Thread: 1959 Chevy Bel Air vs. 2009 Chevy Malibu

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i would have bet on the 59 !!

From the amount of red dust (rust?,) I wonder how good the structural integrity of the 59 was. Might have been somewhat different with two 'new' cars.

Looked like a tie to me.

Originally Posted by RestoRod

From the amount of red dust (rust?,) I wonder how good the structural integrity of the 59 was.

Looked like a bag of iron oxide blew up under the car.
The 59 definitly has some rust problems under & in the car.

I love the part where the say the driver of 2009 Chevy Malibu would have maybe a slight knee injury.
Yeah right!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got messed up more by getting rearended at about 10-15mph w/less damage then that wreck. Yeah sure I'll buy into this BS...NOT....joe

Just a poke from the big PC finger about how ''unsafe'' our old cars are...We got this earlier in the week as an email that originated from US.I still have the same opinion,the old cars might not have the same safety features,and you probably will get thrown around a bit without a seatbelt[been there,done that],but it still looks like a big jackup to me,but,I am biased,and I think I would still rather take my chances in the F100..

My mom got hit head on by a 67 caddy 4door, she was driving a 69 ford mustang. The angle of impact saved her life. The caddy was doing over 70 according to witnesses when it crossed the highway divide and hit my mom doing 55 head on. The angle was such that the caddy peeled her front driver side fender off, and folded the Mustang in half, popping the rear axle off. Mom got a broken arm and some whiplash. The caddy had 3ft of the engine compartment inside the cab. When the pried the drunks out, beer cans hit the highway and rooled around. The cop on scene said if it had hit just a few inches more towards the center of her car she would be dead.
Point is it's all in the angles, where the frames are mounted to body etc. I would have bet on the caddy that day, but was gratefull to see my Mom walk in the front door at two a.m.!

Check out the story of this 1967 Buick

http://www.angelfire.com/ca/mineryho...7accident.html

Originally Posted by TooMany2count

I love the part where the say the driver of 2009 Chevy Malibu would have maybe a slight knee injury.
Yeah right!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got messed up more by getting rearended at about 10-15mph w/less damage then that wreck. Yeah sure I'll buy into this BS...NOT....joe

You called it right......Just trying to feed the ignorant BS.

I would prefer to be behind the wheel of my old '76 Sedan Deville.... that thing was a tank! I miss that car...

-Chris

This has been bouncing around the internet for a few weeks now, interesting stuff.

As for anecdotal experiences I'll toss in mine. It's not always easy to compare the dynamics of one wreck to another. First it should be of little surprise that a modern designed unibody car would have better crash performance than a separate body/separate frame car designed before we had as good an understanding of crush zones and finite analysis in the design process.

As for my own experience in a crash I'll put up some pictures and explanation. I was driving this late '80s Taurus. A truck had caught fire on a stretch of lightly used (at that time of day) freeway south of Seattle. Another truck behind the smoking one had stopped. I stopped behind him, in the right of two lanes. By the time all this happened we were completely engulfed in smoke. I thought about getting out of the car, but decide for the moment I might have more protection inside. About the time those thoughts were going through my head the world exploded. It seems this guy coming down the road some distance behind me didn't assess the conditions very well (yes, at times I'm prone to understatement). The first pic shows the length of his skid, he was doing probably 55-60 approaching me. I don't remember it, but I must have had my foot on the brake while stopped because you can see the skid mark from my car under his. The other two pics show the results to the car from being slammed under the truck ahead of me, while the rear portion collapsed and did it's job of absorbing energy. While my knees were pinned under the collapsed dash, the worst injury I had was a bump on my forehead, probably from the steering wheel..........well and shock too. But once all the noise of skidding vehicles and such ended I was able to crawl out of the car on my own power. Anyway, the designed in crush zones (especially the rear) did their job. Newer cars are designed that way, older ones weren't.