Fat Albert
New member
I am hoping no one was hurt, but a friend snapped this photo on the A1 near Stamford on Tuesday [
]
Anyone we know?
]Anyone we know?
A1 Accident Tuesday
- Thread starter Fat Albert
- Start date
BlackMagic
New member
Sad to see a car like that, but great to see the structural integrity. Not many modern cars woudl look so relatively unscathed.
Could be an impact with a 48 tonne arctic or brushed against a supermarket trolley?
Either way if he's selling his D90's......
One of the guys around the Wirral had a head on with a modern car (it was speeding and on the wrong side of the road) and I believe the injuries sustained by the drivers were similar, this was 5 years ago or thereabouts.
Yeah, I think I would choose our Citroen C1 over the 944 to crash in, for many reasons (millions of C1's, only a handful of 944s) but mainly it has airbags and better crashworthiness, despite being tiny, 944 wasnt bad safety wise for its day, but its day was a long time ago, its one area that has moved on more than any other, the 944 is based on the 924 which is from the mid seventies, the 968 went on until what, 1995, almost twenty years on the same basic chassis, ok, they gained ABS and some airbags on the 968 but I cant imagine a 968 behaves that much differently from a 924 in a smash.
George Elliott
New member
I hope none of us ever test our 944 crash worthiness, but at least some would be pleasantly surprised.
A 924/44/68 structure was way ahead of its time. Examples of this are rain gutter free pillars and roof, the chassis legs are almost unbendable and definitely un-straightenable, the engine, torque tube, rear beam are massively strong with plate steel brackets on the torque tube to stop it going back into the spare wheel well. the door posts doors Sills and rear quarters are heavily constructed (Sills are 3 vertical skins, just as the pillars are triple skin.) The engineering in the body was incredible for the era (Mk3 Cortina, Marina, Viva,) but the 944 was from Neckarsulm, home of the Audi 100 and RO80 which if you compare with say the Ford in terms of engineering, well there is no comparison, and the 924 type is still good today if no longer cutting edge.
They are strong in an old fashioned sort of way like real pre-bling Audi's were.
Citroens.......have you ever seen a damaged PSA car? They are not well made which is why they are cheap and depreciate like a stone. Generally speaking French cars are like this. They have mastered N-Cap with long seat runners and such cheap tricks to move the driver back.
Only quoting what I have seen from experience.
Best option is to keep motoring non-contact, but I don't imagine the unfortunate owner of the white car above would like a HGV squeeze against the Barrier in a Smart or Caterham.
George
944t
A 924/44/68 structure was way ahead of its time. Examples of this are rain gutter free pillars and roof, the chassis legs are almost unbendable and definitely un-straightenable, the engine, torque tube, rear beam are massively strong with plate steel brackets on the torque tube to stop it going back into the spare wheel well. the door posts doors Sills and rear quarters are heavily constructed (Sills are 3 vertical skins, just as the pillars are triple skin.) The engineering in the body was incredible for the era (Mk3 Cortina, Marina, Viva,) but the 944 was from Neckarsulm, home of the Audi 100 and RO80 which if you compare with say the Ford in terms of engineering, well there is no comparison, and the 924 type is still good today if no longer cutting edge.
They are strong in an old fashioned sort of way like real pre-bling Audi's were.
Citroens.......have you ever seen a damaged PSA car? They are not well made which is why they are cheap and depreciate like a stone. Generally speaking French cars are like this. They have mastered N-Cap with long seat runners and such cheap tricks to move the driver back.
Only quoting what I have seen from experience.
Best option is to keep motoring non-contact, but I don't imagine the unfortunate owner of the white car above would like a HGV squeeze against the Barrier in a Smart or Caterham.
George
944t
edh
New member
I've seen a couple of cars at ph sportscars recently where the passenger sill is almost touching the transmission tunnel! Obviously I can't compare this to other cars, and can't really offer an opinion on the degree of corrosion in the sills, but if you hit a large immovable object like a tree or lamp post, it can be pretty nasty.
But no one's mention value here yet [
]
chrisg
Member
With regard to safety, you can't compare a car designed 25yrs + ago to the ones designed today - all news cars have seat belt tensioners, numerous airbags, etc.
Having raced both a R5 GT turbo and a Porsche 924 I have first hand experience of which bent more and which was made of soft French plasticine......
Having reversed my 924 race car into a non deformable structure at 40mph (concrete wall at Croix en ternois) I can attest to the solidity and superbly engineered German bodyshell. The shell for these cars will take almighty forces and still protect its occupants, unfortunately if the deceleration is too great the soft squadgy Human inside won't fare as well (hence the need for airbags etc).
Chris
Having raced both a R5 GT turbo and a Porsche 924 I have first hand experience of which bent more and which was made of soft French plasticine......
Having reversed my 924 race car into a non deformable structure at 40mph (concrete wall at Croix en ternois) I can attest to the solidity and superbly engineered German bodyshell. The shell for these cars will take almighty forces and still protect its occupants, unfortunately if the deceleration is too great the soft squadgy Human inside won't fare as well (hence the need for airbags etc).
Chris
Neil Haughey
New member
The bulkheads in a 944 are very strong and its spine heavily built but TBH compared to modern cars the floor is a bit too 'thin' for me. If you hit something hard enough for the front wheel to come off and move inwards you would be in big trouble. Likewise I am not overly convinced by the strength of the roof as the A pillars are a bit thin. All of these areas are much more heavily built on modern cars. Having said that one look at an old torsion bar 911 bodyshell is pretty scary, forget having any legs if you have a heavy front ender in one of those things.
George Elliott
New member
The deceleration is a major factor as you say Chris, and an area where modern cars have made progress, but a strong basic structure is the first priority. Interesting to hear from those who have proved the shell....
One of the ways the strength was achieved in the pillars in addition to 3 skins was to spot-weld with higher amps and at around 30mm pitch. You can see the high current in the depth of the spot. On the B pillar the welds are at about 22mm pitch which is incredible. The factory must have had a huge electricity bill. I once saw the rear quarter of a Pug 205 ripped off showing about 6 spot-welds and some sealer for the whole panel.
George
944t
One of the ways the strength was achieved in the pillars in addition to 3 skins was to spot-weld with higher amps and at around 30mm pitch. You can see the high current in the depth of the spot. On the B pillar the welds are at about 22mm pitch which is incredible. The factory must have had a huge electricity bill. I once saw the rear quarter of a Pug 205 ripped off showing about 6 spot-welds and some sealer for the whole panel.
George
944t
Posts made and opinions expressed are those of the individual forum members
Use of the Forum is subject to the Terms and Conditions
