I had an older man tell me that the flat wide hood of the 65/66 Galaxies were so strong that in a head on crash, there had been instances of the hood shearing off the hing bolts and sliding through the windshield decapitating the driver. Eventually they added crush zones under the hoods so they would bend. I guess I will starting sitting down in my seat lowrider-style.
I heard something simmilar about 58-60 Tbird hoods. My grandpa had an accident with his 60 in the 60's, my dad remembers the hood was popped up in the back a few inches and almost touching the windshield. I imagine it would have to be a helluva hit to knock that hood through the windshield, past that long dash, and through the driver. If it was that bad a wreck you probably don't have a chance, hood or no hood.
In the '70's about the same time the "hidden wipers" were common there wasn't a cowl panel at all so they put fairly heavy hooks on the rear of the hoods that were supposed to keep the hood from moving back through the 'shield, and it was made to buckle. Yea, not a myth.
If you're concerned, make your own "crush" points. Simply break out the die grinder and make a couple of cuts to the underside bracing. Don't cut all the way through the bracing, just cut through the flat portion, not the sides. (to visualize, say the bracing is a three-sided box, with the hood skin making the fourth side of the box tubing. Cut through the side opposite the hood skin, leaving the upright sections of box for strength so you don't get flex points in the hood.) -Brad
news flash! old cars are dangerous! hoods that decapitate, steering columns that impale, dash knobs that imbed themselves in your face, windows that cut, the list goes on. i get a kick out of the, "i've never heard of it, so it can't be" thing. you ain't heard about half the things that go on in my bedroom(and outside) but that don't mean they don't happen.
hahahaha....what stuff, Ray? I've heard some things.......but I don't think some of 'em are physically possible.
Yep, look out the window at the great plains of the USA... PROVES the Earth is flat don't it! ...I know where worms come from... Dogs ***es!
Well, I want to know how a robbin can walk through your yard, tilt its head and peck a worm out of the ground? I watched one today do it about 5 times in about 2 minutes. I've never heard it either. But I have heard that the early 60's unibody cars were prone to just breaking in half. Like you'd be going down the street and the car would break in half. I'm wondering if thats an urban myth?
Had a hotrod tbird back in the 60's. We'd get drunked up and I'd pop the hood while flyin' down the road. Buddy would lean over the windshield and twist the dizzy on the y block. LOL, True story, wild times. It's amazing that we lived thru it.
yes old ford hoods that opened at the rear did come through windshields and i personaly know of 2 decapations that happened as a result of it .Never heard of an origional unibody car in good shape breaking in half but did hear of a vw rabbit that was made from 2 wrecks breaking because it was brazed together at an old body shop.
I had never heard that, I guess I wouldn't be suprised though because of the heavy rigid looking hoods on those cars.
There were a lot of un-finished chops out there... Maybe it is revenge. Any HAMBers ever been decapitated by a Ford?
We all gotta die from something. I have a 65 sitting in the garage right now but Ill refrain from running it into a tree to prove or disprove the point.
Personally I think the 49-52 Chevy hood was much more dangerous..One damn near killed 3 of us that snowy night we used one for a sled on ole saddle back. It's a wonder the gubment didn't recall all of them to keep them out of the hands of a bunch of teenagers.
I knew an old boy who droe a shoebox Ford that cut a cow open with the hood ornament and they had to clean up all of the blood from Elsie before they could tell if anyone had been cut.
Boy, there's a lotta "stuff" in this thread that I'm not sure is true or not. I will tell ya though that I do believe that somew people may have died at the hands of a Ford hood, and i don't mean hit by one. I had an ol 69 SWB Ranger and that hood was always flying up and covering the front gl*** or flying completely off the truck. A flash of yellow and I'd look back to see the hood spinning across the road upside down.
Tingler---Truth is stranger than fiction. Back in the middle sixties I had a red-neck uncle that had an old Vauxhall (think that was an English car, ain't really sure, but it had a "unibody" construction.) It was rotted out bad when he got it, and sure enough, one day on the way to town on a back road he hit a big pothole, and the car did "break in half in the middle". The 2 halves didn't seperate---just a major sag down in the middle untill the floor was setting on the driveshaft. My uncle somehow got the car home, jacked up the middle untill it was "humped up" in the middle. He went down into the woods near his house and found two ironwood trees with a bend in them and cut them down (I remember this---they were "poles" more-so than trees)--they were about 2 1/2" diameter x about 12 foot long. He poked holes through the floorpans, right from the front of the car to the rear of the trunk, and wired the poles "camber side up" with a loop of haywire about avery 6" full length of the car on both sides. When he let down the jack, the weight of the car straightened out the poles, and everything looked alright. He actually drove the car that way for another 2 years before the motor blew up---then it was retired.
Tingler, I think the cars have to be rusty first, but unibody cars can break over railroad tracks and such if they are in bad shape.
I don't know about the 60 Ford hoods but I do know that hittin a cow at 65 mph will flat **** up a 53 Ford.
I love this story, and I have known folks who have done similar things, just not as good cause thier fixes didn't last as long!
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