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April 17 Information
Wood in motor cars
Which was the last production motor car that used wood in the main structure or frame of the vehicle, i.e. not just as a decorative interior feature? Thanks.
86.181.187.25 (
talk) 19:29, 17 April 2022 (UTC)reply
So it's the upper body structure, covered in aluminium sheeting, rather than the chassis. "Morgan’s research shows that the wooden frame makes its cars safer than conventional steel frames on impact tests." Doesn't the UK Government have to do independent tests? Thanks.
86.181.187.25 (
talk) 07:40, 18 April 2022 (UTC)reply
Neither the USA or the UK governments routinely do crash tests. Instead the manufacturer gets their cars tested at a crash test facility. I think in theory you can get a car into production using your own test lab.
Greglocock (
talk) 09:47, 18 April 2022 (UTC)reply
Certification in the UK is by the
Vehicle Certification Agency. Actual testing was by the Road Research Laboratory (RRL), which was privatised in 1996 as the
Transport Research Laboratory (now TRL Limited). TRL was instumental in setting up
Euro NCAP in the EU. Testing by these bodies seems to be voluntary, but not having a rating by them isn't a good selling point.
Alansplodge (
talk) 15:47, 18 April 2022 (UTC)reply
Morgan isn't listed on the
Euro NCAP site. Perhaps people who buy Morgans aren't that fussed about modern standards? --
Verbarson talkedits 20:57, 18 April 2022 (UTC)reply
"Of course, there is only so much safety tech that the
Plus 4 offers -- there are no air bags, for instance -- and crumple zones are just bodywork that will crumple in a crash. In this case it was fortunately enough to prevent a far worse outcome".
(EC) Our article suggest at least in 2005, they had limited or no airbags, so I would expect they do fairly poorly in a number of modern tests whatever the alleged benefits of the wooden frame.
Nil Einne (
talk) 13:18, 19 April 2022 (UTC)reply
Marcos made cars with wooden chassis but they appear to have swapped to steel in 1969.[
[1]] --
Ykraps (
talk) 09:18, 20 April 2022 (UTC)reply