The 1950's Sir Vival Safety Car

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DMala@reddit

It’s funny how many “safety cars” there were in the ‘50s that were absolutely bonkers.

Wouldn’t the two-piece design mean that it has no caster? You’d have to haul on the wheel to turn and then haul it back straight after. I dunno if that creates a safety issue but it certainly creates a massive pain in the ass.

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Basic-Art-9861@reddit

Safety first?

False. Safety all the time.

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liam3@reddit

you can see there are a lot of thought went into this. at least you cant say it's just a rebadged acura with a civic underneath.

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thetoiletslayer@reddit

A lot of thought went into everything accept being able to see where you're going

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SupaFugDup@reddit

Actually the seat is raised such that the driver can see above the central headlight and get an unobstructed view even on turns.

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thetoiletslayer@reddit

Holy cow I didn't even see that lol. I thought the driver was in that side window area

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Hippiebigbuckle@reddit

Don’t be ridiculous, those are clearly knee-windows. 🤪

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thetoiletslayer@reddit

I do hate when my knees don't get a good view

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dabigchina@reddit

So the weird shape is basically a crude form of the crumple zone. Kinda cool.

Although I suspect even very minor impacts would break the car in half and make it unrepairable.

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towerfella@reddit

Thats awesome. Thanks for sharj g

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Electronic_Share1961@reddit

Wouldn’t the two-piece design mean that it has no caster? You’d have to haul on the wheel to turn and then haul it back straight after.

The front axle is completely solid, it turns by pivoting at the middle like an articulated dump truck

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DMala@reddit

That’s what I’m saying. With that kind of a setup, you turn the wheel and it pivots, but if you let go it’s not going to return to straight the way a normal car does. That’s fine for specialized construction equipment, but for a passenger car it’s going to be a big PITA at best.

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Electronic_Share1961@reddit

Hydraulic steering systems can have return to center functions, this was probably considered a safety feature at the time since non-collapsible steering columns were a major cause of fatal accidents at the time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_r5UJrxcck

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