[PRCo] Re: Antique Trolleys & Trucks

[Fred Schneider]

I guess I should take this off line but....

IMHO, the problem with taking something that nice across the country to PTM is simply exposure of you and it.   Would be much better to load it in a van and take it there that way.   

Those old tanks may have seemed safe but we killed people in them a lot more readily than we do in today's vehicles.  We learned that a vehicle that slowly crumples saves a lot more lives than one that behaves like a brick wall.   We also learned that if we harness people in a slowly crumpling vehicle, we have a pretty good chance of surviving when we plow a car into a brick wall at mile-a-minute speeds.    

In 1963 we were just putting seat belts on cars as a option and dealers would deduct them from the price if the buyer objected.   I suspect your 1966 truck didn't even come with lap belts unless the state where it was delivered had an earlier law.   Much better to throw you through the windshield.   The first federal lap belt law was January 1, 1968 and the three-point seat belt law took effect Dec. 1, 1984.   

Did you notice that, perhaps because of the recession (depression?  ... worst since the 1930s), motor vehicle fatalities are roughly the same in 2009 as they were in 1950 ... 33,808 last year versus 33,186 almost 60 years ago.   In that time the population U. S. population doubled from 151 million to about 309 million and the number of active vehicles probably increased by eight times.     (Accidents peaked at about 37 or 38 thousand and then dropped as mileage dropped in the recession.) (Last year we manufactured 7 times more US cars than we did in 1950 and they last probably twice as long.)   

I suspect we could even lower the accidents a lot more if we could get those damn cell phones out of people's hands but as long as there is money to be made selling / leasing them, the lobbyists will fight to keep them in drivers hands.   


On Sep 8, 2010, at 11:53 PM, Ken and Tracie wrote:

> Thanks, Fred. I've had it sine 1998. It was the one I did the disk brake 
> conversion on a couple years ago, which we discussed.
> 
> It didn't look that nice when I first got it.
> 
> K.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2010 2:05 PM
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Antique Trolleys & Trucks
> 
> 
>> So when did you buy that?    Looks nice.
>> 
>> Let's see, 2164 miles x 2 = 4328 miles.   Probably gets about 14 miles per 
>> gallon.   That means 309 gallons at $2.70 a gallon =  $834.  But you want 
>> to do it before gas goes back up to $4 a gallon.
>> 
>> If you have the daughter in BYU, you'll need the ability to camp in the 
>> back of the truck in route.      :<)
>> 
>> 
>> On Sep 8, 2010, at 11:26 AM, Ken and Tracie wrote:
>> 
>>> I don't know if 1966 is "antique" enough, but maybe I'll drive this puppy 
>>> to
>>> PTM one of these years.
>>> K.
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Dennis F Cramer" <trombone at windstream.net>
>>> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2010 6:26 AM
>>> Subject: [PRCo] Antique Trolleys & Trucks
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --
>>> -- Type: image/jpeg
>>> -- Size: 130k (133838 bytes)
>>> -- URL : 
>>> http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/truckhood007.jpg
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
>