The Corvair had two lethal problems, one by design and one by pure
idiocy, I think --
to whit: the swing axle rear end was not protected against jacking, so
at very high side loads the outside rear wheel could aquire so much
camber that the rim would dig into the pavement. The resultant
rollover combined with the totat lack of roof strength usually killed
the passengers as their heads hit the pavement via the roof. This was
avoided in the original design by a hook in the frame so that the
control arm wouldn't travel that far, but Ed Cole demanded that it be
removed because it cost $1.50 per car over leaving it off. It cost the
executives at GM a lot more than that, all told, to bury the kids they
had that rolled them, as every executive that had a teen driver got
them a Corvair, and several were maimed or killed.
The other idiocy, and I don't know if it was by design or just plan not
looking, was that the steering column was solid, and the steering box
was IN FRONT of the front axle. This was the preferred location for GM
steering boxes until the Feds made them move them back in 1969.
Naturally, a beer can has more structural rigidity than a 60's GM
product, so the predictable result of hitting anything in the Corvair
was that the steering wheel shot out of the dash and upwards, neatly
breaking the driver's neck. This design "feature" was present up to
1969 when the collapsable steering column was installed, hopefully
preventing any more unnecessary deaths.
Fortunately, even the Japanese have figured out crash safety, so we can
drive at the ridiculous speeds we do and not risk instant death in an
accident (unless driving a US made SUV).
Peter
On Tuesday, October 25, 2005, at 10:47 PM, David Brodbeck wrote:
Peter Frederick wrote:
Unless I'm mistaken, the Ponton was the first chassis with crumple
zones and a rigid passenger compartment. the Adenauer was the last
car
built with a separate chassis with body bolted on.
Makes Detroit's refusal to do anything to make cars safer look pretty
shabby.
Which was actually the point of Ralph Nader's book, "Unsafe at Any
Speed." I'd gotten the impression, from the automotive press, that it
was mostly a diatribe against the Corvair's unusual handling
characteristics. When I read it I was surprised to find that it was,
in
fact, mostly about other safety flaws that applied to many cars, and
about the general lack of interest Detroit had in safety at the time.
Problems like hard-surfaced dashboards, non-collapsible steering
columns, chrome trim in the driver's eye line, and cars sold with tires
that weren't designed to support their fully loaded weight. It's still
an interesting read, just to see where we've come from.
_______________________________________
For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/
For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to:
http://striplin.net/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_striplin.net
