Docbrock

There is a link in CFOT https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ter-crash.html where a Porsche Speedster got in a pretty bad wreck, killing passenger and severely injuring the driver. My instant thought was... well, that's just a VW bug pan and some steel doors, no wonder they had such a bad outcome.

Then I got thinking, the C3 has pretty much the same safety features, lap belt, no air bags, and fiberglass doors.

Kinda scary to think of what a Sunday afternoon cruise may end up in.

Alan 71

Hi DB,
I think you know!
We're talking about a 45 year old car with a collapsable steering column and lap and shoulder belts.... and that's it. (Slightly later cars grew side impact beams in the doors.)
A pretty serious frame helps, but anything with any height to it comes over the frame and into the driver's lap.
Regards,
Alan

The 2 door, 2 seat car I regularly drive has..."Driver and passenger advanced dual-stage airbags, knee airbags, front thorax side airbags and Sideguard® head curtain airbags." I guess I'd rather be bouncing around the interior of that car than my Corvette.

doorgunner

For the non-purist daily driver......100lbs of well place hidden steel will greatly improve the safety of a C3.

v2racing

I think our corvettes are only slightly better than motorcycles as far as safety goes. Being someone who has ridden motorcycle all his life starting as a teen in the 60's, I believe yourself is going to make the difference of living or dying. I believe 100% in defensive driving. I'm scanning around me at all times watching for others trying to take me out. I think it's the only reason I'm still here.

Mike

pigfarmer

Docbrock

I drive my C3 like a grandma. I too spent 100k plus miles riding motorcycles, as I didn't own a car for many years while in college. My C3's brakes are.... not as good as modern brakes, so I leave plenty of distance around me for stopping.

None of those safety minded habits will save me from a stoned asian woman driver.

derekderek

The better than motorcycles in one way. People in cars can actually see it. They don't ignore it and drive into the spot that the motorcycle is filling. It seems like every single time I got on the motorcycle, somebody in a car tried to kill me. And if I needed more than two and a half feet of width they would have succeeded.

71 Green 454

Hi Alan, did your '71 come with lap and shoulder belts? Mine only has the lap belts.

mkdesign

Stoned, Asian woman driver? Sorry dude but I thought were beyond bigoted and narrow-minded comments such as this.

Docbrock

Did you read the linked story? The woman who killed the person in the Porsche was Asian, stoned. I was referring to that. And btw, chill out.

mkdesign

Drunk or stoned...it doesn't matter. If a person gets behind the wheel when they are impaired they are fools, no matter who they are. That is the point that counts.

pigfarmer

These lap belts just make it easier for the ambulance driver to find the body – or the bottom half anyway. The best safety device out there bar none is situational awareness. Motorcyclists (I am one) understand this – the old ones anyway. Loud pipes do not save lives. Being aware does.

I have 30+ years of driving service trucks at all hours, in any weather all over NY and CT. Quite a lot of it in Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, and Long Island. It’s a free for all and even in vehicles covered with reflective decals you would think I have my Cloaking Device activated. It’s like the lines on the road are mere suggestions for sissies or somebody else. I automatically look much further down the road than most and always keep track of who is around me in case of the need for a sudden lane change. I was able to lessen the effect of being rear-ended at over 70mph my seeing it coming even if I had nowhere to go. And if that isn’t enough there’s deer, raccoons and once a gigantic goddamned OWL. Big f***ing OWL…… scared me to death.

I gave up road cycling because of cell phones. Too many people distracted by complete bullshit anymore; idle cit chat, texting, watching goddamned movies. Had a very close call that just told me to hang it up after 20+ years.

Our C3s sit down very low and aren’t always the most visible. I don’t drive like Granny but in a car where your precious *** is quite vulnerable I have a healthy respect and hope to never have to rely on that old car to protect me. Or my wife.

I gotta go knock on some wood or something……

mkdesign

I completely agree with you. Late this summer I hit a deer that was very determined to get to the other side of the road. He, unfortunately, didn't make it and caused close to $8000 damage to my little Dodge truck. Thankfully we weren't in my 'vert as I would imagine that we would have been dealing with the consequences of the animal coming through the windshield. I rarely drive my Vette late into the evening so I hope that I'm lessening my chances of an encounter with a drunk driver but it would appear that distracted driving (cell phones and electronic gimics in cars) is making daytime driving riskier.

GTR1999

While I never drive into NYC, I used to be a service tech covering CT & western Ma and drivers in our area are bad. The roads are now overloaded on every major highway around here much more so then 10+ years ago which is a surprise given the amount of people and business that have left this area due to high costs of living and taxes.

When I take my 72 out I go to the back roads away from the morons on the main roads. I don't know what it is when I get into main road traffic but I find people tailgating me, running stop signs, or just plain cutting in front of me. I am going the speed limits for the road and conditions so I don't know if they don't see me, are trying to see the car closer, or are just on their cell phone- most likely the problem. My son's 75 was totaled by a pizza kid running a stop sign and taking off the nose, even though my son had the right of way and tried to avoid him the kid paid no attention and we later heard he was bragging at his pizza store how he took out a corvette.

To answer the question of how these cars hold up- impossible to say. My son was not injured but the car was wrecked, years ago my buddy had his 71's rear quarter panel ripped off by a hit and run, another buddy with a 69 couple slammed gears right into telephone pole pushing the engine & trans into the passenger seat- he walked away, another guy from many years ago ran his 62 into a fire hydrant causing little damage to the vette but it pushed the solid steering box and column into his chest and was dead in the car.

Sunstroked

I own 2 street bikes, and ride them often, the Corvette is slightly better. But....its best not to think about it. Just enjoy your life.

mrvette

Put it this way....My first car was a '60 vette in '66.......lost it in a wreck....tail assed light.....

had an '87, but not comfy for me.....sold and bought my '72 vert here now.....

had more wrecks with it PARKED!!!! than on the road in the last 22 years.....serious....

NOW, my wife/family have lost THREE vehicles to illegals in the last 5 years......WIFE got rear ended on our shopping drag...3 lanes each way...at 45 mph while stopped at a traffic light.....'99 Escort.....

she in my '72 vette and the gas tank would have killed her......

and I would have killed the driver behind her....

CASE CLOSED.......

Priya

Its nice to hear someone with a more realistic attitude. I hear so many people saying they are in no danger driving because they are such a great driver. The reality is regardless of how good a driver you are, even if you never make a mistake you can't account for what other drivers do.

As far as the Corvette goes, I always thought it would be a disaster in a car accident due to the flimsiness of the fiberglass body but the C3's I've seen in accidents have generally done quite a bit better than I would have expected. I.E. the passenger compartment has been intact despite severe front or rear damage.

Crimson Thunder

Shoulder belts were an option in convertibles and standard in t-top cars. My convertible has only lap belts.

H P Bushrod

When your number's up, It doesn't matter if you're in a Mack truck...time to die.

Priya

Uhhhhh.... No.

Your number is far less likely to be up if you're driving a Mack truck than if you're driving a BMW Isetta.