<VV> Re: FC is Cab Forward

[airvair]

Tony, you're getting a bit serious on us. (G) It was meant as humor, 
though it's interesting to know the truth.

-Mark

Tony Underwood wrote:

>At 09:46 hours 09/23/2004 -0400, airvair wrote:
>  
>
>>No, you're confusing that with a Pinto.
>>
>>-Mark
>>
>>UltraMonzaWest@aol.com wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>>J R,
>>>>I believe FC is for 'Forward Control'; where the driver is over the front 
>>>>wheels.
>>>>Andy K.
>>>>
>>>>   
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>**********************************************************
>>>Gee.. I always thought it was "Firey Coffin"   gggg  wcuh       
>>>      
>>>
>
>
>
>By the way:    
>
>
>More people have been burned to death in Mustangs than in Pintos.    The
>Pinto "explosion" story was an over-reaction based on staged tests which
>were rigged to cause the Pinto gas tanks to ignite after the cars were
>demolished in rear end collisions severe enough to crush the entire rear
>section of the car up into the passenger compartment, buckling the roof and
>floors,  breaking the seats loose from their supports and likely killing
>the occupants from impact trauma before any potential fires would result.
>Even in crashes this severe, many of the test vehicles still didn't catch
>fire.   The tests were then performed with incendiary (electrical) devices
>in the impacting vehicles and the gas caps were removed from the
>filled-to-the-brim Pinto fuel tanks.   When the Pintos were rammed from
>behind hard enough to crush the fuel tanks, *then* the sparking devices in
>the impacting vehicles would ignite the gasoline that exited from the tank
>filler spout and from split seams in the tank itself.          
>
>The result was a reputation of exploding bombs on wheels and a huge recall
>which left a stigma on the Pinto that was undeserved.   
>
>A similar "test" was done to demonstrate how the infamous Chrysler minivan
>hatch would come off in a fender bender, where the vans were impacted in
>side-collisions by trolleys carrying blocks of concrete the size of
>refrigerator crates and weighing several tons.   The impacts were performed
>at various speeds but it wasn't until the side impacts were approaching
>speeds beyond 40 mph that the hatches actually flew open during the
>collisions.   The tests performed at those impact speeds also caved the
>body in like a stepped-on beer can and knocked the van completely off the
>roadway, spinning it like a top.   Even then, oft times the hatch still
>wouldn't open unless the concrete block impacted the rearward quarter of
>the van, which usually caused the hatch to fly open because the latches and
>hinges were ripped from the body of the van along with part of the hatch
>jamb.    
>
>The worst case scenario footage is what gets shown to the committees...
>who see these catastrophic events and assume them to  be the norm rather
>than fringe extreme that they actually were.    Oh well...  
>
>
>tony..