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Thunderbird Club

#92,921
Sa
PillO said:
Jacked up trucks have handling problems and can't corner at any great speed. But because of the long wheel base, are not in danger of rolling end over end even with a heavy engine positioned slightly behind the front wheels. "smart" cars on the other hand, weigh very little - if memory servers two passengers raise the gross vehicle weight by 60% or so - and since the occupants can lurch forward on hard braking, and the front is rather rounded, it looks like it would roll end over end upon hard braking.
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Saw a vid where they ran a Smart Car into a concrete wall at 70mph. Most of the car pretty much exploded with impact, but the passenger compartment remained nearly intact. It looks like you could survive a pretty bad head-on accident in one of those little things. That was quite a surprise.
 
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#92,922
It got kinda cold at my gig last Saturday night, so I ended up putting on my jean jacket for sets 2 & 3. The bottom button lined up with the belly cut on my VP.
96172804-1133-4C84-AFB4-6166AC33CD46.jpeg

ACEC50C0-07EC-4D19-B1FB-26AF2C5044CA.jpeg


Apparently it takes much more than that to make a mark on the poly these things are sprayed with.
 
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#92,923
Count Bassie said:
Sa

Saw a vid where they ran a Smart Car into a concrete wall at 70mph. Most of the car pretty much exploded with impact, but the passenger compartment remained nearly intact. It looks like you could survive a pretty bad head-on accident in one of those little things. That was quite a surprise.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the passenger compartment can survive sudden deceleration much better than the meat-sack(s) inside. But that is true of all vehicles in collisions at those kinds of speeds.
 
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#92,924
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#92,926
D.M.N. said:
Welp, heading to Europe Monday for a three week tour, hitting Germany, France, England, Denmark, Sweden and Spain! Sadly can't take the Thunderbird with me #1 because of not having a case suitable for flying and #2 because I'm rather concerned by CITES and not having a passport for my rosewood basses. Thus I'm taking a tuxedo/maple neck Precision. It had those '58 pickups in it but swapped them for the '62 Originals I also use in my other P, sounds so much better now. The '58s sounded hollow and lacking mid-punch and grunt. It's now a solid substitute for the Thunderbird and other Precision.
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Have a great time!!!! Sounds like a lot of fun!!
 
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#92,929
PillO said:
Unfortunately, the passenger compartment can survive sudden deceleration much better than the meat-sack(s) inside. But that is true of all vehicles in collisions at those kinds of speeds.
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I suppose so, but it redeemed the value of that little bitty death-trap-looking buggy for me. At least you have a chance...
 
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#92,932
Count Bassie said:
Sa

Saw a vid where they ran a Smart Car into a concrete wall at 70mph. Most of the car pretty much exploded with impact, but the passenger compartment remained nearly intact. It looks like you could survive a pretty bad head-on accident in one of those little things. That was quite a surprise.
Click to expand...
Pretty smart (pun intended) Swatch/Mercedes consortium design. I drove one in Europe once. Three cylinder two speed transmission. Great around tight European city streets and alleys. Felt unsafe on the Bahn however.
The engine (at the time) was being built at the Daimler Chrysler facility in Berlin. It was funny to see the little three cylinder assembly line which sat right next to the huge Maybach V-12 assembly line...
 
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