car
Things would not have been good The problems with today’s cars is there is NO bumpers to say.
Yes they call them bumpers but they are nothing more than plastic junk
Now as fair as This Video Let them redo this test with a 59 Chrysler Imperial
My bet would be the Malibu would be the loser nothing more then a ball of steal
The 59 chevy X frame was not as strong BUT a lot stronger than a plastic un-body piece of Sh2344#
So as an Old auto mechanic and body man I do not buy this video I have worked on the old and new cars.
For me If I had the Choose of the 59 chevy to the Malibu I will take the 59 anyday as far as safety
as far as her cavalier I got rid of it that day and bought the bigest heavy car I could buy

One more thing I fixed the Monte Carlo and drove it for 10 more years
So when I see some thing like that video it means nothing to me

[njsteve]

In a front end impact would you rather be in the 59 or the 09?

Compare the fixed one-piece, steel, non-collapsible, metal spear-pointed horn buttoned, steering column to the collapsible column with multi stage airbag.

There is no surviving in the old cars when you hit those old non-collapsable steering wheel/column assemblies with the center of your chest.

Watch the interior shots of the crash and you see the dummy hit the 59's column just as it is being forced up into the driver's position. The dummy is traveling at 40 mph forward onto a steel spike traveling toward him at 40 mph. It's a steel projectile moving at 80 mph combined speed. The dummy just gets impaled and then catapulted away. Doesn't take too much imagination to picture what the internal organs would look like at that point. (no pun intended)

[442w30]

[ QUOTE ]

NOW I HAVE TO DISAGREE New cars just are not as safe as the older heavy cars My wife is livlng proof of that

[/ QUOTE ]

She's not living proof of that - if she was living proof, she'd be a statistic. Instead, she's just an anecdote.

We all are allowed to make choices in our lives. I will continue to drive old cars as long as I live, but I'm not going to kid myself that physics is the Heavy Gorilla (quasi-pun not intended) in my safety behind the wheel.

[The Dude]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
old cars aren't as safe as new ones

[/ QUOTE ]
NOW I HAVE TO DISAGREE New cars just are not as safe as the older heavy cars My wife is livlng proof of that
Back in 82 my wife had a chevy cavalier I had a 1970 Monte Carlo
One Sunday morning she got up early and decided to get some donuts.
I was still asleep in bed when I got the call that she was just rear ended
I got up got dressed grabbed my keys and went out only to find the cavalier
Out front but no Monte Carlo When I got there was my Monte Carlo really missed up
My wife was ok . The cops told me there were chasseing girl for 10 blocks and told me that
My wife was stopped at a red light They also told me the girl was going at least 60-65 mph when she hit
My wife . They also said that my Monte Carlo saved her life because if she were in a smaller car
Things would not have been good The problems with today’s cars is there is NO bumpers to say.
Yes they call them bumpers but they are nothing more than plastic junk
Now as fair as This Video Let them redo this test with a 59 Chrysler Imperial
My bet would be the Malibu would be the loser nothing more then a ball of steal
The 59 chevy X frame was not as strong BUT a lot stronger than a plastic un-body piece of Sh2344#
So as an Old auto mechanic and body man I do not buy this video I have worked on the old and new cars.
For me If I had the Choose of the 59 chevy to the Malibu I will take the 59 anyday as far as safety
as far as her cavalier I got rid of it that day and bought the bigest heavy car I could buy

One more thing I fixed the Monte Carlo and drove it for 10 more years
So when I see some thing like that video it means nothing to me

[/ QUOTE ]

So to prove your point that new cars arent as safe as old ones, you cite an example that happend 27 years ago.

It boggles my mind that this many people think the crash was rigged and old cars safer than new ones.