so are you guys building the safer collapsing steering column...

Both of my rides have 5 point harnesses, so I'm not too worried about my chest getting to the column. It's other things that I worry about a lot more than the steering column, so I try to cover those in my builds.

 

I have a slip joint in both my 60 chevy and my 40 pontiac coupe but not in the roadster. All have seat belts! Gary

 

Straight non collapsing column is about as safe as a hand grenade.
Its fine until somebody starts fucking with it.
The column being driven thru your chest in a front ender is scary.

 

I'm taking a middle-of-the-road approach with modern safety upgrades in my 54, but then I don't drive my old stuff fast or even slightly recklessly. (If I was building something that I intended to drive fast, I'd max out the safety gear.)

- Yes to seat belts, but only lap belts (which will keep me in front of the wheel in the event of craziness)

- Yes to disk brakes (which can't be seen on my 54) and the corresponding dual MC.

- No to a collapsible steering column....running my stock Mainline, basic steering wheel is a must.

My next acquisition will be a pre-1930 Ford and fendered, pre-1935 cars have a feature that truly scares me.....and that is the folding hood. Most of these hoods are held in place at the rear with a small pin that easily sheers off in a front end collision, driving the hood backwards, up and over the cowl, through the windshield and into the cab like a guillotine.

This is exactly how my great-grandfather died in 1934, near Baytown, TX in a 29 Model A.

 

RUSTY... I never thought of that, but my I could invision that happening on my 38 Nash... my hinge was kinda messed up, so I've added a pair of stainless cairrage bolts to the hinge mechanism... but they are (2) total 5/16" bolts... if sheared, the hood could very easily get introduced to my face... I do have a split window, which may slow it down... some...

I think alot of times we are lulled into a false sense of security, with the size, & thickness of the metal, but if you've ever seen the physical damages to the occupants of a vintage car in a modern accident ( I seem to remember one last year posted here, where the occupants of the 50's car were hurt pretty badly... the dumby in the Honda walked away ) ??? there are lots of unseen ( things like crumple zone design ) safety devices that are on modern cars...

one of the local dirt tracks quit running the classic dwarf stock cars, after one tangled with the concrete wall, & the guy died... there is no room for a crumple zone on a dwarf car, he died of internal injurys from his 5 point harness

since I plan on spanking my truck, & it's a frame off build, I just want to take into account as much safety as I can, without spoiling the expirience

 

Man, sometimes this place ALMOST makes me want to tear my car apart. I'm sure you'll find good ideas on building a safe column here. Anything to make you feel better.

Now, on an early car, which is about half the size and weight of a Honda, there's only so much you can do without moving away from what your building. A damn hot rod! These cars we build in our garages will never be as safe as a modern car is. I've had a minor hit in my T and I can assure you, there's nothing that would have saved me in a hard hit. When I get too scared to drive, I'll just park the damn thing and buy a fucking Volvo.

 

BTW... FRED... both your avitar & the pics of your car make me smile...

 

We have to assume that getting in a head-on collision at highway speeds with a traditional hotrod...collapsable column or not...would be fatal. And if it wasn't fatal, you're injuries would be life changing.

Not that I'm trying to attrack bad karma for talking about fatal accidents, nor am I trying to make light of the situation....just pointing out what I think is the obvious.

I've been at the scenes of many highway speed head-ons...and it's only by some stroke of shithouse luck, combined with the airbags and seatbelts, that nobody gets killed.

I think the more common/likely injuries to worry about for us, would be head and upper body injuries in less violent crashes. If you had no shoulder belt, or belt at all, and ran into something going 30...you're gonna be spitting out teeth, popping out an eyeball, smashing the skin on your face wide open...or something like that.

That being said...the simple fix is a shoulder belt. A collapsable column, used with a shoulder belt, in a less violent crash, would only end up saving your thumbs or fingers from snapping backwards or breaking your wrists...etc.

The more safety the better, but where do you draw the line? airbags?

And for the record, collapsable columns became a necessity when cars started being made collapsable

 

Amen

 

The Volvo guys won't appreciate that avatar like we do.

There's somethings that are too easy to take advantage of. Like billions of dollars of crash test research.

If you can't out stop them, or out maneuver them you better be able to withstand them hitting you.

 

I don't think so.

 

When I was in high school one of the kids from a more affluent family knocked a brick house off its foundation with his corvette. The hood ended up in his lap and they spent the next year picking bits of fiberglass out of his belly. Something along the lines of 20 surgeries.

Of course there were the broken bones that had to heal as well but the steering column didn't hurt him a bit. Just lucky I suppose unless '62 vettes had collapsing colums.

 

Been there, done that when I was 16 driving a '50 Champion Studebaker. I was lucky the key bent and pushed sideways under the skin rather than spearing my kneecap. My grandfather lost both kneecaps in a head on collision while driving model A. I am glad I didn't follow his example.

 

I had a wreck in my 66 Chevy II headon into a telephone pole doing about 40 mph. The pole won ! The non collasible column was driven back about 1 foot into my chest. Lucky for me it hit my right side of my chest rather than my left (Heart side). The steering wheel broke 6 of my ribs where they attach to my sterunm. If it had it 6 inches to the left it would have bruised my heart = instant death. I refuse to bujld anything without a collaspible column. Why do you think Detroit put them in starting in 1967, way before crumple zones.

 

People think old cars are safer because they are built with thicker metal, Well, the truth is new cars are much safer for the driver. There is a video on the internet where they crash a 59 Chevy head on into a 09 Malibu, The driver of the 59 would have been killed instantly, the driver of the 09 Malibu would have likely had minor knee injury. I love old cars, but the new ones are much safer. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

While your at it, ditch the boxing plates so your frame can crumple.

 

It's a given that we make concessions when we choose to drive old cars. IMO, if you can do something to avert disaster yet still maintain the look and overall attitude of the vehicle, then I don't see the downside. Maybe I'm a "puss" because I want to be around long enough to watch my grandkids grow up...lol. All kidding aside, we all have choices to make and we all must live, or die, by those choices. Personally, I'm, going to look into modifying my solid steering column. This was always a thought long before this discussion, but I think I'm convinced that I don't want to take the risk.

 

In my state, that is New South Wales, I am led to believe that my old Buick won't be registerable unless I have a collapsible column in it. I guess if the car was a stocker, then that might be different. But, even if I wanted to keep the old column, I can't, so, I've had to chase up a few alternatives.

 

Only if they crumple in the right direction and force the floor up or allow the engine to come back.

The crumple zones of modern cars absorb or redirect the impact so your doesn't. Secondary impacts (brain against skull or heart being tossed around) do more damage than primary impacts do. The cars we love were built to survive the impact. That energy has to be dissipated to someplace so it's either the car absorbs it or you do. I know the chances I take with my old cars, this does not mean I have to be an idiot and do nothing to protect myself cuz "I'm too cool for seat belts"

If you can make it safer, you should. For me I have a few reasons to live and even more reasons not to spend my days drooling in a nursing home being a burden on family because of ignorance and machismo.

Solutions are available, so there isn't a reason to consider it. Many would spend $1000 on a stereo, but wouldn't spend a few hundred on a safer column. Weird.

 

Not only NO but F^^& NO!

 

I'll take it up a notch. What would it take to retrofit an airbag?

 

I'm all for safety too..as a panelbeater I have fixed my share of collision work. Fixed a toyota ute that didn't look bad at all yet the guy was killed in it...I'll not forget cleaning the blood stains anytime soon.
I'm building a 57 Chev with a solid shaft column which scares the hell outta me.....if I was back at the start, I'd clip the chassis and put a Holden collapsible column in too for sure...
However...the list of safety features lacking in any old car is quite long...
You could get rear ended at night quite easily with the piss poor old lights no-one can see (could end up on the column like this!),or roll it in a ditch and bash your head to smithereens on all the steel fittings, or have a door burst open and throw you out the car like a overgrown bowling ball...etc,etc.
I reckon its a good idea to build in some safety items but at the end of the day you gota do what motorcylists learn to do: drive safe-ish,watch out for goons on the roads and just try and have fun along the way.
my .02

 

Oh just knew someone would go there.
Not much, making look OK is another story

 

The only bag in my old hooptie is going to be the one I am married to.

The wife is 5'3" tall, right at the breaking point for live or die when the airbag deploys. Her pickup didn't come with the switch to shut the airbags off so I got a note from her doctor stating that it would be detrimental to her health to take a hit from the airbag. Took it to the dealer and they said that they would install a switch or being as she is the primary driver of the vehicle the airbag could just be disabled on the driver's side. So the late model truck that she drives has no driver's air bag. That means one very important thing to me in my life, if I manage to bang her truck up I am not going to be injured about the head and shoulders until I get home.

Just for the record I think that I could retrofit bags in the right car without it being exceptionaly noticable. Perhaps one of those cars that have a jockey box on both sides.

 

I have a solid column in my A Tudor but the way the joints go together and the way the column drop bolts onto all the steel I put under the dash the wheel should go up instead of towards me.

So instead of catching the steering wheel into the chest it will probably be chin into the bottom of the steering wheel since I only have lap belts.

Thought alot about how to put shoulder harnesses in but haven't come up with a good way yet.

 

If you must have a harness just got yourself an old Y harness and bolt it to the floor.

I have some very different thoughts on shoulder harness perhaps it comes from my background. If you have a harness you better have a goor roll bar at a minimum and a cage is best. The reasoning behind that is that with a harness you can't duck down so if you start rolling the vehicle you need something between you and the pavement and the roof on most vehicles will not suffice.

Just something for the shoulder harness crowd to think about.

 

In 1969 I took a bite out of a steering wheel of a 1964 Plymouth Valiant in a head on crash. It was not fun. My wife, Kathy, hit the dash so hard she broke the glovebox door and bent the metal heater housing. To me seat and shoulder belts would have saved both of our injuries.

When it comes to my "A" coupe, it will have belts. Beyond that I'm not sure I'll mess with the steering column. I hit something hard with that car and I am going to bounce around like a bee-bee in a bottle no matter what I do.

 

It's not exclusively what your car is or how often you 'get on it'. Consider getting hit head on by someone else at fault. You can be diving 25 MPH like an old man, but if someone crosses the center line...

First and easiest order (as others have said) should be lap belts at a minimum. Usually it's the driver going into the steering wheel or winshield, rather than the steering wheel/column getting shoved back toward the driver.

 

I'm a weanie....I put a full cage into my truck. I'm mostly concerned with a side impact more than anything else. People on their cell phones scare me.

 

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