Since Ferrari's were already brought up into the discussion - let's not forget that Europeans knew that people would be driving their cars fast (Autobahn anyone?) - Enzo Ferrari designed his cars so that the body panels would fly off in a collision rather than risk injuring the passengers who were contained inside an integrated roll cage. Saab has been using integrated roll cages for years (except for some of the GM-designed 9000's) and, at some point, had designed it to where the engine would drop downward in a front-end collision so that the car would run over the top of it rather than having it come back into the passenger compartment... Many of the safety features we see today like the collapsible steering column were invented by European auto manufacturers... Maybe have a look at Volvo trucks to see how they're designed safety-wise... Don't get me wrong - I was once rearended at a stoplight in a Mazda GLC by a Dodge Dart - it hurt - it was because of that incident that I have been driving large vehicles since...

 

for your information my 75 f250 ford weighs 6700 lbs.

 

That's GVW unless you added 1500 pounds of crap to it.

Josh

 

my thoughts exactly. i had a crew cab dumptruck that only weighed in at 7000 lbs...

 

crew cab short bed diesel.. i was on the scale the other day and thats what it weighed.

 

Well if you campair apples to apples.
My 79 F250 4x4 5218lbs no air bags, not crumple zones, and shatter you sternum like an old beer bottle column.
My dads 08 F250 4x4 with a V10 7718lbs crumple zones, air bags (I think even side curtain) ABS and most likely 100 other things I don't even know about.
Comparing these trucks to small cars just isn't realistic, around here pickups out number cars so odds are you aren't going to win just by hitting something smaller than you. Not to mention most of these older 4x4 like to roll over if you do anything suddenly at high way speed. When it comes right down too it I would rather be in my girlfriends 09 Focus than my truck when it hits the fan because it has a lot better chance of manuvering its way out of an accident and even it you don't you really aren't any worse off due to all the saftey features. But when you compare apples to apples like the two trucks mentioned above any one that thinks the old one is safer is just hopelessly misinformed or in denial or something.
-Johnboy

 

heres some proof..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ReZ0C_UF-8

 

new ford truck crash test

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB0araA0T_k

 

another good one of what a small car would looks like in accident with a pickup of any age.... that focus has saftey features but your still DEAD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnegSVoXAb0

 

We will refrain from name calling and personal insults here in the forums. Thank you.

 

This has turned into a very interesting discussion, but it sure has traveled from the original topic, but thats fine, it was interesting to read.

Thanks,
Sam

 

I would like you to see a picture




Had I been in a 70s truck I would have been DEAD, not hurt, not seriously injured, not even life threatening injuries DEAD

For your information that was NOT a wimpy hit by a little F250 that was a 60+mph tbone hit by a semi tractor trailer rig and I walked away with 2 broken ribs. So please don't say the new trucks aren't safer, and trust me that little KIA that you laugh at... in a head on collison with your dent he will survive, you will be lucky if your only in ICU.

I love the old trucks and cars (currently own a 67 galaxie, but in a collison I will take the wifes 02 explorer every day, I have seen first hand the difference both as a victim and as a resonder) and I will own another dent but I know they are NOT safer then today's vehicles.

 

You don't get crumple zones, the new vehicles smash up like that intentionally to absorb the impact. The new trucks look worse but the occupants are better off, the old truck looks better but it is brought to a stop much more suddenly sending the passengers flying forward and into hard metal dash and rib cracking air bag less steering columns. I stated this earlier it isn't your car hitting something that hurts people it is people hitting the inside of their car.
-Johnboy

 

Amazing photo! No doubt in a 70's truck you would be dead. I too tangled with a semi and barely got hurt because of one of those "useless" safety devices, the side impact anti-intrusion beam. If it had not been there I guarantee I would not be sitting here typing right now. The drivers door was caved in allmost to the steering wheel. Just imagine how far it would have been caved in without that beam.

Dents don't have that beam. That worries me.

Another thing way better in modern vehicles is fuel system integrity. In a 70's era truck, and by some miracle you survived the impact, the fuel system would have come apart somewhere, fairly easily too, and you would have been incinerated.

What good is a repairable vehicle to me if my brains and blood are splattered all over the "'nice steel dashboard"?

And as far as the driver being the best safety devices, we are, but we are human, we make mistakes and other humans make mistakes. Arguably the best driver ever in NASCAR racing preffered to use his superior driving skills to keep himself alive, usually opting for ways that enhanced his ability to avoid wrecks through his own skills over "useless" safety devices. The HANS device was available to him, but he dimissed it as a limit on his abilities and never used one.

That driver was of course Dale Earnhardt.

They probably did reuse the car he was killed in. And if not, they could have.

 

The OP's concern was safety, he wanted to know whether or not the old truck had a certain safety device. That info was given but certain members attempted to cloud the issue by dismissing his concern for that safety device and safety devices in general. The OP apparently has an understanding of the need and design purposes of safety devices, but certain less than steller members don't and their responses need to be put in their place.

The scrap heap.