The Imperials of the 50's and 60's were not built in a time when speeds
were a fraction of what they are today. Stopping distances weren't all
that different either. Converting Imperial brakes to something other than
what they came with is more a matter of preference than safety.
I grew up in Southern California, and traffic was every bit as bad in the
late 50's there, as it is most other places today. 80 mph was totally
normal on freeways where the traffic would permit it. The 55 mph speed
limit was not installed until the middle 1970's.
Safety is not a matter of how fast you can stop your car, but rather of
how the driver adapts to the road and the vehicle. If having better brakes
establishes a false sense of security, then they are not safe at all. The
driver is obligated and responsible to be sure that his vehicle is
maintained to the manufacturer's specifications 100%, particularly in the
area of safety, such as the condition of the brakes, tires, suspension,
etc. The rest of the responsibility is to adjust driving to suit
conditions.
Paul W.
In an email dated 25/7/2005 10:52:33 pm GMT Daylight time,
Longramx2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Older imperials were designed for a time when road traffic and speeds
were
only a fraction of what they are today, so I totally agree with any
upgrades to
the drivability of our cars. Great stopping power certainly does'nt
detract
from the personality of an older car, and once the hub caps go back on the
only way to tell the car has disk brakes is to look for the confident and
relaxed look on the drivers face, as opposed to the nervous frightened
look on the
100% original drivers face. I speak from experience my daily driver is a
66
valiant wagon and I cant count the number of times nearly ran over
somebody,
before converting, back then the car was'nt nearly as enjoyable because of
the
constant fear of accidents and having to be so careful all the time. I was
seriosly considering selling it thinking it just was'nt practical for
modern
traffic, now I just drive the thing like everybody else drives their daily
and dont
worry bout a thing.I also live in an old house that originally came with
an
out house but now has an inside bathroom and I certainly aint going back
to
original on that either ! if that helps to explain my point of veiw on the
matter.
----------------- http://www.imperialclub.com -----------------
This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please
reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be
shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the
Administrators should be sent to webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network