59 Bel Air vs. 09 Malibu
- Thread starter bighawg
- Start date
wow crazy...
how far they have come... Even 15 years ago crash tests in general were pretty poor.
However one of the only old cars that at least had a decent shot at competing with current safety standards are the old mercedes...pretty amazing what those germans did with what was basically late 1970's technology. Pre-tensioners and driver's airbags available in 1981???? And standard equipment in 1985 I think.
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I dont know what year that last benz was from, early 80's? How many 1980's or even mid 1990's cars would have held up like that in a high speed offset headon... There was a cool video on youtube where they recently (in the last year I think) did crash test on an old worn out beat up 1981 s-class and even after almost 30 years and hundreds of thousands of miles, the airbags and safety systems still deployed properly...kinda neat.
how far they have come... Even 15 years ago crash tests in general were pretty poor.
However one of the only old cars that at least had a decent shot at competing with current safety standards are the old mercedes...pretty amazing what those germans did with what was basically late 1970's technology. Pre-tensioners and driver's airbags available in 1981???? And standard equipment in 1985 I think.
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I dont know what year that last benz was from, early 80's? How many 1980's or even mid 1990's cars would have held up like that in a high speed offset headon... There was a cool video on youtube where they recently (in the last year I think) did crash test on an old worn out beat up 1981 s-class and even after almost 30 years and hundreds of thousands of miles, the airbags and safety systems still deployed properly...kinda neat.
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One very common misconception is that older cars fair better in wrecks. Sometimes, not very often, they do. Of coarse the people get hurt worse...
My daily driver is an 81' 300SD W126 chassis 
I had seen those vids before, amazing stuff! I do feel pretty safe in that big heavy diesel pig! The quality of the old Benz's is fantastic!
This old sucker of mine even has an aluminum hood!
I had seen those vids before, amazing stuff! I do feel pretty safe in that big heavy diesel pig! The quality of the old Benz's is fantastic! This old sucker of mine even has an aluminum hood!
My daily driver is an 81' 300SD W126 chassis
This old sucker of mine even has an aluminum hood!
yep one of our friends had a w126 300SDL (1987 I think?) and a W123 300TD (85??). The 300TD's odometer broke at like 490,000 miles and the vacuum system was shot (doors wont lock, turning the key off doesnt stop the engine so you have to shut it off at the injection pump), but it still ran great.
its too bad the W210's and other late 90's MB's (when chrysler first took over) were (at least in my opinion) junk...
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Sad to see they trashed that 59, at kleast it was a 4 door.
I would have never bet the malibu would do that to the old Bel air.
I still feel safer in a full frame vehicle with more room
I would have never bet the malibu would do that to the old Bel air.
I still feel safer in a full frame vehicle with more room
I would agree with that. They build them better now... Although there's nothing like the sound of a health big block doing a big smokey burnout. :coolspot: