Did some early '60s wagons have a problem with exaust being sucked into the cabin?

I don't like seat belts, but always wear one (it's the law in Illinois- "Click it or ticket"). I am kinda tall, so they are usually a little uncomfortable for me. At least the seatbelts are a little loose on my wagon because the springs are well broken-in so they are not strangling me.

 

I do. My wife hates them, but she hates fines even more.

After driving a few fuellers back in the late 60's, I became a believer.

There was an accident here the other day. He was 83, she was 76. Struck on the driver's side (his) by a Semi, at 50 MPH, as the car was making a turn. He survived, she didn't. He had his belt on, she didn't.

 

Well, Norm...for every "belt on" story like that you can tell me....I can match it with a "belt off" story. Seat belts have saved lives. So have no seat belts. Besides...if the G tells me to do it ... it HAS to be a bad thing.

 

Everyone in this ill-fated wagon Titanic is asking about is going to die of carbon monoxide poisoning anyway! Who cares if they are belted in!

David

 

LMAO at Wix! Good point!

 

No arguments from me about G-controlled regulations. Too many are merely political. Remember the double-nickel speeds to save fuel?

I can give you one about seatbelts that supports your argument.

My dad and I were driving on a clear winter evening from near Toronto to Ottawa on a two-lane major highway. Cold, starlit, mid-week. No traffic. There's a semi ahead of us, by about a half mile, the road starts to twist through a section of shale-sided rockfaces, and the semi hits an icey patch. He's loaded with reinforcement rod. His headache rack isn't strong enough to keep the rods from sliding forward, when he runs into the rockface head on, and glances back onto the hiway shoulder. The cab lights up in flames. We stopped. My dad, 285 lb. strongman tries to get the door open. Succeeds.

The guy has his belt on, screaming because his feet are on fire and its climbing his pants. Yells to my dad to kill him. Dad caught on fire too. The reinforcing rods had him pinned into the dash. Dad found a way to eliminate his pain, put the fire out and got back in the car to get help. I stayed with this poor fellow and wept.

We finished our 200 mile trip without a word. The belt made no apparent difference, but he might have had the presence of mind to jump. We'll never know.

 

Dang, Norm, that is one tough story. Kind of makes my heart hurt.
Thanks for sharing.

I'm now, going to get up and get to work on my wagon, and try to get happy again.

David

 

You GO, Wix!!

 

I never said a word at home, and neither did my dad. When we graduated from university together, we got slap-happy drunk, just him and I, in the backyard garage, laughing our asses off at the dumb things we'd done together. My mother must've been listening to see if we were ok. At some point dad and I started mumbling, and mom came out to check. We must've let it slip out in our drunken stooper, and mom came back with some coffee, crying her eyes out, until dad cracked a funny, about the great marshmallow roast we could have had that night. He was too drunk to remember he said it, but mom gave him such a cuff across the face that he woke up, and said "Hi, honey! Don't be sad, we're just pi$$ed."

He never knew that she knew. She knew that I knew though, and she pumped me for all the details. Abu Graihb would have been a picnic. She never said a word about it. She always wondered how dad eased his pain. I never knew that either, and I never asked.

Anyway, we slept on the garage floor that night. Too drunk to move. And mom wasn't having anything to do with either of us new graduate Engineers! We stumbled out at about noon the next day (Saturday), when a few of our classmates came by, and they brought more beer and pizzas. It was Sunday before we went back in the house. Mom wouldn't let us in. She didn't want my 3 sisters to see us sloshed. We used a lot of dry tires that weekend.

 

Norm, that is quite a story, and you write about it beautifully. I can see it.
Your mom and dad sound like a great couple...both strong and wise and tender.

David

 

I should think a seat belt will keep you from flying through the windshield, but there been instances where they kept people strapped inside their wrecked car as it burst into flames......

 

Thanks, they were. Didn't want to leave you in the dumps. There was an upside.

 

I have a friend that crashed his Chevelle. He was thrown out of the car and the car was totally crushed. I mean TOTALLY. He lived but would not have if he were strapped in. On the other hand...I had a friend that was thrown clear out of a Corvette that was crashed to disintegration. He wasn't so lucky....he was thrown into a telephone pole. Didn't make it. Point is...there are pros and cons for both. The law enforcement use it for collecting revenue and that burns me. Keep the G out of my life and I will make my own life decisions. And I don't want to hear that it raises YOUR insurance rates. Again...there are pros and cons and the G should stay out of it.

 

same for airbags....They can both protect a person, as well as decapitate them...

 

Yep! 100% with you on that SF!

When you look at the commonsense way that the EnergyStar program is run to make appliances and HVAC equipment safer, more efficient, etc. it really begs the question why politicians diddle with vehicle issues. Put a bunch of really knowledgeable people in place to spec out the similar design issues for manufacturers and let them build them.

I don't know if our members in Washington, Oregon or British Columbia have seen any improvement in their highway pavement yet, but when I was there in the mid-early 90's, one company made up of engineers from different universities was getting the three governments to buy into recycling tires for use in better pavements and football field surfaces. Lasts longer, takes heavy traffic without disturbing the earth below, handles rain and frost heave better, etc. We're about to use it here, in the Prairie icebox. Better stopping, less skidding, fewer potholes, etc. etc.

And the asphalt industry is not fighting anymore, because they make more by producing Crude Oil out of the tarsands and tar shale. Its not to say that engineers have all the answers, but politicians depend on Lobby dollars, even if lives are at stake. They should take an oath like doctors, to do no harm.