Looks like if you ever hit a pebble on the road it would probably flip and kill you. Note also the conspicuous absence of a seat belt. Cute little death machine.
Did anything have a seatbelt in 1944?
Volvo filed a patent for some sort of seatbelt in 1889. SAAB became the first car company to make any sort of seatbelt standard in 1958. Volvo became the first car company to install modern 3 point belts as standard equipment in 1959.
So yes, but actually probably not.
So a patent existed prior, but that doesn’t mean they were made. SAAB made them standard 14 years after this car. Do with no other data, I’d say no and no.
Edit: just realized that reads like I’m being pissy, but that wasn’t the tone my finger was swiping with. Thanks for the data!
Well the key word there is standard. I’m guessing that seatbelts were optional equipment prior to that, because I have seen a '50 SAAB 92 that had a driver’s side lap belt, which I believe was original equipment. I have also seen a '45 Chevy truck that also had a lap belt, but I’m unsure if that was original equipment.
That’s why I said yes, but probably not.
Got it, thanks
I think the popular argument against seatbelts was a long the lines of
gunscars don’t kill people, reckless drivers kill people. Which, I guess, is the same argument that we use for anything that’s a bad idea for society as a whole, but is lucrative.
Early seatbelt design
NO SHOT. That’s a joke, right?
Unsurprisingly it was not a successful prototype.
Still, better to have an instantaneous snapped neck/ decapitated than to be speared through the chest by the steering column.
Drug Church?
No, that was before Ralph Nader made a whole ruckus about car safety (and rightly so). Still, we’re looking at this from the year 2024 so you can really tell this vehicle doesn’t make sense in our time.
Preston Tucker designed his Tucker Torpedo with a safety belt (and a lot of other safety features) in 1948.
And then was driven out of business by the Big Three automakers in the U.S.
There’s a good movie about it.
Yeah but not instantly. It would drag you around the road grinding your meats and bones into a nice pasty consistency.
I mean, I could see a modern version being made with a rally harness-type restraint system and a windshield frame that doubles as a rollover bar. In this case the biggest danger would be to the driver’s limbs.
It’s almost a motorcycle. Something like this would be great for commuting, if not for all the Compensator™ Trucks and SUVs on the road.
I feel bad for driving a big SUV, but I needed something electric that was easy for my wife to get in and out of.
I totally get the need for tall vehicles that are easy for people to get in and out. Not everyone can lift themselves from a low seat in a modern sedan or coupe. Accessibility is important.
Any electric vehicle is high because of the batteries. That’s why so many are those awful looking crossovers. SUVs you have to climb into which would make them harder to get in and out of. So I don’t really follow your logic I’m afraid.
Perhaps I’m not being accurate. The VW ID.4 is easier for her to enter and exit than the GTI.
That last picture doesn’t look too bad
^^^
Even comes with a napping package
The long sleep in the great blue beyond
It only got two stars sadly
It’s basically an all terrain vehicle with a roof
That looks pretty fun. People are always driving around here in those Rhinos. They’re not street legal, but the cops don’t seem to care.
That thing looks like it falls over on its side if you look at it funny.
So a motor scooter with a car-like wrapper.
The world would be a more fun place if we all drove bumper cars
It looks like a bumper car without the bumpers and pole
My 2007 Ninja 250 made about 35 horsepower, could achieve a top speed over 100 mph and could also travel nearly 70 miles on a gallon of gas.
My Honda Metropolitan gets 117 MPG. As a result, its fuel tank is precisely 1 gallon.
…It only makes 4 horsepower and has a top speed of 40, though.
Yeah I couldn’t quite hit that efficiency with my Ninja but it was fully capable of traveling on the interstate and it it had a damn near 5 gallon tank. That bike was designed in 1988 and received only minor adjustments for 20 years and basically nothing has that combination of efficiency and capacity.
Not to mention super reliable and fun to ride
OK, but this appears to carry a maximum of two people and doesn’t look like it has a trunk, so…how would this be better than public transit? Realistically, anyone who bought this would still need a full sized car to support a family of more than two, so this thing would only work for single people or childless couples. It’s cool, and certainly better than everyone owning their own sedan, but not exactly a practical solution to car culture.
That’s kind of like asking, “why do people buy ebikes?” These seem the fit the same nich but like in 1944. Obviously it’s not a perfect solution, humans and perfect solutions mix like oil and water. (Salad dressing is mostly oil and water, so I guess that’s the perfect solution)
I guess so, but it seems like the bike would have already fit that niche in 1944.
@jordanlund@lemmy.world needs to find a way to merge this with his wheelchair.
Zipping around town in style!
My plan is to build a shell for the wheelchair. ;)
Yes! With hovercraft fans at the bottom so you can pretend you’re making it float!
