I saw this on YouTube the other day. 2009 Chevrolet Malibu vs 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air head-on crash tests. In some respects, new cars are better, definitely safety. I would rather be in the Malibu in this case. The Bel Air's crumple zone is all the way up to the back seat, you'd probably be dead in an accident like this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJrXViFfMGk

 

I've done a lot of work on a lot of cars. Guess it tells how old I am...not only do I not know how to mess with a kingpin, I don't know what it is :) Never rejetted a carb, never worked on drum brakes. Never had a car that didn't have a ECM. Did change a distributor cap once tho lol Trust technology!

 

Wow...I can still set a distributor and carb by ear........you would have thought the old iron would have held up better....but then again some of the tore up metal Ive seen tells another story. A very telling video.....

 

They picked that 59 on purpose. It has an X frame, so when hit in the corner like that of course it's going to do worse!

I just want to kill whoever thought they should wreck that.

 

I agree, it is a pretty nice to car to ruin like that. I think they're just trying to show the improvements made in car safety features over the last 50 years. They wreck perfectly nice cars every day just for the purpose of testing and improving safety, so they hold up better in a crash.

 

Eric- I'm impressed about you knowledge of the "X" frame. circa: 1958-1964

All B-body cars since 1965 have used perimeter frames with side rails

 

It wasn't only frontal impacts that were lethal in "X" framed GM cars, side impacts had the tendency to break them in half. It was before the era of intelligent crash testing, that frame gave you a lower floor and you could really slam the car right from the factory. Just look at a '59 Caddy and you get the idea, they were "down in the weeds" off the showroom floor.

 

843de-

I had a 59 Caddy with air ride from factory, which had a slow leak. If it sit for about 3 days it was laying frame..

 

Oh man, the air ride suspensions in 58 and 59, bit too far ahead of their time. My Grandpa had a '58 Impala with the air suspension, had it converted to steel springs at no charge because it did the "unintended low rider" deal once too often. I used to rag on him about ruining the collectible value, but he'd remind me that it had gone to the junkyard in 1966.

 

I can not understand. I'm not very smart as far as cars go. Is an X frame more dangerous or something? Is that just what they used on older cars? Do they still use that? What are most cars nowadays? What is the HHR?