What a waste of a 1959 BelAir

 

Ouch, I had a 59 Bel Air.. Least they used a 4 door..

 

Wow, there is so much here. As Blue said, a waste of a car, even if it's a 4 door. Those old beauties had style and lots of it. Most cars today do not. However cars today are far more comfortable and reliable. Most important as shown here, safer.

 

The 59 Chevy had an "X-frame" chassis as opposed to a perimeter frame. They were inherently weak in frontal crash situations, which is probably why they chose that particular car to show how "unsafe" "all old cars" are compared to newer cars. Other cars from the same era would have done better.

(not saying newer cars aren't safer, just pointing out why that particular car was chosen.)

 

I don't think the frame type would have mattered. There are no crumple zones, it was not unusual in a high speed crash for the entire engine to end up on the front seat, usually killing anyone in front. In a crash on an angle like the the steering column becomes a lance.

 

Doc I agree with what you said.
This video is to show how newer cars do save you from head ons verses cars from the earlier years.
I had a friend die in high school that hit a tree head on in a 55 Chevy. And yes the steering column killed him.

 

While I agree that today's cars are by far much safer than those of yesteryear, it doesn't justify in my mind destroying what appeared to be a well preserved piece of history to prove that point.

 

I agree. There was no need to prove something that everyone already knew.

 

CA Blue
There are many more of these cars still out there.
In barns and fields.
Now if it was a Duesenberg I would say what a waste of metal.
You could have used a Model A. There are still a lot of them around.