My Imperials have been hit by many different cars. I didn't drive all of them a
total of 286,000 miles over a period of about 15 years without any collisions.
That said, none of them were hurt significantly EVER. In most cases the other
car was totalled. Three times were rear enders where I was sitting still and
hit in the rear by someone. All three cars were completely destroyed ands the
people were hurt in two of them.
These days there are many larger trucks and SUV's on the road which would
probably end up with far different results. I have never been involved in a
high speed collision, but with the exception of a head-on crash, I think that I
would rather take my chances in an Imperial than anything else that I have
driven lately. Something to remember about Imperials is that they really were
stronger than most of the other stuff on the road even back then. Imperials
were sought after as "Demo Derby" cars even when there were lots of other big
cars still around to use.
True, they do lack the majority of modern safety features. Only my '65 has
factory seat belts, and they are only in the front.
Paul
In a message dated 6/11/2004 12:30:19 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
dardal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
>
>
> Quoting viljar@xxxxxxxxx:
> > My friends argue that on low speeds.. Old big and heavy car could be on
> > the safe side.. on High speeds the modern cars have much more considered
> > safety features that could save a soul..
> > deforming front, airbags, safetybars, engine that goes under the car and
> > stuff..
>
> As said before, this has been discussed extensively in the archieves, and I
>have
> been part of the discussion. As a quick note, your friends have it
>backwards.
> In a relatively low speed crash with a solid object, a modern car with energy
> absorbing structure and good seatbelts will protect its occupants better. In
>a
> higher speed crush, the serious injuries occur not so much due to the occupant
> hitting the interior, but because the vehicle structure is compromised. In
> such a serious accident, even though your chances of simply walking away are
> slim in any car, you are much better off in the Imperial, because its far more
> likely that the car structure will survive the crush. It so turns out that
> your much better survivability is at the expense of the other car, because due
> to the vast difference in structure rigidity and stifness, the other car will
> receive far worst damage than if you had a "normal" car. Oh yes, its also
> likely that your car will be repairable.
>
> D^2, 2x68
>
>
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