SLIGHTLY DAMAGED 73 MACH 1
#1
http://www.gtspirit.com/2013/08/07/car-c...th-africa/

In a strange sort of way the Mach 1 looks like a work of art sitting on the lawn. To me, she looks like a surprised tiger ready to strike. I would love to have it in my collection. Like the parent of an ugly child, she is beautiful to me.

The first thing I would do is to weld the torque converter to the flex plate and get her to run, if possible. That would be so cool to have some pals over and start her up over a few beers.

The old gal took a big hit but stayed in one piece, one hit in a million.

Any other car would have exploded. I estimate the impact at between 40 to 60 mph.
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#2
Too bad the writer got all of the engine specs wrong. Non car-guy writers typically think no one will notice or even care if the drivetrain specs are incorrect. Boy are they wrong!
Wow, that poor car sure took an awesome hit! Gonna' be tough getting it on the alignment rack now...
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#3
Poor Mach, WOW....Wounder what kinda speed it would take for that kinda damage to happen.
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#4
Holy cow!
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#5
It would'nt take as much speed as you would think...these old cars were pretty flimsy.
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#6
From having worked several accidents over the years. I would guesstimate that about 60 mph would be fairly close. I don't quite agree that these cars were flimsy, I know they weren't concerned with crumple zones and impact absorption etc at this point in time. You have to realize back then they were thinking in the front and rear collision "mode" (hence 5mph bumpers) and side impacts weren't even considered at this point. This car took a hell of a hit in it's most vulnerable area, and is still in one piece (barely). I came along on a 1980 Camaro that hit a boulder at the entrance to a sub division at a Police estimated 80 mph it hit in roughly the same area as the Mach. The only thing holding the two halves together was the speedometer cable of all things. So in retrospect it does take a pretty good lick or speed to create this sort of damage. And to someone who thinks a 60 mph impact isn't a pretty good lick, has never been in one. It's not the fall that kills you it's the sudden stop/impact at the bottom! Crazy JTS 71 Mach1
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#7
On the contrary, side impacts were definitley of a concern on these. All 71-73 had large side-intrusion impact beams in side each door, something relatively new in cars at the time.
Cars today are purposely desingned to be flimsy so the collapsing sheetmetal and bodyparts will absorb the impact of the crash before it reaches the passengers.
Older cars were not purposely designed that way..they were just cheaply made.
The bumpers on a 71-72 Mustang are near worthless, can only suffer parking lot dings about as well as the rest of the sheetmetal.
73s of course had the 5mph/ 2.5 mph bumpers but no other crash improvements were made over the 71-72 models.
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#8
Wow..........I wonder if this guy would like to sell his spair and jack.
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#9
That'll buff right out................Rolleyes
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