I have parted out alot of Midgets over the 20 years I've been in this
hobby, and I'll never forget the 74 midget that had hit a guard rail
straight on at 45 miles per hour. The hood crumpled up, the engine and
frame rails crumpled down, the engine & transmission are forced into the
center tunnel away from the drivers legs, the wheels push outwards away from
the passenger compartment and the steering column colapsed within itself.
It did exactly as designed.
I rear ended another car in my Midget. Unbelieveably, it was also a Midget,
so we have two case studies in one. I was traveling at 40 mph or so on a
familiar road, so my attention wandered, enjoying the drive. Well the city
added a 4 way stop that I didn't know, and with almost no time to react, I
saw my friend stopped dead in front of me, slammed on my brakes, and rear
ended him at an impact speed hard enough to force his car completely across
the intersection. We got out of the cars, assessed the damage. My car had
to be towed home. Both front fenders folded, the hood latch held & resulted
in the hood kind of rolling under, the radiator & uprights layed back
against the engine. His car buckled at the lr wheel arch, and bent the
muffler. Both cars were 1974 with the extra crash protection, but with the
big overriders removed. My friend later complained of lower back pain,
typical for anyone in a collision. My insurance (Mercury) paid over $5000
to fix his car & settled out of court for his back injury.
THESE CARS ARE SAFE.
They offer better visibility than any modern car with "roll over protection"
They are painfully underpowered in stock form, preventing machismo display
of speed type accidents
They brake well
Later cars, from 1974 on offer excellent crash protection. They have side
impact beams in the doors, which weren't required under Federal regulation
until 1995!
>From 1969 on they have colapsable steering columns.
>From 1974 on they have added rear impact beams.
>From 1975 on the bumper height & size is similar to cars much larger.
With room for only one passenger, the chance of peer pressure convincing the
driver to do something stupid is minimized.
Can't think of a better first car, except maybe an MGB. Same attributes,
bigger package.
David Riker
davriker@pacbell.net
http://home.pacbell.net/davriker/
http://community.webshots.com/user/fool4mg
----- Original Message -----
From "David Lieb" <dbl at chicagolandmgclub.com>
To: "Spridget List" <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2005 6:40 AM
Subject: Re: Spridget wanted.. rant..
>
> In case you haven't noticed, Spridgets DO have a "crumple zone". Those two
> "frame rails" always crumple and absorb impact in a crash (unless you get
> rear-ended, I suppose). It will literally give its life for you. What more
> do you want? Sure the crash test data looks bad, but it sure is a lot more
> survivable than a crotch-rocket.
> David Lieb
> 1972 Spridget with intact frame rails
|