[Brad54]

It was incredibly common for windshields to pop out in head-on accidents back when these vehicles were new. Any vehicle that has the flange around the windshield opening and the rubber gasket like our trucks, was prone to losing the windshield in an accident. The windshields are pretty heavy: inertia of that weight simply peels the pliable rubber off the flange.

I'm glad to see the brunt of the impact on the passenger side: the steering box on our trucks has a solid shaft going up to the steering wheel (with the rag joint coupler, of course.). For every inch reward the frame is bent ahead of the firewall, that's an inch closer to your chest that steering wheel comes.

It also was common for people to sustain severe chest injuries from hitting the steering column/steering wheel. There was a movement as far back as at least the early '50s promoting collapsible steering wheels (my '54 Buick had that as an advertised option), but it wasn't the steering wheel so much as it was the harpoon behind it, running from the steering box to the horn button... although if you weren't buckled in and just slammed your chest into it, and the steering box didn't get shoved back, then yeah, I suppose the collapsible wheel was nice.


-Brad