Everything you always wanted to know about GM's "X" frames :

[Greg Myers]

Should also be noted, all the so-called "rust" that most folks like to point out in that video, is actually dirt. Those late '50s cars were known for collecting dirt in the fenders, especially over the headlamps (that's one of reasons you see that area rusted out so often).

For those who believe that modern video was faked, here's one that was filmed back when these cars were new.

http://youtu.be/-MGKBD4BA6E WARNING, this video is rather graphic, with actual accident scenes and victims.

I remember having to watch that film in high School back in the early sixty's. Watch the Patrol car driver weave all over the road in the beginning,

[Modelmartin]

Should also be noted, all the so-called "rust" that most folks like to point out in that video, is actually dirt. Those late '50s cars were known for collecting dirt in the fenders, especially over the headlamps (that's one of reasons you see that area rusted out so often).

I remember all of the headlights falling out on 50s GM cars because snow, salt, and dirt would collect above the headlights. I saw a few that had the headlights sewed back on with wire!!

[Longbox55]

That's an area I where I got lucky with my '55. Other than a little rust on the lower fender tips, the rest of the the fenders were in pretty good shape. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the doors, which had the typical '50s lower door rust.

BTW, while for the most part, I will agree that modern cars are much safer, I have had the misfortune of seeing just what a '50s vehicle will do to a modern vehicle in straight bumper to bumper collision. I had a little under 30 mph accident in the '55 with an '05 VW Jetta. The other drive had to stop short because the traffic ahead of him had stopped (the light was green). I didn't catch in time and was a little too close to stop (would not have mattered if I had modern brakes or not). Tagged him pretty good. While there were no injuries, the VW took the brunt oof the damage, about $5600 worth. The whole trunk got shoved forward about 6". Mine ended up with a slightly kinked fender, a bent front bumper/broken LH bumper bracket, and a hole punched in the radiator from the core support shifting on its mounts. My end came out to $1700 to repair.

Not necessarily defending vintage cars, more of a real world first person experience, rather than a worst case scenario.

Edited March 23, 2014 by Longbox55

[carrucha]

My '64 Impala coupe was my daily driver from 1995-1999 until I realized that I didn't want to risk wrecking it in rush hour traffic so I got a Honda Civic to drive to work. The Impala has been regulated to a weekend car. Years later I realized how dangerous it is to drive a classic car during commute hours so not only was I saving my Impala from being wrecked I drastically improved my chances of surviving a major accident during the daily commute.

[NYLIBUD]

I love the whoOly Mammoth.I remember seeing that car race on different drag race shows.I never liked Pinks.I always thought the host was a moron.They need to bring back Past Time.That was a great drag racing show. 

[tim boyd]

Fascinating thread...thanks for pulling forward. 

Just a caution here.  The Curbside Classics website - and most specifically, the factual content of some responses posted there - can at times be a somewhat controversial source of truly accurate historical automotive information, or at least it is considered as such among some of the truly knowledgeable automotive experts and historians that I know.  

While I did not note any inaccuracies in Mr. Niedermeyer's introductory text on X-frames, (and I did not read the responses, which on this website often contain incorrect information), just a word to the wise to always cross check key information you read there with other authoritative automotive reference sources before you take it to be fact. 

TIM 

[Cpt Tuttle]

On 3/23/2014 at 4:39 AM, carrucha said:

My '64 Impala coupe was my daily driver from 1995-1999 until I realized that I didn't want to risk wrecking it in rush hour traffic so I got a Honda Civic to drive to work. The Impala has been regulated to a weekend car. Years later I realized how dangerous it is to drive a classic car during commute hours so not only was I saving my Impala from being wrecked I drastically improved my chances of surviving a major accident during the daily commute.

Don't know what year Civic you got, but they were improved in 1996, but before that they crumpled up like beer cans in crashes (and yes, I understand the concept of crumple zones, we're talking about the passenger compartment now), that, combined with less weight makes me doubt that one would automatically fare better in a pre 1996 Civic in all kinds of crashes, not trying to defend the Impala now.....

But the traffic sure has changed in the last 20-30 years, and also, not all old land barges are the same, there was lots of improvements in the 60s and 70s, and to put it this way, generally speaking in a sea of lightweight 80s asian subcompacts with beer can rigidity, you probably could feel safe in a 1978 Cadillac Eldorado in the 90s. In a vehicle 20 years older than that, nowadays when everybody is driving huge ass SUVs and even the weight of subcompacts are reaching the weight of a Volvo or Mercedes in the early 90s, maybe not so much. I shake my head when people are telling me that my daily driver (lifted Nissan 720) will crush everything in its path, it's lighter than a modern Volvo wagon and is basically a cracker box bolted onto a primitive frame, probably both rigid where it shouldn't be and weak where it shouldn't be, since it didn't have to pass any safety standards due to being registered as a light truck, I don't think that it even has a collapsible column, only a single U-joint that maybe will make it slightly less of a spear.

But I don't care much about that to be honest since people are riding motorcycles too and survives more often than they don't, and where I live I think that I have a higher risk to run into a moose than being in a head on collision, and there the height will be in my favour compared to a regular car where it will land on the roof and crush the A-pillars......

[carrucha]

I forgot about this thread.  I drove my 1999 Honda Civic HX coupe until the 2nd transmission failed on me in November 2013.  I replaced the Civic with a 2014 Impala which is my daily driver to this day.  It is nice to drive a big sedan again every day.  I no longer get pushed around on the road by SUVs and pickup trucks.  You are much safer to drive a modern car on today's roads than any car from the 1960's.  Cars from the 1960's were designed for the road conditions of the time.  Today's driving conditions are a lot worse than in the 1960's.  Today's driver has to deal with more crowded roads and distracted drivers on smart phones.  There is crash test video of 1959 Chevy Bel Air versus a 2009 Chevy Malibu.  You are most likely to survive in the 2009 Malibu than the 1959 Bel Air.