dmeadow@juno.com wrote:
> Pat has some very good reasons for going with a RBB, most of which have
> to do with the fact that they are all younger cars. He does not mention
> the drawbacks, however, which are mainly 1) lower horsepower and
> increased complexity due to emissions controls, and 2) crappy handling
> due to increased ride height (originally done to conform to US bumper
> height restrictions). As long as you can live with the former, the
> latter is relatively easily fixed.
>
> Am I missing something, or aren't those really the only issues?
Well, as a rubber baby MG bumpered fan, I think that one big bonus is
the
extra crash safety provided by the rubber bumpers. When I wiped my '77 out
(One year
ago yesterday 8-(), I slid head-on into a telephone pole at about 35mph. The
car was
totaled, but my passenger and I survived with the worst being my cracked
ribs...I
attribute our general physical well-being to those big bumpers that sucked up
the
impact and effectively redistributed it to the frame and other parts of the
car. With
chrome bumpers, (which I now own), I feel that the pole would have split the
car in
half and continued towards the passenger compartment...However, that's just my
opinion...
--
Michael S. Lishego
St. Andrews Presbyterian College
Elementary Education Major,
English Minor, Class of 1999
R.A. of Winston-Salem Hall
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