Tough old bird.

[wulos]

Thought that I would share the following images. Without going into tooo much details as to the exact specifics of the accident. The following is how a BA XT Falcon shaped up against a 5-6" round tree (50-60kph rated road)

Damage includes right chassis rail, and goes back into the "K" frame. Power steering pump is snapped back off the block(as is alternatior at a guess - can't see that far down into engine bay)


Front axle has shifted forward in the wheelarch.


Steering column has collapsed. Wheel is now touching the top of the dash cowling. Both Airbags deployed. Plenty of broken plastics in and around the cabin.


Seatbelt tensioners fired (stalks are about 3-4" shorter)
B Pillar plastic detatched from car.


May not be real pretty, but the car did do its job. Driver is still in hospital under observation, but expected to make a full recovery. Mostly bruising.



Be safe out on the roads people. Incidents such as this one can and DO have much MUCH worse outcomes...

[wulos]

Some of the older members may remember seeing this car before. It was the subject for our very first Photoshop Comp

[Professor Farnsworth]

held up pretty well really, minimal cabin intrusion for the damage, would have been nasty though

[pottery beige]

thats a decent whack.. good to hear the drivers ok..

[Hayden1]

Stuff like this makes you think twice before jumping in an old car

[XR6T0Y]

Makes me go over the photos of my accident and think how lucky I was

[Yellow_Festiva]

Certain it was a tree? Seems like a lot of damage for such a small diameter? Looks like whatever it hit had no give whatsoever. Equally tough tree if true!

[Tobey]

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

Certain it was a tree? Seems like a lot of damage for such a small diameter? Looks like whatever it hit had no give whatsoever. Equally tough tree if true!

You can see the bark in the first pic

[mik]

looks like it hit in the spot so it could slide between the rail and the and the engine after taking out the first bit of subframe, nasty,
this is another reason why i like big cars, lot`s of sheet metal between you and the object.

[2011G6E]

I'd guesstimate 40kph...? As said above, it hit the spot between the engine and chassis, so not a lot of resistance there at that location. Cars are designed now to fold up pretty well and absorb energy at lowish speeds. I've seen some amazing damage done in car park accidents at 20 to 30kph...

Originally Posted by Hayden1

Stuff like this makes you think twice before jumping in an old car

Nope...I don't drive around in fear of my life in our '82 Celica, and neither will I in our WB ute when it gets on the road. I already have a sister-in-law who is literally frightened...almost terrified actually...of driving around in any car with less than six airbags. She bought a VW Golf with ten or something in it. Last time she was in my Celica on a quick run down to the shop near their house, she actually held onto the door handle with one hand and the seat belt with the other, looking frightened the whole way in the reasonably heavy traffic.
She's obviously bought the lie that "all old cars are death traps & if you have airbags you will never get hurt"...

[Hayden1]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Nope...I don't drive around in fear of my life in our '82 Celica, and neither will I in our WB ute when it gets on the road. I already have a sister-in-law who is literally frightened...almost terrified actually...of driving around in any car with less than six airbags. She bought a VW Golf with ten or something in it. Last time she was in my Celica on a quick run down to the shop near their house, she actually held onto the door handle with one hand and the seat belt with the other, looking frightened the whole way in the reasonably heavy traffic.
She's obviously bought the lie that "all old cars are death traps & if you have airbags you will never get hurt"...

hahaha Thats a bit far! I'm nothing like that but I can't say that I don't wonder what would happen if someone loses their concentration cruising down the highway...

[aussie muscle]

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

Certain it was a tree? Seems like a lot of damage for such a small diameter? Looks like whatever it hit had no give whatsoever. Equally tough tree if true!

trees are much tougher than cars. the damage is about the same as what i did to my first car. (similar speed, similar sized tree).

[Professor Farnsworth]

i've always wondered how an airbag affects your face if you have sunglasses on.. must leave a decent mark

[SSD-85]

Originally Posted by Professor Farnsworth

i've always wondered how an airbag affects your face if you have sunglasses on.. must leave a decent mark

Unless theyre stapled to your head or something, they just fly off. This comes from experience.

[gcg2503]

Glad to hear driver only suffered bruising.

[xbxd351]

That tree wouldn't have put a dent in my XA or XB! The only reason I would rather be in late model car in a collision is to avoid damaging a classic

A couple of years back a lady in a late model Mercedes did a u turn without looking and my mates XB absolutely demolished it. Only damage to the XB was the left front guard! We barely felt the impact and were shocked at the trail of destruction it left. The driver of the Mercedes didn't do so well spending some time in hospital.

Having said that I don't know why some people get out of bed in the morning if they can't enjoy anything because they all they ever worry about is safety and want to live in a world full of air bags! They might live to 100 but what a boring life it would have been. I'm proud to say I have never owned a car built after 1979 and I will never buy a car with air bags, abs or stability control. Sorry but I really hate today's obsession with safety.

[poppa smurf]

thats the trouble with newer cars.....hit a leaf at 10K's and its a write off

I hit a roo at 70 miles an hour in a VC Valiant.....took me all of five minutes to buff the mark off the bumper

didn't need airbags and pretensioners in those days.....we took it like men!.......we bounced, the car didn't!

the idea I guess is not to hit the tree in the first place!

[turbodewd]

This is a good advertisement for new and larger cars - the car absorbs the impact more than the occupant.

[turbodewd]

Originally Posted by xbxd351

That tree wouldn't have put a dent in my XA or XB! The only reason I would rather be in late model car in a collision is to avoid damaging a classic

A couple of years back a lady in a late model Mercedes did a u turn without looking and my mates XB absolutely demolished it. Only damage to the XB was the left front guard! We barely felt the impact and were shocked at the trail of destruction it left. The driver of the Mercedes didn't do so well spending some time in hospital.

Having said that I don't know why some people get out of bed in the morning if they can't enjoy anything because they all they ever worry about is safety and want to live in a world full of air bags! They might live to 100 but what a boring life it would have been. I'm proud to say I have never owned a car built after 1979 and I will never buy a car with air bags, abs or stability control. Sorry but I really hate today's obsession with safety.

Mate, you cant overcome the laws of physics with the legendary XB coupe. If you crash in that and the latest FG Falcon the newer car will leave the occupant far better off.

[IceValk85]

Originally Posted by xbxd351

Having said that I don't know why some people get out of bed in the morning if they can't enjoy anything because they all they ever worry about is safety and want to live in a world full of air bags! They might live to 100 but what a boring life it would have been. I'm proud to say I have never owned a car built after 1979 and I will never buy a car with air bags, abs or stability control. Sorry but I really hate today's obsession with safety.

you sure about that?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joMK1WZjP7g

just one short example, with a new car vs old. there are many more that completely disprove your theory of hiding from safety spud.

Ice

[lilmattie]

Modern cars are designed to crumple. The old cars are build tough and rigid so any glancing accident involving two vehicles (e.g. one being an XB and other other a modern car), the XB would suffer less damage as the other car would cushion it. However, the driver would be safer in the newer car.

That being said - I don't think even my XB and XA would be able to stomach a head on hit with a tree. Or a head on with another car for that matter. Most of not all cars would be stuffed.

Nice vid above. Pity about the BelAir... that looked like a nice car.

[xbxd351]

Sorry guys you'll never convince me about modern cars I get too much enjoyment driving old school muscle while others look with that "I wish I was driving that but at least I'm surrounded by grey plastic and a hundred airbags!" look on their face

But in all seriousness nearly all the fatal crashes I see on the news in recent years involve high end late model cars. Can't remember the last time I seen\read\heard about a pre 1980s car being involved in a fatal? I'm sure there's been one maybe two but the fact is most people die in late model cars these days.

[graham7773]

Not having had a prang in a newer car, cannot comment about them. Having said that, I have rolled two FJ Holdens, (they can't handle for ******) run up the backside of a milk delivery truck at 70 mph also in an FJ. He had one tail light working. the n/s one. 2am on an unlit road and been t-boned by an idiot coming through a give way sign at 80kph in a brand new Toyota Corolla with 3 of his girlfriends in the car with him. They all finished up in hospital. My girlfriend got a lift home with the attending cops. I was driving a 76 Toyota Crown. Corolla destroyed. Out of all these I got a slight bruised knee, and a grazed knee and a minor cut on my head. Rolling the FJ's was fun. Just hanging on to the steering wheel as no seat belts then. The only smash I have seen personally involved another late Corolla. Woman driver lost it at 60kph, how I do not know. straight piece of Richmond roar Blacktown in Sydney. Sadly, she died at the scene. My point? I would rather have a tank around me than a balloon. PS, if you absolutely have to hit a tree, make sure you hit it with your engine, not your face.

[pottery beige]

Originally Posted by xbxd351

Sorry guys you'll never convince me about modern cars I get too much enjoyment driving old school muscle while others look with that "I wish I was driving that but at least I'm surrounded by grey plastic and a hundred airbags!" look on their face

But in all seriousness nearly all the fatal crashes I see on the news in recent years involve high end late model cars. Can't remember the last time I seen\read\heard about a pre 1980s car being involved in a fatal? I'm sure there's been one maybe two but the fact is most people die in late model cars these days.

derp..... what's the ratio of old v new cars on the road....

[graham7773]

The way Ford and Holden sales are dropping, I would say the ratio is still fairly high but more new than old. I would still prefer to be in a Crown than a new Ford or Commodore in a smash. There are some surprising statistics about injuries caused by airbags including people, esp kids, being killed by the things

[trippytaka]

Far out I would NOT have wanted to have been in that accident driving my fiance's 1998 toyota Starlet.

[Mr Hardware]

I feel sorry for those who believe that they will be better off in a crash in something from the 70's vs something contemporary.

Perhaps this is an aspect of 'Survival of the Fittest'? Nowadays it is mentally fittest perhaps?

[graham7773]

Mr Hardware, there were more than 1200 people killed in vehicle smashes in Australia last year. I wonder how many of them were in so called "safe" late model cars. They are still just as dead, airbags, abs, traction control etc, etc not withstanding.Did they die because of being mentally unfit?

[poppa smurf]

then there are those that believe you are safest in a 4wd.......full chassis and bullbar

[graham7773]

poppa smurf, I have to believe that comment is tongue in cheek. I know and I suspect that you also know that, per capita, more people are killed or injured in 4wd's of any type than any other type of passenger vehicle. RTA stats, Insurance companies will tell you the same thing