Our Trucks Doing What They Did - Vintage Photo Thread

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

Damn, that first one is creepy! The people in that one did NOT do well, wow! Notice the windshield is gone! That happened a lot with those gasket windshields, I saw it personally happen just fifty or so feet away from me while I was putting gas in my truck once! It was an old ice cream truck, they rear ended at 75ish Chrysler at the light and the driver of the icecream truck went out through the windshield landing on the trunk of the Chrysler, he did NOT do well.

Brian

In our trucks an accident this severe would leave terrible injuries. Not sure if you'd have been better off staying IN the cab or being ejected out!

Hard metal steering wheel, protruding metal knobs, gas tank in there with you and the rubber hose to the filler would get hard as plastic after awhile and break with a severe impact potentially spraying gas all over. Yikes.

As much as I LOVE our trucks we shouldn't kid ourselves about their safety, or lack thereof. Even with my tank moved out and shoulder belts in my big window cab it is only marginally safer than before. Maybe my face/teeth wouldn't meet the steering wheel/dash but nothing is designed to "collapse" nor is the engine going under the cab in a bad impact. No door beams, nada. The engine or another vehicle is coming straight into ME!

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

In our trucks an accident this severe would leave terrible injuries. Not sure if you'd have been better off staying IN the cab or being ejected out!

Hard metal steering wheel, protruding metal knobs, gas tank in there with you and the rubber hose to the filler would get hard as plastic after awhile and break with a severe impact potentially spraying gas all over. Yikes.

As much as I LOVE our trucks we shouldn't kid ourselves about their safety, or lack thereof. Even with my tank moved out and shoulder belts in my big window cab it is only marginally safer than before. Maybe my face/teeth wouldn't meet the steering wheel/dash but nothing is designed to "collapse" nor is the engine going under the cab in a bad impact. No door beams, nada. The engine or another vehicle is coming straight into ME!

Without a doubt, I drive my old cars as if I am riding a motorcycle, they aren't much different safety wise. It cracks me up when customers at work will be mad because of how their late model car is "made of plastic" and doesn't hold up to a crash like an old "solid" car would. I will explain often about how their car "absorbed the energy" so THEY didn't have to. Hopefully they "get it."
When I go to help them clear out a car that has been deemed a total loss I will always pat the car with my hand and say "Thank you for doing your job and absorbing the energy for Mrs. Smith and her children." I will see a look on their face often, they "get it!"

The other day I was doing this with a lady and her three kids who were in the car when it was wrecked. They were 3, 5 and 8 and the oldest was a girl who was very interested in how the car was built and all that. She asked me a few questions on things like how is the bumper held on and stuff like that. I loved it, and showed her the bag of clips and bolts and things and explained it to her. I also showed her the crumple zone that had collapsed in the frame that absorbed energy for her and her mommy and brother and sister. She was SO interested! Her mommy asked if all her questions she had asked the night before were answered and she said yes. It was so damn cute. Mommy then took a selfie of them all in front of the car! Damn they made my day!

I have a bunch of Hotwheels cars at my desk in the office that I give to kids who are there with their mommy or daddy getting estimates or dropping their car off for repair. I like to make this crappy thing into something better for them.

The kids out at the total were all holding the Hotwheels cars up in the selfie that I had given them. LOLOLOLOL

Brian