I thought that I would show how a NEW 59 Chevy Impala would be damaged in a head on collision. Notice, there is no rust on the ground. How does this affect your view of the recent test?
One of the main problems with the "recent" test is it wasn't head-on and that car is a X frame. I kinda think "they" knew this and that's why the cars were staggered.
the recent test was from a few weeks ago, it was on some morning news show showing how a 2009 malibu fared against a 59 chevy... needless to say, the 59 was rigged to crumple like a tin can.
Look at all the 50s cars.. Nice Picture.. all cars bend when the get in accidents.. I wonder if the Chrysler had a Hemi??
I saw that vid on youtube and I thought there had to be something wrong. The 59 in the vid folded like tin foil. Your pics don't look bad at all. I wonder what speed each of these incident took place?
Like the other guy said, Speed?? you can't compare cause you don't know any of the factors of this accident. The new one was just a bunch of ****in ******** that someone, somewere in our goverment or some tree hugging group will try and use aginst all of us unsafe old car guys. Just you watch........
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_xwYBBpHg1I&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_xwYBBpHg1I&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Heres the tube video....I am sure both of the drivers would have died in this crash. My view is i would rather be in the Impala it would be a much quicker death since seatbelts were not even introduced yet, really this test doesnt prove much to me as far as safety the impala is no doubt substandard compared to the malibu with all the airbags,crush points and yata yata ya computers and such, bottomline is i would rather die in a OLD Impala then a new plastic ****ing fantastic POS anyday on the week. Timmy Z
What a pile of ****. I aint ever seen a 50/60s car torn apart, but our wrecking yards are full of ripped up tin foil korean/japanese cars. that 59 did fold like it had all its structure removed. It should take a freight train to tear it apart.
that is a '60 not a '59. And that new test was stupid the god darned tree huggers ruined a perfectly good piece of Americana.
Very good point, I really hope this thread doesnt get shut down though, I would like to see more head on crash pics like this with 59-60 GM B body cars..
Yes, but the car in the photos above is a '60. The crash test '59 was a solid 60,000 mile 6-cylinder car. The wreck was purposely set up off center so the Impala would push the inline six off to the side where an X-frame car is most vulnerable. Plus they picked a standard 4dr, which has less bracing under it than a 4-door hardtop would. You'll notice they didn't do that test with say... a new Mercury and a '59.. or a new Chrylser and an Imperial... or even use like a '59 Oldsmobile which is still GM X-frame but has perimeter rails too. 59-60 is one of the last years the GM cars all have different frames from one another, with Buick the most radically different (a ladder frame with a K-member at the cowl). And you can't compare old cars to new cars because if two old cars hit, they're both going to fold up (or not fold up) at similar rates, where the new car is designed intentionally to fold in a certain way to protect the driver. If you knew an accident investigator, he could probably give an idea the speed based on that 12-foot skidmark in the first photo, if you ***ume that city street has a 25 or 30 mph speed limit. My guess is based on the marks, the Chrysler hit the Chevy which may have seen him soon enough to stop or was going much slower - the marks imply to me the driver of the Chevy had his foot on the brake. My '60 Pontiac has all the signs of an old head-on in the left front. Dent in the edge of the hood with an inch of bondo to bring it to shape, replacement fender with no trim, bondo in the front top of the door thick enough it cracked, and the trim around the corner of the windshield pushed up. Never did find out what it hit.
Sorry guys for not noticing the shot had a 60 Chevy instead of a 59. I will look around for some more photos but in the meantime here are a couple more and to address a good point that was made, we have no idea how fast these cars were traveling at impact but I had not seen any indication that would lead me to believe that the p***enger cabin would be pierced like the car in the video.
I have looked and I am unable to find my link to more vintage pictures. If anyone has vintage accident pictures involving a comparable vehicle to the 59 Impala, please post here.
I am getting sad looking at these pictures. Where did you get them anyway. I have some '64 - '67 GM cars that are in crashes if you are interested.
That test was for one obvious reason, and one subversive one. The obvious on is to make people feel good about their brand new shiny piece of flaming plastic ****. The other one is, as others have said, a back door piece of scare crow argument info to use in future laws regarding our hobby.
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