Posted on 07/11/2010 2:36:41 PM PDT by Amerisrael
Notice anything missing on many of today's new automobiles?
How about sturdy chrome front and rear metal bumbers?!
Plastic bumpers with a styrofoam inside. What does that protect against!
Forget the chrome, many of todays new vehicles don't even have bumpers. Instead, their front end just sticks out a little more. Like the ones pictured in a new car lot below:
Your off to work early in the morning before the sun comes up. At 5:30 in the morning the parking lot is nearly empty. The sun is just now coming up. For a split second you get "blinded" by the sun. In that second, you have a 2 mile per hour collision with a metal parking sign.
Metal sign pole meets plastic bumper. Guess which one withstands the impact and which one sustains the damage?
These days a minor 2 mile per hour mishap can cost hundreds, perhaps thousands of dollars in damage that may have been prevented with adequate "chrome" bumper protection.
Not to mention the inconvenience of "shop-time" for your vehicle.
But that's the whole idea behind why the auto industry keeps making vehicles harder to repair yourself, and more damage-susceptible.
Take a good look at this 1985 Jeep Grand Cherokee in the photo below. Notice the front and rear chrome bumpers. That's not all, check out the headlights. Easy to adjust and remove "headlights". No-headlamp "assembly". In addition, there is a chrome metal grill that runs all the way across the front end.
Now here's a photo of a 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee below:
Plastic bumper with styrofoam inside. Also notice, instead of normal "headlights", there is now a "headlamp assembly". Also, notice the lack of a "metal" front grill. And behind that front
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If someone wants a car with chrome bumpers - by golly, go out and buy one! They really are not that expensive. Nor are they good cars, either.
The Jeep Wagoneer (1985?) pictured in this post was a real dog.
The defrost did not work. I had a relative who kept a metal spatula on his dashboard in the winter to scrape off the frost off of the windshield as the ‘defroster’ could not do the job. I've seen several by the side of the road with the rear axle completely off of the car - 3WD is not a good thing....OOOH! it's got chrome, though! sarc/>
Now days, we see interesting injuries in 40 - 70 MPH accidents - foot injuries, leg injuries and neck injuries - to name a few. In the 40”s to early 90’s these would have been fatalities, not injuries.
F=MA Something HAS to give in an accident, either the body, bumpers (bumbers?) and other structural pieces of the vehicle - or the human body. It's physics.
Of course, you could do your own mods:
http://www.amazon.com/KRYLON-I17047B00-METALLIC-SPRAY-CHROME/dp/B000SQNPEO
Sorry, China cornered the market on chrome and is now using it as filler in cheap jewelery for our children.
Now that’s an idea!
There you go!
Chromed plastic is what you have there. The whole idea is to get rid of the weight for mandated gas mileage quotas.
With the new fuel economy standards the Baraqqis established, they'll all look like the Prius (ie min aero drag)
I had a buddy with a restored ‘54 Caddy that got rear ended by a Honda Civic in 1990.
Not a mark on it.
The Honda? Totaled time.
There are a lot of federal laws and very rational budgetary decisions that explain why they build cars the way they do. You have a lot of homework.
Thank you for your posting. Too many folks are more concerned with how the cars looks rather than how the passenger survives the crash.
bwahahaha - that’s called a bad day! :)
Nice - very nice! :)
Mine also was a 1966, I neglected to state that! My hubby had a 58 Chevy and I adored that car too! Someday I am going to replace them both... Although he always wished for a 57, I loved the 58.
can you imagine what a boom the auto industry would have if they brought back the old car designs???? It would probably bring back the industry single handedly!
I was griping about this the other day too! There aren’t actual bumpers on cars anymore. and they need them badly! something rubber all around the cars would be nice!
Beautiful...
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