We always hear complaint, especially from older generation folks that they don’t make cars like they used to make in the 50s and 60s in America. Well guys, here is your chance to be proven wrong. As pretty as it is to look at, the good ol’ 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air - you can see in the video and the photo gallery down below - gets obliterated by the 2009 Chevrolet Malibu. This video makes us appreciate our modern vehicles and advancements in technology. It also proves one more time, how critical such organizations like the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) are to our safety.
In the 50 years since US insurers organized the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, car crashworthiness has improved. Demonstrating this was a crash test conducted between a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air and a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu. In a real-world collision similar to this test, occupants of the new model would fare much better than in the vintage Chevy.
"It was night and day, the difference in occupant protection," says Institute president Adrian Lund. "What this test shows is that automakers don't build cars like they used to. They build them better."
The crash test was conducted at an event to celebrate the contributions of auto insurers to highway safety progress over 50 years. Beginning with the Institute's 1959 founding, insurers have maintained the resolve, articulated in the 1950s, to "conduct, sponsor, and encourage programs designed to aid in the conservation and preservation of life and property from the hazards of highway accidents."
