A car for Life?

[SiC]

I don't want an indestructible body shell on my daily driver car. I want it to sacrifice itself to protect me when some dickhead, not concentrating, has driven into me while I'm minding my own business.

The two accidents I've only ever had and the one my wife has had, were both when I was stopped stationary in traffic. Both of my times there wasn't a lot I could do about it. First I'd had to move lane into moving motorway traffic. The other was at a set of lights with cars coming the other way who just had been around a corner.

In all cases the cars did their job as I'm typing to you now with no real ill effects. Apart from a neck that gets awfully sore at times which was caused by the first accident I had.

[captain_70s]

And no, your Wolseley 6/110 will not come off better if hit by a 2014 Golf at 40 mph.

Maybe if you built it onto a Rhodius chassis... Those damn things are nigh on industructable, or possibly a London cab.

I mean, the car might be able to get straightened out, but the jam that was once you will need to be hosed out first...

I reckon older cars will eventually be phased out of being viable everyday use, hence my running of shite now rather than later. Although to be honest I'm not massively fussed. Driving is a miserable exercise in all but the most remote areas of the country, commuting is a tedious and over crowded bore.
I imagine old cars will be allowed to run as a hobbyist movement to a limited extent, which will probably satisfy the vast majority of owners.

For many a year I've been considering getting an even older car next but I think I'm just going to acquire a Volvo 700/900 estate and keep the oldies for occasional use.

[LynehamHerc]

At the risk of tempting fate I can testify that a MGB is pretty solid.

I was hit in the driver's side by an escort doing a fair whack down a dual carriageway with only a temporary neck problem as a result.
I guess that the built-in strength needed to stop it folding up as an open car helped.
There's also a lot of space in front of the engine.

I'd still rate my chances much higher in my son's Citigo though.

[SiC]

MGB is one of the first cars that were designed/re-designed with some level of crash safety and crumple zones in mind. Iirc it was around 1968 on that they started putting different designs of collapsible steering columns on it.

They even crash tested it. Far lower speeds than now but the MGB did not too bad.
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[LynehamHerc]

Yeah, it was 1968.

Here's a brief extract of an article:

"A common complaint about the MGB is the collapsible steering columns fitted from model year 1968 onward. It seems that all too often they wear out long before the rest of the car does, or at least, when the rest of the car is repaired, the steering column is ignored. Often it is because the factory never offered any replacement parts, so when they wore out, you either had to find a replacement column or you just had to put up with the worn parts."

Mine's 1974, has done about 65,000 miles and still seems OK as far as I can remember as it's so many years since I've driven it on the road.

[SiC]

Mine has done at least 158k miles and it still seems ok. That includes me recently trying to get the steering wheel free with hammers this year.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

At the risk of tempting fate I can testify that a MGB is pretty solid.

In a head on with an Escort or a Viva, maybe. A modern car will cut through it like a hot knife through butter. That's a new one, not one that's had sills replaced and rust in the seams.

The W123 Merc was an early example of crumple zones that actually worked. Mercedes took this shit seriously quite early on.

[Hooli]

I know someone who hit a washing machine at about 80mph in a MGB & walked away. Better than I'd expect a lot of cars to manage.

No one ever explained what the washing machine was doing in the middle of a dual carriageway though.

[LynehamHerc]

Probably fell off the back of a Transit pick up.

[Hooli]

But surely those lovable rogues who collect scrap would ensure their load is safe?