Crash Test 1959 Cheverolet Bel Air VS 2009 Cheverolet Malibu (Frontal Offset)

Gimme a great, old, heavy car if you're going to whomp me with another car.

Obviously that heavier car will have worse gas mileage, but the mass of the old car will mean that I'll be that much safer.

I swear that my dad said something like this when I was getting my first car. He wanted his boy to be safe, gas mileage be damned.

Turns out that maybe Dad was wrong. Yes, the old cars had more mass, but they also had old engineering. New cars are much, much safer because of great new materials and because of great safety engineering...and Ralph Nader.