Crash test: 1959 Chevy Bel Air

[DainBramaged]

Run time: 01:54 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xwYBBpHg1I   Posted on YouTube: September 16, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: October 19, 2009 By DU Member: DainBramaged Views on DU: 2104

 
Cars are safer than ever, this is a crash test between a 59 Impala and a new malibu. How far we have come

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. Sob!!!

:cry:

[Merlot]

2. Can't believe they did that to a '59 Chevy Bel Air!

Seriously, I wish we could have seen still images of each car after the wreck.

I did notice the Bel Airs windshield floating through the air and shattering. That was quite spectacular.

[Rhiannon12866]

3. Yikes!!! But what a waste... ;( And I could swear that my grandmother

had the car with the sharp fins... :scared:

[conscious evolution]

4. Wow

I was in a 57 Bel Aire that was rear ended in the early eightys by a brand new Firebird.Demolished the Firebird but the 57 had minor damage.
Wonder why the difference?

[mucifer]

5. I'm not sure there were crumple zones and I know there were no air bags in the

early 80s. It's also more about how damaged the people inside are than how damaged is the car.

[conscious evolution]

9. We came out of it ok

The driver of the Firebird went to the hospital.
I imagine that if it was a head on collision we would not have done so well though.The 57 had only lapbelts in the front and none in the rear seat.Plus it had a metal dash.That would have fucked up anyone faceplanting it.
I'm not sure but I seem to remember crumple zones only came out in the late ninties.They do make a big difference.Same with the air bags.
What bugs me is the auto companies knew about air bags in the fourties.Yet they refuse to incorporate them until the ,what,90's? Talk about disregard for their customers safety.

[LunaSea]

10. Made when metal was cheaper...

My first car was a 54 Bel Aire, I backed into a few telephone poles and left dents in the poles, damn thing was built like a tank. Giant bench seats that seated 6 to 8 teenagers and a trunk that would comfortably hold 5 more.
I can't remember if it even had seatbelts.

Looked a lot like this one but with much more rust.

[rhett o rick]

13. My first was a 1953 not sure of the model. When I got it it had a "wrist buster" on the steering

wheel. I took it off after damn near busting my wrist.

[nevergiveup]

16. I also had a 53 chevy and don't remember the model.

I had it at college and in one single day had 4 flat tires. No one believes this story but it is true.

[Lugnut]

20. Aw, man.

The only new car my dad ever bought was a '54 Bel Aire. That thing really was like a tank. By the time I got my driver's license he had a '57 Bel Aire. I could still pile 6 of my friends into that thing to go to a buck-a-carload drive-in movie. Thanks for the nostalgia trip.

[KansDem]

29. Wow! You have the dice hanging from the rear-view mirror, too!

Just like the one in the crash video!

Were hanging-dice standard equipment? :)

[pansypoo53219]

17. speed?

i was hit by a flying wheel(i saw it coming and it didn't kill my passenger and i didn't get rear ended) in a 72' delta 88. mussed up the grill and the hood was smoshed, but i could DRIVE home. hit a concrete barrier on an exit in the rain, mussed up the front side, BUT I DROVE HOME. front end hit with a 2000 camry-slow. maybe 10 mph in a skid and it was TOTALLED.
and i didn''t feel much at all for all 3. i miss my driving couch.

[Fridays Child]

18. Early '80s Firebird?

Your '57 was probably a tank, by comparison.

[SheilaT]

6. They sure don't make them like they used to.

Thank god.

[madrchsod]

7. i wonder about the early 50`s models...

those pointed steering wheel hubs were killers....!

[Deja Q]

8. Well, this means, in 40 years, China's manufacturing process might catch up to where we are now...

But in 40 years, we'll (assuming we still exist) will have something rather better.

[leveymg]

11. Love the fuzzy dice in the '59. Amazing any of us survived our teens.

The most effective safety device is still the driver.

[drmeow]

12. Those damn government

regulations - forcing car companies to make us safer. This has inspired me to go to a teabagger protest!

:sarcasm:

[bertman]

14. Total waste of money!!! Ron Paul for President!!

Or somebody.

[Kokonoe]

15. Someone hit my 09 Malibu while I was sitting at a light

They had no breaks and rear ended me. I can assure you the head rests really work great.
The only thing hurt was the car. All fixed now.

[Nikki Stone1]

19. Damn those government safety regulations that intrude on business!!

:sarcasm: of course.

[saracat]

21. I don't believe this.Those cars were much 'heavier" and reinforced

than the cars of today. Until recently I hada 1969 Caddy Eldorado and I was rear ended by a newer Hoda going 25 mph and I hardly felt it while the new Honda crumbled. I think Chevy wants us to believe the newer cars are better than they are.Air bags would be the only thing that makes them safer. JMHO.

[dmallind]

22. Well deny physics then

The newer cars are SUPPOSED to crumple - as that dissipates the energy and it is absorbed by the crumpling metal rather than the occupants.

Honestly anecdotes like yours are as meaningful as surviving 90 year old heavy smokers.

[saracat]

25. I understand that.It doesn't explain the destruction of the chevy. JMHO.

Whatever.

[DainBramaged]

23. So you think it's slight of hand? CGI? Fake?

Sorry you don't believe your eyes.

[saracat]

24. Yes. I do. I believed my car.I experieneced that.

[DainBramaged]

26. There were NO crumple zones, no seat belts, no anchors for the seats

the glass wasn't as good, the steel was just hung, no bumper absorption, air bags, collapsing steering columns, NOTHING, and if you think that was faked, I'm sorry.


The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety conducted this test, not GM, are you claiming this is fraud?

[saracat]

28. Yup. Even my husband was skeptical about some of the damage.

And don't even get me started on bumpers. But as I said, whatever.

[Lu Galasso]

27. Woah

that is quite the difference. With a little grass roots campaigning Ralph Nader changed the way we looked at safety and the role that corporations held in providing it to us.

[robo50]

30. This is a political video, how? I'm sorry I fail to

I'm sorry fail to see the link with "politics"..

Does look like a few improvements, but not easy to tell much from this short clip.

We need the data from the crash dummies' to see how much protection there is.