[Spridgets] FIAT

[Bill L]

Hello Kent,

> When the X1/9 was designed, there was rumor/fear that the Feds were going
> to mandate outrageous standards for rollover safety, so FIAT overbuilt the
> X1/9 and used a targa top.  The standards never happened.





     and the reason that those standards were never issued was because
     they did there studies and found out that on the road the cars
     that actually had the highest rollover rates were the cars that
     were LEAST likely to roll over. That is things like Corvettes,
     and Sports Cars in general are rolled far more than things like
     Jeeps. They figured (rightly for once?) that the most significant
     contributor to Automotive Rollovers is DRIVER ERROR!

     But those impending standards contributed to the "end" of
     convertible production (the "last" being the 1976 El Dorado) and
     the Inclusion of the "roll over bar" in the 1980 VW Convertible.
     Chrysler then introduced the Convertible K car variant soon
     thereafter without such a bar.  

-- 
Best regards,
 Bill L.                           mailto:pythias at pacifier.com
 
 '66 Sprite MKIII HAN8L49403   "the red thing"
 
  He who loses his head is usually the last one to miss it.