Hot Rot Safety. The Definitive Oxymoron?

Back in 56 when I started to drive cars didn't have seat belts but all the cool guys who had rods seemed to have seat belts. So it caught on and if you wanted to run at local drag strip you had to have them. I have 5 point harness belts in my 37 which holds you so tight I can't lean over to turn on the radio. So sometimes I only use the lap belt so I can move around on a long ride or trip.

 

The inherent 'danger' of driving my 1967 vintage car means I drive safer.

I reckon all people should drive cars that don't stop, don't handle and threaten to spear you with their steering column if you crash into something.

 

I'm with Shifty & Devin.
You've gotta be on top of your ride. Screw 'the look'.
I'm in a position whereby I lack time & resources to back up the improvements already made to my 40 y.o. daily driver. As it stands I will not drive this car hard- it's bitten me once- little confidence 'till brakes & shocks get upgrade. I've been K.O'd head first into a '65 Valiant dashboard at 18-20 m.p.h ( as a passenger- alcohol )- I was young nad stupid. And VERY lucky.

 

And you are always so F'ing right? ....

Do you recall the midwest "sandwiched crashed" full fender 32 steel 3w that instantly burned completely...some guy with 2 grandkids in the car. Bystanders got all 3 out of the car. The 32 exposed tank was a big factor.

I like 40 fords just as much as a 32 hiboy. I am building a 32 hiboy. If I was a worry-wort, I SHOULD build a 40 instead. Any JACKASS can see that a 40 would be a MUCH safer car in many different types of crashes.

Oh, the safety freaks, or anal retentive "experts"....I wonder if that burnt 32 had electric soleniod controlled bearclaw latches??? I sure would not want "safer" bear claw latches in that particular type of accident with a flash fire. Chances are they would have been stuck closed and the rescue crew would have not gotten there in time to save them.

 

You don't need no oxygen! Just cut with the acetlyene.

 

trent, thats what i was going to say..in fact other then the drag racing deaths, i cant think of a death on here that wasnt illness....
and my hot rods will be safe.....

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=207628&highlight=death+san+diego

 

I just spat tea outa my nose all over the keyboard
Paul

 

Life is a compromise. Your compromise on safety will be much different from mine. Each person should make their own decisions based on their level of risk that they are comfortable with. If someone has had traumatic experiences in the past, their compromise level will be much different than mine.

You do foolish things when you are young because you probably just don't know how foolish they really are. Education as to the risks is the key. Finding your comfort level is your job. That may be the reason for this post. My bet is that you will find more of the safety police to post than the dare devils. Preaching safety is easy. Disagreeing with potential safety for artistic sake is a lot harder to do on an international forum.

Part of my compromise is that I drive differently in my hot rod with 60 year old brake technology than I do in my daily driver. I'm not reckless driving either but I'm more careful in my hotrod.

I hope you can find a comfort level that you can live with and I hope no one tries to impose their comfort level on you or on me.

 

As someone who tries to think safely, I agree with VW, but I think he might have trouble preaching here. All of the build pics I've seen so far have been done quite well, and the ones that weren't had their flaws pointed out right quick.

I believe in seatbelts in ANY vehicle. Sure, every once in awhile someone gets lucky and flies out of the car and lives, but I'm thinking that's like a roulette wheel hitting black twenty times in a row. I know a guy who wouldn't be paralyzed today if he had been wearing a belt. I know several people who wouldn't be dead today if they were wearing a seatbelt, one of them my wifes cousin who was thrown from his logging truck.

Saying that wearing seatbelts is a crapshoot is like saying looking down the barrel of a loaded gun is a crapshoot, there's just too much proof that they do more good than harm.
I know someone who accidently looked down the barrel of that gun: he's dead.

It goes on and on.

Climb off your tractor while it's still rolling, did it all his life: dead.

Throw gasoline on a fire, did it all his life: well, he's still alive, but he probably wished he was dead for awhile there.

What I'm trying to say is that if you think safe you'll be as safe as you can be. You're not gonna cram it down someone else's throat, I guess that's why they call it "Natural Selection"...

 

so theres one! and it was apparently a fluck in the brakes..he [the driver] was a mechanic for a living, so i really dont think it was anyones fault.....still bad news for sure!

 

Every once in a while an outsider will come in and question the sanity of it all...

Seems to me riding a motorcycle in traffic, hangliding, scubadiving, etc arent very safe either.
But what the fuck do I know... I'm not involved in any of those activity's, so I dont have enough Information to judge.


What I do know is, that you can build a perfectly safe car out of Vintage Parts...