Features Rolls bars/cages for street cars

What's worse? Your head getting a little more momentum to hit the B pillar, or moving less and hitting the roll bar upright? I'd guess that the answer is if whatever your head hits it's gonna hurt, and either way it might kill you. But I also imagine if your head travels less before it hits, then it might not hit as hard.
I've got a similar car to your Comet, a '63 Falcon, and I put a 6 point roll cage in it. I don't use it as a daily driver, so I have Haggerty, and when I asked about price difference with or without the roll cage, they said there isn't any difference. So there's your answer, if your car is a occasional driven fun car.
I built mine so there's still access to the rear seat, but not for adults. Most adults couldn't or wouldn't climb over the side bars to get back there. I've got a Taurus fold down back seat, so I just leave it folded down anyway, and toss stuff back there when running for parts.
I took all the possibilities into consideration about hitting my legs on the side bars, or my head on the main hoop, and I still feel better about having it. I've had them in 4 different street cars, and only had one minor fender bender, so can't say what will happen. But I've used them on the street since 1967, and guess I'm lucky not to have tested them yet.

 

It's S-shaped to allow easy access into and out of the truck, while still providing some side impact protection. A straight bar would be a PITA to get in/out of the truck. The S bar is no less stiff than a straight bar.

 

I have a 6 point cage in a 9 second street legal bucket, and we padded the stuffing out of any bits of the cage that my head could possibly hit. I also run a 5 point harness on the street, altho technically its not legal to do go down here. I also have a pair of lapbelts to keep things legal, tho I have never actually worn them in the car.

And coincidentally, while wearing ALL my safety gear, I put the car into the wall big time at our National Drags back in March. I walked away without a scratch and no bruising the next day either.

I would suggest that if you are going to run a cage where your body could hit it in a minor to moderate accident, that a 5 point harness would be a good idea. Certainly, it saved my ass.

 

have a bar in my 53 ford and a cage in the henry j ,both are street cars .ive never hit my head in either car..the henry is about to get into the 9s it has to have a cage.

 

So I guess it boils down too if you are in a violent accident and not properly protected environmentally and personally you could be in trouble.
So do what makes you fill safe and screw the establishment if you don't survive who cares.

 

Good point made here, a roll bar or cage that is not above yout head is pretty much usless. It becomes even more usless if you are wearing a harness and cannot duck down when you turtle it.

If your head is banging the roll bar you need to raise it a bit.

 

What company and what are you paying?

 

Ya know, I had a guy ask me about rear end collisions and me not having a rear bumper on my T Bucket. I just pointed at my tires. My rear tires are about the same height as most cars, SUV's and trucks. If I get rolled over by anything taller, a roll bar isn't going to do much good anyway.

Bottom line, IMOFO, if someone's in a pre war car, roll bars and seat belts MIGHT help, but they're really just the difference between a closed casket and open casket funeral. I wasn't wearing seat belts and didn't have a roll bar, when a cop hit my T Bucket and all was fine.

If it helps you sleep at night or feel safe while driving, do it. But don't disguise it as a life saver. And in a rear end collision, your head snaps BACK, not forward.

 

Plenty to think about your bare head hitting roll bar in rear collision. I installed roll hoop in my coupe to give me a point to fasten my 3 point harness.



Ago

 

Ohhh I agree with ya!
Thats why I tempered what I said with "minor" and "gives you a chance"!
It isn't gonna save you no matter what the impact!!! Thats a fact.

But...besides LIKING the look of a bar on the right car...I think back to that poor HAMBer who got killed driving his friends Rp/u.
At a stop light someone in a van or truck just rolled right over the bed and cab,pushing him into the steering wheel and dash with the bumper.
I'd just rather think I tried SOMETHING to prevent such a thing, you know?

People are so damn distracted nowadays...

 

I'm wondering what kind of roll bars/cages guys are building if their heads hit the main hoop? Mine have always been high enough that it would be nearly impossible to hit my head on the padding in a rear end collision.

 

Have you crashed either one? If not, I sure as hell hope you aren't hitting your head on the roll bar.

 

Some years ago my buddy bought a 64 Fairlane with a full cage installed by the previous owner. I helped him reinstall some of the missing interior trim panels. That cage was a real pain in the backside, both to work on the car and even just getting in/out of it. Just be very judicious on bar placement, otherwise the usefullness of the car as a street ride could go way down.

 

Only street car I've had much experience with that had a bar was my old roommate's OT TA road race style Z28. It had a six point cage, five point harnesses, and high and snug seats. For driver and passenger. I don't remember ever bumping the bars day to day, they were padded and positioned such that you really weren't too aware of them once seated.

I do remember hating how narrow those seats were. Obviously whoever installed them had much narrower hips than I do. Or in hindsite and after studying such things it may have been a compromise to get them to clear the forward bars on the cage.

 

When I built my 48 Plymouth coupe, I intended to install a 4 point cage. The car is built to look like an old race car, the cage would have completed the look. I built the main hoop and had it tack welded in, then built the front 1/2 of the cage right against the A pillars and the roof and had those tacked in place. I got in and out of the car 3 different times and smacked my head 3 times. I pulled both front bars out. Then as I was sitting there rubbing my sore noggen, I decided I really didn't want to take the chance of hitting my head on the main hoop either. Roll bar padding only makes you think its not going to hurt as bad as it would without the padding. The main hoop now stands in a corner of my shop. I'll take my chances with the flat insides of the a and b pillars.
I know I'm going to die someday, when that day comes, there is nothing I'm going to do to stop it. I could live everyday like it might be my last day, or I can enjoy what time I have left. I prefer to enjoy my time.

I have a friend that had a roll bar in his 69 Z28. One night he ran off the end of a "T" intersection and rolled the car end over end. He told me that roll bar saved his life because it kept the roof from coming down. I told him he was still alive because it wasn't his time to go. If the cage makes you feel safer, install the cage. Add lots of padding anyplace you think you might make contact with the cage, then hope you never have to field test it. Gene

 

I've run across a quote from Bolger or Herreshoff or one of the other great naval architects in regards to cabin roof heights. I wonder if the same would apply to roll bars.

It's something along the lines of six inches too short is better than barely enough. The point was that if the roof is obviously too short you'll duck and not bump your head. If you have almost enough room you'll constantly be whacking the old gourd.

Of course this doesn't apply to placement in regards to actually saving your ass, but I'm thinking about all the posters complaining about bumping tubes while getting in and out of the car.

I'm still not sure about the argument why a solid chunk of steel covered in foam a few inches from my head is more dangerous than a bare solid chunk of steel six inches from my head.

If nothing else it seems the shorter distance to accelerate would be a good thing.

The Nihilistic arguments about you're gonna die when you're gonna die do nothing for me. If that was my approach I'd be fine taking midnight bike rides through Yamacraw Village. Of course if I was truly scared I wouldn't walk to the liquor store where cops look at me funny for being white at night either.

A weekend toy open roof pre-war roadster I probably wouldn't be thinking safety as much. This is pretty much my daily commuter though. My OT car is less reliable and has been driven so little the past few months that it is developing its own ecosystem inside.

 

You're only white at night?

 

I was kind of wondering the same thing.

The Yamacraw Village things is a little cryptic as well. I am guessing it isn't the ghetto as it seems he already lives there.

As for the Nihilistic arguments of you are going to die when you are going to die, I am one that firmly believes in taking steps to stay alive, but if the arguments along those lines did not bear at least a modicum of truth I would probably not be typing right now, uh several times over.

Even being a stray cat I have more then used up my nine and some of Don's as well.

 

The high density foam padding that's sfi approved works real well on the cage in my Studebaker. I bang my head on that form time to time, and it's firm, but forgiving. Having a full cage in my car was a necessity for my intended speeds in land speed racing. Making it work in a street car took a lot of planning. I have a diagonal across the main hoop that runs from above my head down to the pass floor pad, with a shoulder harness bar bridging that bar to the main hoop only on the driver's side. This allows access to my fully functional back seat, where my kids get belted in with comp. style harnesses.

 

I have lost count on how many bars and cages I have done for Street/Strip cars. First of all if the main hoop is done right and fitted it is nearly impossible to hit with your head, I said nearly. I have never heard from a Customer either stating their Ins. was raised or Canceled.

If the car was modified like most of the ones here in the Forum it is already suspect to Ins. issues unless it was left stock.

About hitting your head and dying or worse, most cars are made out of steal and if you have ever banged your head on a chopped top or B-pillar you know it hurts and can kill if hit hard enough in a wreck. Also if the Fire and Rescue guys are cutting up the car to get you out the J-o-L can cut through the tube as easy as cutting a A-pillar.

Use common sense if you decide to add a Roll Bar make sure it is well designed, mounted and triangulated.

 

Do you have pictures of your car? I'd really like to see the layout there.

Lol, Yamacraw is the serious project that is over on the west side of town. I only live in a vaguely shady area of town. The way Savannah is though good and bad areas are usually only a block apart. We don't have the extreme seperation most cities do. I'm white all the time, lol, but only get stares at the liquor store later in the evening. Even then I usually take my dog with me. He's a baby but intimidating.



I believe in God's grace. I also believe that we shouldn't take unnecessary chances. Anyone else ever get subjected to pop country? In that Jesus take the wheel song I yell at the radio everytime it gets to the part where she lets go off the steering wheel.

 

Hot rodding is for bad asses. We pay the ladies with phones and SUV's to intimidate and weed out the pussies. Too bad how soft this hobby is getting.

 

aside from the insurance fiasco I agree

 

Hobby.

Sorry, my car isn't a hobby. It's transportation. Heavy traffic, traffic lights, crazy people with one hand on their Big Mac, the other on their iPhone, children running out into the street, pot holes, all that stuff cars have to encounter. If I was building a hobby car it'd still have a cage because at that point I'd probably be building something for the track. Hell, if I don't sell it soon I have an OT car that may get a cage so I can try my hand at oval track racing.

I've driven this car with its stock safety equipment for a decade and this year have started upgrading things. I have disk brakes and seatbelts now. So if sweating making it to tomorrow makes me a pussy so be it.

I imagine you're like the guys I see out sporting their "Tuff Dudez CC" jackets yet the only cars I see in the parking lot are late model ricers.

 

'63 Comet is speaking the truth about Savannah, and since I've been there many tiomes I understood his comment(s) without elaboration. Of course my living in another GA city, smaller but with big city "'hood" problems also, and my shop being located "inna hood" also served to enlighten me.
I wuldn't even drive thru some sections of Sav. after dark in any car that stands out of the crowd, much less my roadster. And the neighborhood around my shop is almost as bad, except the neighborhood brothers all know I carry, even inside my shop.
But back on topic, I really don't want to install even a 4 point hoop in my roadster, which will be 98% street driven. Just makes it even tougher to get my 6'3" 250# 76 yr. old ass in and out of the already tight confines of an "A" roadster.
However, I do get nervous about driving in heavy traffic with some of the inattentive idiots with whom I must share the road!

 

Yeah , because it's "bad ass" to get killed or crippled unnecessarily just to be cool!
Goes double for passengers like wives and kids!
Jeeez!

 

Mariska Hargitay was asleep on the back seat in the car in 1967 when her mom was in the accident that allegedly got the ICC to require those "Mansfield" under-ride bars added to the back of trailer trucks.
Google searches suggest a law had been passed requiring protection in 1953, but changes were made several times between 1968 and 1970.

I often feel while driving that lots of "passenger cars" today in an accident are going to ride over me from the back, or my old Volvo's frontal crash worthiness is likely to slip under such vehicle in front of me and present my windshield and face to their bumper.

That's probably part of why I'm more rigorous about following distances these days.

Those uniform bumper height laws of the early 70s make a little sense to me now.
Of course pick-ups and SUVs always get to do any darned thing they want.

Massachusetts law says I have to construct my mailbox post to "break away" if struck by a car. It's been struck and broken a few times by hit and run drivers or snow plows. I'd like the next one to behave like what happens when a normal car hits a Moose or Elk, but that will likely result in a law suit, especially now that I've posted about it on the internets.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98ZK_kknP9U

 

I knew some folks that moved into a house with a fancy brick thing around the mailbox and were made to tear it down for similar reasons. Yet the power pole next to it was allowed to stay?