Whats worse than a obviously unsafe car?

what's worse than a obviously unsafe car?.......

a car that is not safe and NOT OBVIOUS. I gotta say, the more I did into the old 53 the more I am simple AMAZED at what people will do to a poor innocent car.

the car LOOKED great upon initial quick glance... and it's really not in bad shape at all....

BUT.. I took the front and rear bumpers off a few weeks ago while painting the car... anyone want to guess what was holding them on????

four 1/4 inch bolts with HUGE fender washers front and rear. every bolt was bent so bad I had to cut them off with bolt cutters. the nuts couldn't make it around the "bend" 6 of the 8 bolts had already cracked part was through...

I was thinking,, man,, I wonder what it would be like driving down the road when your front bumper brackets and all just plain FALLS off the car.....

or how bad I would feel if I was driving down the road and the rear bumper came off and hit another vehicle and someone else got hurt....

I'm sure it's not new to any of you guys,, and believe me, its not the first time I've seen this ****.. but DAMN... what are some people thinking.....

 

That's just plain stupid. Bumper bolts should ALWAYS be reinforced with bailing wire.

 

A obviously unsafe driver would be worse

 

don't forget duct tape

 

ditto!!!

 

that's why you inspect a car BEFORE you buy it!!!

 

A loose nut behind the wheel?!

 

how about a professional shop that "claims" something is safe, when it clearly isn't. Saw a car sitting by a vendors booth at a goodguy's show. The custom front end was using 7/16 heims as the frame connectors on the upper and lower control arms. I asked about the safety issues when said front end hit any pot hole, railroad tracks or an ant with a strong back for that matter. I was told that since they were a professional shop, anything they did had to right and safe. I just walked away, making a mental note to never have these experts touch anything I owned.

 

My 32 coupe was built originally in the 50's. The car had a 265 chevy in it and the motor mounts were brazed to the frame. Yikes!!!!!!

 

Gives ya kind of a weird feeling, doesn't it slickschoppers...to know you could've hurt your car, yourself, or someone else! Good that you caught it. I had a pretty bad one. I bought a 1946 Ford business coupe. Nothin' special, but not too bad, either. But...when I hit the first gravel road on my way home, it was now obvious that the front suspension was gonna need some work, what with all the bangin' goin' on up there. Took a pretty good look up there when I got 'er home, but really couldn't see anything obvious. Figured it was probably worn-out rubber in the anti-roll-bar links...not an emergency. So, drove it like that for a while, but finally decided to fix it. Found out soon enough, that the links were fine, so what the heck's goin' on?? Looked and looked, until I finally figured out that the old Ansen after-market upper shock-mount towers were a little loose, and bangin' into the inner fenders...again...no need to panic. In fact, a minor issue..."Good". So, I got under there to tighten up the mounting bolts and nuts, and then I saw it. The mounting bolts for the shock-towers also mount the whole front cross-member to the frame, and 3 out of 4 nuts on each side of the car were backed out approximately 1/2" !!!!!!! Somebody was trying to kill me!!! I replaced all of them with grade 8 hardware, and things were a lot quieter...and safer! Whew! - Rick

 

Easy enouh to say, Scotty, but everybody's missed something sometime. - Rick​

 

hey slick maybe we should once over the pontiac's on sunday.

 

wow! you should feel good at least they used washers and nuts on yours. i bought a 52' chevy thay the back bumper had wood lag screws holding it on that fell off driving it home.

 

When i bought the 49 cad i used a tow dolly to bring it home since it didnt run. pushed it up on to the tow dolly with another car and a tire between the bumpers. PO never said that the bumper wasnt bolted on just some how sitting up on the frame pushed on just fine and then i noticed the bumper a little crooked grabed it and it fell. If i hadnt i was going to drive it home with the bumper just waiting to fall off.

 

what's worse than an unsafe car?? 2 things..those that build them and those that buy them.

 

A lot of old cars that are sold as projects are just that, projects that need work. Sometimes temporary sticks for a while and then gets sold to the next guy who might want to work on it. Sometimes you get a car full of needed fixing with the intention to correct these things and never happens and you sell it and so on so the issue may be several people down the chain.. If all old cars had to be perfect and perfectly safe to sell, this hobby would die out real quick. Safety is also a matter of degree. A lot of old cars, no matter what you do will never be that safe, cause frankly they are old cars. Hot rodding and customizing cars inherently leaves the chance for making things less safe, intentionally or not. Bad work, is just bad work though. A drilled out axel or frame is less strong than a solid one, but has it's obvious benefits other than maybe somebody getting some experience and hopefully learning. Bad welds or poor engineering has no real benefits, but when you have a hobby that people can just do pretty much as they please, you have to just accept this as stuff that happens and opportunities to fix and make better.

 

when the ****head owner is driving it close by you.

gets a bit hairy when a heap of **** goes into a spin while they are p***ing you

 

I hate it when the orbital directional device actuator fails.

 

Consensus....inspect car to the best of your ability, then still be shocked at what you will later find! The older and more desireable the car, the more likely it has had a few wanna-be car builders hands on it.

 

Chewing gum is an acceptable subs***ute.

Some folks will be in Depends undergarments for pants wetting when they figure out that some cars don't have any bumpers......

 

work at a normal everyday garage and see what the local normal citizen is driving. Safty is not only lacking on the odd old car its the every day driver that scares me.

 

at a show this summer one of 'them RR things" had the drag link for the steering just ****-welded together, and the worst bird poop, globbed, sloppy, [insert you're own]
BAD BAD BAD WELD l EVER SAW, my 6 you're old grandson could'a done better.

later

 

to me nothing is safer than a tack weld.

 

my wife bought me a 51 plymouth for my birthday a couple of years ago. we had it towed home on a regular tow truck. the driver dropped it and i started putting it in the driveway and the rear moved like 8 inches it was tied to the leaves with rope. it's amazing that it made it to my house and didn't kill anybody.

 

I miss you Scotty T.

 

As long as there are people like this in the world, there are going to be problems. Ya can't fix stupid. <object width="450" height="370">

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^^^^^^No seatbelt on thats funny^^^^^^

 

And the guy waves... Cl***ic.

 

It's good that you and scotty have things covered, and never overlook anything like the rest of us sometimes do. - ick

 

i'm not compaining about the car....

I still got a great deal on it and drove it home over 100 miles... put a few hundred more on it,, and it runs like a top.

YES,,, I checked the car over before I bought it... can't say that I really spent much time looking at the fasteners that hold on the bumpers...

YEP, I overlooked it.

my point was not so much that you can't over look things upon inspection, it was just the surprise of how some people "fix" things.

Hell, I've bought cars i've never seen in person. i've bought quite a few that even looking at pics via email I know it's a good deal even if the car has no frame or drivetrain.

I wouldn't say you have to inspect all cars before you BUY them....

I would say that its a great idea to inspect all cars before you plan to put alot of miles on them..... which is what I'm doing.