A friend sent me an email with a link to the crash test of the 59 Bel Air and a modern Chevy. This rang a bell in my head and I searched for an equivalent crash test of a Motel T and a modern car. Having come up empty handed, I thought I would ask the forum if anybody has seen such a test or knows of a video of one.

Neil

Back then I think they would have considered it foolish and wasteful to do a "crash test", as everyone knows that a) a person can be injured in an automobile crash, and b) parts will be damaged and need to be replaced. Simple.

Craig

Craig,

I was thinking of a modern test using an old Model T against a modern car.

Neil

Yah mean , like the Cadillac vs. the V.W. Bug a Cadillac dealer did back in the late 1950`s ?? and the V.W. dealer answered with a Cadillac Vs. an 18 Wheel Truck ??

Neil,

OUCH!!

The only thing I think that would tell you is that you just destroyed a Model T when you knew what would happen beforehand. I would be there's a Henry Ford quote concerning that hehe.

Craig

I remember the twin screw tractor crashing into the side of the Cad.
They had a ramp set up so the truck was abpout 2 or 3 feet off the ground when it hit the Cad. There was a driver driving the truck.
What a waste.

Crash, proably isn't a test one though....



The early T got it pretty bad

Not as bad as the DRIVER did ...

This is as close as I can get. A new Cadillac in Cushing, Iowa was hit by two drunken farmers in a Model A coupe. No one was hurt seriously!

Test complete.......

BOY , I WISH I could find one that complete and nice today ...

HMMMM , sitting next to railroad tracks ... I wonder if there is any connection there to the damage ??

There was a film out that tested Ford Model T to a Dodge, they where pushed off a cliff, bounced a round, the T busted into piece but the Dodge they rolled back on to it's wheels and drove a way. I would love to see this promo film again, does any one know how to find it? Thanks Joe

Years back I saw a documentary on car safety and as an experiment they crash tested a 1930 Chevy sedan set up with crash dummies and high speed cameras. Quite revealing when viewed at low speed. 25 MPH into a concrete barrier. The adult passenger in the front seat and the child in the rear seat both went out through the windshield. The driver hit the steering wheel, head went through the windshield then he fell out the drivers door which broke off and finally got hit by the rear wheel which also broke away. A far cry from the same accident with a modern car.

Live crash 'dummy' being hurled out the the test car, driving at the passenger side so not be be struck by the steering column on impact to that brick wall. Testing General 'blow out proof' tires!

I remember a photo posted last year or so that showed a group of men standing beside and behind a wall in front of a building and they had a Model T smashed at the end of the wall and someone had commented that it looked like early crash testing. I can't seem to find it now.

Do not get any ideas - No model T,A or any other car with a solid frame and a simple body is safe at any means compared to todays self supported computer designed and calculated car bodies, where all the energy is lead outside the passenger compartment.
Amen.

crash testing a model T makes as much sense as crash testing airplanes or bicycles.

The most dangerous mode of travel is the bicycle.

I got a copy of a video from an engineer at work titled "Powered by Ford" and there is a scene from the twenties (I assume) showing Model T's running into things like cement pillars and hills. In both scenes, the drivers went flying out over the hood...

JK

The movie I saw was an engineering movie also, how wood body compared to steel bodied cars.

Charlie B in Tom's Biver wrote of:

a documentary on car safety and as an experiment they crash tested a 1930 Chevy sedan set up with crash dummies and high speed cameras. Quite revealing when viewed at low speed. 25 MPH into a concrete barrier.

I saw that or a very similar video and as I recall the sedan body moved forward along the frame. Rather unsettling.

The take away lesson: Don't hit Anything with your Model T.

There was a documentary about 8 years ago (Nat. Geographic or History Channel) which showed the evolution of car safety since the start of the automotive industry. In it, there was a test of a 1929 Dodge sedan which was driven into a concrete wall. I think the test had been done some time ago; well before the doco was made, but after colour film.
Anyway, as the Dodge hit the barrier, the back of the body lifted off the chassis and there were pieces of plate glass flying about. By the time the energy had been dissipated crumpling the font of the car, the body settled back into position. Sad to see such a nice car being destroyed like that.
It's a good demonstration of why not to fit seat belts to a Model T chassis.

Neil, You got a restored Model T or even a running unrestored one that you want to donate for the test. I didn't think so. Performing such a test would prove nothing except how badly you could mangle the car or its driver. To make the test fair, you'd have to test it against a modern car of the same weight and center of gravity as the T. Otherwise the heavier car would have a definate advantage and if they were not the same ride heigth, the lower car would slip underneath the T. If your interested in seeing T's destoyed, keep watching this forum. Member post plenty of pictures of wrecks, or watch old movies such as Laurel and Hardy. You'll see plenty of wrecks. I do not care to donate my T's for the test. I'd rather part them out and sell them for parts to needy restorers than take them to the scrap yard.

Why is the Human test dummy in the GM picture (above) not wearing pants?

John, I'm pretty sure that's the documentary I was talking about. (how many could there be?). Could have been a Dodge and could have been a '29. Senior moment.

Thanks for everyone's response.

Yes it would be a shame to wreck a Model T.

No I am not going to donate my car to the cause.

Yes it is a forgone conclusion that the T would be totalled.

Yes it would be fair to have an equivalent weight car (Smart car?).

Yes the test would certainly demonstrate that modern cars are safer than Model T's.

Perhaps a plastic 1923 "Bucket T" with a nice V8, there seems to be an abundance of them and more every day.

Neil

trying to teach myself to post photos again after long period of neglect.



If this works, I owe it all to Mike Walker!

This one goes with the one posted by Royce.

'12 torpedo?

Saw this in a back issue of the Vintage Ford.

They met on the road at midnight;
They will never meet again;
She was a south bound Flivver;
He was a west bound train;

Top picture : 1914 touring . Bottom picture : 1913 touring . Looks like both were hit by trains .

This 1926 tourer met an unhappy end in Bondi Junction (a suburb of Sydney) sometime in 1930.

One of the vehicles in these Australian photos is a Canadian Ford, the other is a Palm. They met head on.

This is all so depressing that i don't even want to know, let alone look at the pictures. With traffic like it is today. I worry about getting into trouble with a modern car. The young punks scare me to death with their "hurry' to get "everywhere" they go.

One more.

A friend of mine stuck his spindles on the wrong sides. The LH one tightened up first and steered him into oncoming traffic (on the maiden voyage, with no insurance). He hit a new Buick. It totaled the Buick, but did substantially less damage to the T (bent the LF fender and bent the frame).