[DML] Re: DeLorean Crash safety (was Gullwings on any car)

["cbl1739" <cbl302@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Louie,

I have owned and repaired Salvage Deloreans in the past,and started 
my FIRST ground up restore in 1982,yes when DMC was still in 
business..and have owned "hard hit" Delorean parts cars,including 
one that had a hard hit on the drivers door,which later I fully 
unskinned(the door) to see the extent of the interior damage of the 
door(I have the pics that I could download to the folders section if 
anyone wants to see the "unseen" side of the door. 
The ONLY reason why I point out the weak points on the Delorean is 
that every time (countless times) of reading on this site how people 
belittle the Bricklin,or know very little of the Safety that was 
engineered into the Bricklin,and how some people make the Bricklin 
sound like a POS(which it is not)it was engineered with and foremost 
as a safety vehicle vs Delorean making safety second in front of 
style and Finish coming first,(Bricklin put style and finish 
secondary)In other words just because this site is for 
deloreans,there is NO reason to make the Bricklin sound like a POS 
on this site.The bricklin sites DO NOT do that to the 
Delorean.Basically I am standing up for the Bricklin by pointing out 
the weak points in the delorean.


I too got T-boned(passenger side) in my Bricklin and outside of a 
black Molding coming off(which I was able to clean and reuse)There 
was zero(0) damage I even pulled the side panel to check and again 
outside of the Molding ZERO damage,since the sill was way higher 
than the Delorean the door(or body) did not get any damage at all !! 
All the impact was absorbed into the frame.
As you can see in your pics the Door took the brunt of the 
impact,had the sill been higher up,you might NOT even have gotten 
any door damage(or less side damage) like in my case.
My point was that the Delorean's weak point is it's nose not 
necessarily the side since you do have a built in rail inside the 
door and a Fiberglass/HD foam crash bar on the side going up and 
across the roof to the passenger side and on the front side where 
the door Pins/brackets attach.(but the side rail was lowered for 
style/access)Also again even the back of the Delorean will fair well 
in a back collision.Again I was pointing in a nose collision it will 
not fair well at all vs the Bricklin which will fair VERY 
well,leaving the passenger cabin in  untouched condition.

Did the frame get any damage/was this car put back on the road?

Claude
Bricklin
1024
Safety Vehicle 1



--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Louie" <louie@...> wrote:
>
> I've been watching the banter on this thread for some time, and 
could 
> no longer sit by and let Claude spew his uninformed 
misinformation. I 
> feel my two cents are worthwhile to this discussion since I'm one 
of 
> the very few in the online DeLorean community to total his 
DeLorean. I 
> was t-boned by a 5,000 pound all-steel Cadillac Fleetwood with 
full 
> chrome bumpers travelling at roughly 50 mph, and look what 
happened to 
> my car:
> 
> http://www.dmcnews.com/mydmc/10115wreck2_louie.jpg
> http://www.dmcnews.com/mydmc/10115wreck_louie.jpg
> 
> My DeLorean was hit so hard that it spun a 180. The passenger 
> compartment of my DeLorean was NOT affected by the collision. The 
car 
> absorbed the entire impact, and I was ~NOT~ hurt. I walked away, 
the 
> only injury I sustained was a cut on my neck, either from glass or 
my 
> seatbelt. The biggest gripe I had about the DeLorean's crash 
> performance was the underbody was so deflected by the impact that 
even 
> the passenger door was jambed shut; I had to crawl out the drivers 
> window of my car after the wreck. That simply meant that the car 
was 
> again absorbing the impact INSTEAD OF MY BODY! Everyone expected 
me to 
> never want to get in a DeLorean again after my wreck, but the 
opposite 
> was true. I was so impressed with the car's impact performance 
that I 
> wouldn't have ANY other car after my wreck. I was in a new 
DeLorean a 
> month after my wreck. I hate to fuel Claude, but I just can't let 
him 
> assault the DeLorean on something that hits a little to close to 
home 
> for me. We can all insult the car for various things, but safety I 
> feel, is not one of them.
> 
> Louie Golden
> Charlotte, NC
> Sometimes DeLorean owner :-)
> 
> --- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Farrar Hudkins" <fhudkins@> wrote:
> >
> > The state of the passengers, not the car, is more important in a 
> crash.
> > 
> > Farrar Hudkins
> > #2613
>




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