Vintage Cars: Retrofitting crumble zones, basal skull fracture, accident reconstruction expert

Question
QUESTION: Hello Richard.

I am interested in purchasing a 1962 Cadillac, but I feel somewhat conflicted with one major safety issue: the car has no headrests.

1. If I get into an accident with a car like that, what are my chances of getting a severe case of whiplash or a broken neck?

2. Can the car be retrofitted with seats that come with headrests?

3. Also, how much damage could a violent impact have on a 62 Cadillac?


Best regards,

Julian

ANSWER: Julian, I'm not really an accident reconstruction expert or a physician, but I can offer some thoughts on your questions.

1) If you get rear-ended, there is a chance you could get whiplash, but in order for that to happen I would think that the vehicle hitting you would have to be heavier than your '62 Cadillac. I would think (again, I'm no expert on this topic) that this would preclude anything less than a high speed impact by a large pickup truck or SUV would not cause the whiplash rebound that you are concerned about. Again, I'm not an expert on this topic, so I would suggest that you consult a physician about the ways that whiplash or broken necks could occur. You could certainly drive the car into a concrete wall at 150mph and get a basal skull fracture like Dale Earnhardt did, and no headrest in the world is going to prevent that from happening.

2) If you're good with welding and fabricating, you can retrofit your car with high-back seats from a later model Cadillac, or even one with headrests. However, there is no "quick fix" on this one - you'll have to customize the installation yourself.

3) Anything hitting a '62 Cadillac is going to come away with a lot more damage than the Cadillac is, but the one problem you'd have is that reproduction replacement sheet metal doesn't exist. You will have to find good, serviceable used parts to make any repairs, and that might be a daunting task. I don't know how many good '62 Caddys are out in the junkyards around the country, but you'll also have to match up the exact same bodystyle and model. There certainly were a fair number of them made, and they were pretty substantial cars, so I'm sure there are some available.

I would suggest that you purchase a copy of Hemmings Motor News and look in the Cadillac section to find people/companies that specialize in '60s era Cadillacs - they might be the best resource for you to answer questions regarding retrofit and parts availability.

Good Luck!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello again.

I have another question regarding safety. I just saw a video about IIHS celebrating its 50th Anniversary by conducting a crash test between a  2009 Chevrolet Malibu vs a 1953 Chevrolet Bel Air.

See link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joMK1WZjP7g

After watching this video, it left me feeling very disturbed. It appears that cars with crumble zones are indeed safer than the classic cars.

1. Curious, could the 62 Caddy can be retrofitted with crumble zones?

2. Or would it have to be built from scratch, that is, building a replica utilizing a combination of raw materials that are just as strong as the classic cars but with modern safety equipment such as air bags, ABS, and crumble zones?

Julian

ANSWER: Crumple zones are a marvel of modern engineering, and really didn't come into the picture until Saab, Volvo and Mercedes started building them into their cars in the late 60s and early 70s. The concept involves sacrificing the car to save the life of the occupants by using lower strength steel at the outer edges of the body and using higher strength steel around the passenger cage. This is not something that can be retrofitted to an older car easily. You would have to completely re-engineer the frame of the car in order to do this, and then apply internal strengthening to the body cage.

As far as creating a replica with modern safety equipment like air bags, this would be virtually impossible. You can add seat belts, better braking systems and interior padding to an older car, but as far as adding air bags, I'm not aware of aftermarket air bags being available. Air bags are SO dangerous, I can't imagine a manufacturer creating one for the "do it yourselfer". Even engineered air bag systems in modern cars carry all sorts of warnings about them causing bodily injury if not properly belted in or if the occupant sits too close to the air bag. They are really only for a case of a high speed crash, sort of the last line of defense. I would not anticipate that you would be driving your '62 Caddy at 80mph on the highway, what with fuel costs and the fact that you're driving something that you've invested a lot of time and money restoring.

I think with retrofitted seat belts and large aftermarket brakes added to your '62 Caddy, you should be safe enough for the normal touring that you would do with a classic car. Certainly not NASCAR-ready, but fine enough for the Cruise Night and car show crowd.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: It's interesting that you mentioned about the dangers of airbags because years ago, I was in an accident with my Nissan 200sx and my airbag activated. My arm was hit by the airbag and it swelled up. Thank goodness that I'm tall or I would have been decapitated. Anyway, this is one of the main reasons why I don't want to have airbags in my next car.

1. So, my best bet is to custom build a brand new 62 Caddy replica with all the modern technology, except for airbags, correct?

I understand that the Caddys back them were made from recycled battleship materials which were impure and spend half their lives in the sea. Consequently, this would inevitably lead to rust and corrosion.

2. If I custom build a replica using newer and purer raw materials, would it be lighter and faster than the original 62 Caddy?

3. Also, just of curiosity, how fast can a 62 Caddy go?

Julian

Answer
No, I think your best bet would be to retrofit selected new technology to your existing '62 Caddy. You can get brake upgrades and seat belt upgrades that will bolt right onto your existing car. You could upgrade your transmission to a newer overdrive automatic, and obviously new tires and rims would provide you with better handling. I would also install more capable suspension components from Performance Suspension Technology. In this fashion (and with a large checkbook balance) you could build a pretty nice grand touring car.

As to the recycled battleship materials, that sounds like your basic urban legend. First of all, recycled steel is completely resmelted and is every bit as sound and strong as "virgin" steel. So, the fact that some of it might have lived in a previous life in a salt environment is metallurgically irrelevant.

My brother's first car was a '61 Caddy Sedan DeVille, and he had it up to 100 mph once, and it still had PLENTY of pedal left. It was just very, very, very scary because the suspension was letting it wallow all over the place. I guess the short answer is "faster that you'd care to drive it!!".