Curious about crash damage in a series

[greenmeanie]

In the UK Yank Tank is a reference to the oversize cars built in the US. Especially those ones with no handling, pleather interiors, and those wire spoke hub caps. It stems from the 70's and 80's. If you think of anything ever built by Cadillac you've got the idea.

SUV's are another thing entirely. We usually just refer to anything with a Hummer badge as G^y. In the UK SUV's are referred to as Chelsea Tractors.

Cheers
Gregor

[JimCT]

88" bug-eye and black ice

50 mph, black ice and a crowned road. Dog and I were fine but beat up. Be careful of all the things like high lift jacks, chains and tools one has unsecured. They all went flying. Jim

[LaneRover]

As you can see the roof is a crumple zone....

[SafeAirOne]

As you can see the roof is a crumple zone....

Yeah...I was just looking at that. I thought the roof might have held up a LITTLE (not much) better!

Was this a roll-over or a tip-over (or something else completely)?

[PH4]

As JimCT stated, watch out for the unsecured in the auto. I was in a L collision 5 months ago at 50mph in a Volvo SW and walked away because the Volvo took everything for me. Looked like a smashed tin can but I walked away. However, I had borrowed a cast iron dutch oven which was placed in the rear cargo space. At impact the dutch oven broke down the rear seat, went over the passenger seat and out through the front windshield. If someone had been in the passenger seat it would have been a very bad day.I try and secure everything now and puchased a dog barrier from Bearmach for the 109 SW.

[daveb]

thanks for the clarification. I heard the same thing somewhere else as well. I think the term applies nonetheless. Not my verbage anyway, that was how it was described by the chap that got hit. I suppose he can call it whatever he wants!

d

In the UK Yank Tank is a reference to the oversize cars built in the US. Especially those ones with no handling, pleather interiors, and those wire spoke hub caps. It stems from the 70's and 80's. If you think of anything ever built by Cadillac you've got the idea.

SUV's are another thing entirely. We usually just refer to anything with a Hummer badge as G^y. In the UK SUV's are referred to as Chelsea Tractors.

Cheers
Gregor

[LaneRover]

If I remember correctly, the first thing my Dad said when he got into the back of my 109 SW was, "I have never seen a vehicle interior that was so perilous to the human body"

He was of course referring to the fact that the only cushions were on the seats.

[JimCT]

Crash

rolled over onto it's side....slide backwards into a dirt embankment and did a few more spins. Nothing was straight afterwords, frame bent, doors had to be tied shut, drove somewhat sideways down the road. Ended up putting on a half cab top and tailgate and using it for a few more years like that.

[Bostonian1976]

As JimCT stated, watch out for the unsecured in the auto. I was in a L collision 5 months ago at 50mph in a Volvo SW and walked away because the Volvo took everything for me. Looked like a smashed tin can but I walked away. However, I had borrowed a cast iron dutch oven which was placed in the rear cargo space. At impact the dutch oven broke down the rear seat, went over the passenger seat and out through the front windshield. If someone had been in the passenger seat it would have been a very bad day.I try and secure everything now and puchased a dog barrier from Bearmach for the 109 SW.

I try and bungee everything down, but I'm not sure how much good a bungee cord is really going to do in an accident.

There is wayyyyyyyyy too much loose stuff in the back of my 88 right now - I will have to secure it all. (jack, tire iron, etc - things that wouldn't be pretty flying toward my head)

[sven]

Hmm after reading all this, I think I'll remove my canvas roof and go back to a hardtop.

[daveb]

http://www.landroverclub.net/Club/HTML/Rollcage.htm

http://www.landroverclub.net/Club/HTML/Main_Wrecks.htm

Hmm after reading all this, I think I'll remove my canvas roof and go back to a hardtop.

[greenmeanie]

As a side note on the roof thing.

WHen I went to collect my truck from the towing yard after my roll (only onto it's side at 40 mph thankfully) I got talking with the wrecker driver. He was actually quite impressed with how well my IIA held up. He showed me some of the other exibits in his yard and pointed out how on a lot of modern vehicles the A-pillar just folds back allowing the vehicle to go over on its roof. Once it is there the front end of the roof caves in on the driver which usually ruins their day.

Just saying hat once you start pushing the attitude envelope these old rovers are not too bad compared to a lot of modern stuff. At least if it happens I'm more likely to be travelling slower in the Rover.

Cheers
Gregor

[Tim Smith]

http://www.landroverclub.net/Club/HTML/Rollcage.htm

http://www.landroverclub.net/Club/HTML/Main_Wrecks.htm

Right, who has a pipe bender?

[JimCT]

Bungee cords....

Believe me they will not work in a real crash. The good think was about 5 people were able to stand the thing back on its wheels and i drove it home. State police said he had never seen a vehicle so beat up with no one hurt....but I do think that was dumb luck.

[Momo]

Gregor:

The guy in Phoenix was named Mike. We were acquaintances. Mike drove a RHD 109 Regular which was ex-military, I think from Bermuda or BVI.
It was a 2.25 Diesel and had no seat belts. Mike drove it often without any top. He was travelling down a two-lane highway somewhere southwest of Phx on his way back to Tucson. It was a clear dark night with good road conditions.

Mike was struck from behind by a car travelling over 70 mph. The other driver did not see him because it occurred over a crest in the road. Mike was ejected and the truck rolled over him. Based on how he drove, I'd guess he was going no more than 40 mph, so the impact speed was likely 34-40 mph.

The 109 was rebuildable, and was eventually acquired by another of Mike's Rover friends, who later sold it on before completing the rebuild.

As far as how safe we are in our Series Rovers, there are too many factors to accurately answer this without conducting modern crash testing, particularly the offset frontal test, which has found to be more of a real world scenario than the full head-on, and the side impact test. If you could find results of the crash tests done on Defenders, you'd be pretty close to knowing how your Series Rover would perform. Except that neither NHSTA nor the Insurance Institute ever tested them!

Being a Firefighter/Paramedic myself, I can tell anecdotal stories all day long. I have stories about unrecognizably destroyed cars whose occupants walked away without a scratch, cars with minor damage whose occupants where dead, and everything in between. The best you can do is wear seatbelts, drive defensively, do a mirror scan every 5 seconds or so, and look 3-5 seconds ahead to avoid trouble. Stay out of the mix, basically.

Two war stories:

1. In April I rolled my 109 regular onto the driver's side at the bottom of a very steep trail. It was topless & has no rollover protection. The whole thing was just a fluke, mainly inattention on my part. Were a few minor factors altered I would probably be dead. But the roll was gentle, it stopped at 90 degrees, I was belted, and I could escape. Just got lucky.

2. Last week I went to a wreck on the freeway. A tractor trailer rear ended a 1928 Ford Model A pickup that was doing 45 in an area where the typical speed is 75-80. Not wise.

Anyway, the big rig pushed the bed into the cab, which pushed the cab forward, which shortened the throttle rod linkage, so the Model A was revving away, but the driver was able to shut it off and slow safely to a stop. He was sore but basically unhurt. Not bad for being 77 years old(driver not vehicle) having no seatbelts and getting hit by 70-80,000 pounds. It was not the impact speed but the rig's mass that caused the damage. Some reasons it was not as bad as it could have been:

The impact speed was low;

It did not result in a sudden deceleration;

The vehicle did not suddenly change course, and

It was controllable after the event.

When the opposite happens, people really get hurt.