Do we really need all that safety stuff?

[freebeard]

"Hardley-Ablesons" — heh, heh.

[user removed]

LOL, unsafe at any speed, as long as it's below 43 MPH and 170 MPG.
1965 model, 50 years old.

regards
mech

[Hersbird]

I drive a safety nightmare 20-25 miles a day 5-6 days a week. So do 135,000 others just like me. We also often drive abnormally compared to normal traffic, pulling in and out 100s of times, u turns, driving slow 1/2 on the shoulder, driving in bike lanes, etc. It's amazing 15 years later never even a scratch.

No airbags, no abs, aluminum construction, no padding, or crumple zones, (except maybe if rear ended) offset track, decayed wiring and leaking fuel systems, and my front end has been rebuilt many times and still steers like a 1930 Ford truck.

[freebeard]

What will be the mail truck of the future? - The Washington Post

And now, it turns out, one of the largest vehicle fleets in the country has reached the end of its useful life. The question is what will come next.

The answer isn’t as easy as it might seem. The delivery and collection fleet of 190,000 postal trucks includes 142,000 vehicles that desperately need to enter retirement, with an average age of 24 years and some as advanced as 27. The first Grumman Long Life Vehicle, as they’re called, rolled off the assembly line in 1987.

Maintenance costs on the trucks increase every year–and hit almost $1 billion in 2012 –and replacement parts for older models are scarce. The trucks are not up to today’s safety codes. They get terrible gas mileage. The USPS Inspector General’s office said in an audit this summer that the agency can keep them safely in use only until fiscal 2017.

But replacing the fleet would cost postal officials about $5 billion, and that’s a check that at the moment they can’t write. The financially struggling mail agency has exceeded its legal borrowing limit and doesn’t have the cash for such an expensive, if critical, investment.

The Postal Service has come up with a possible solution: Find a company that can retrofit the existing light-duty trucks by keeping their aluminum bodies and replacing the frames.

“The bodies are still in really good shape,” said Sue Brennan, a USPS spokeswoman.

IOW, do what the street rodders do.

It has a nice front-end for aerodynamics. If I had one of those, like for an EV conversion, I would totally bare metal the body and give it swirly marks with an angle grinder.

[IamIan]

Originally Posted by freebeard

It has a nice front-end for aerodynamics. If I had one of those, like for an EV conversion, I would totally bare metal the body and give it swirly marks with an angle grinder.

1979 Comuta-Van OEM BEV

[Hersbird]

The bodies are OK, but the frames are cracked, the wiring is shot. the suspensions as said earlier are long gone as well. The bid for the next gen says they want full 6' stand up height inside.
Laying aside the 6' interior, I personally think they should just use the right hand drive version of the Grand Caravan built in Canada for the Europe market. I can buy a brand new 2015 passenger version for $18,000, you'd think without seats and a 135,000 production contract the Post Office might be able to do a little better. Far short of the $25-35k each price tag for a custom built new LLV. I actually don't think a maker will be able to even do all of what they are asking for at that price point. The Grand Caravan does almost everything and they even have a diesel version.

[ksa8907]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

The bodies are OK, but the frames are cracked, the wiring is shot. the suspensions as said earlier are long gone as well. The bid for the next gen says they want full 6' stand up height inside.
Laying aside the 6' interior, I personally think they should just use the right hand drive version of the Grand Caravan built in Canada for the Europe market. I can buy a brand new 2015 passenger version for $18,000, you'd think without seats and a 135,000 production contract the Post Office might be able to do a little better. Far short of the $25-35k each price tag for a custom built new LLV. I actually don't think a maker will be able to even do all of what they are asking for at that price point. The Grand Caravan does almost everything and they even have a diesel version.

I imagine the 4cyl wouldn't be hard to engineer in there as well, possibly more savings.

As far as replacing the postal service vehicles, i really hope they fo with hybrids. Not sure a full-on ev would go over so well but it would be unfortunate not to have hybrids. GM has a good number of hybrids on the road, maybe trade government ownership for new fleet hybrids?

[ksa8907]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I willingly ride bicycles, scooters, and motorcycles. They don't have and I don't demand all the nanny crap cages are burdened with. I don't have a double standard regarding this.

Funny how so many that "need" 5,000 lb SUVs and trucks for "safety" also ride things like Hardley-Ablesons- helmetless, of course.

I seriously considered getting a motorcycle, even had my wife agreeing with it. I decided that i feel safer/more comfortable driving a car.

I do ride my bicycle around town but in this small town going anywhere of importance means getting on the state road... doable but not ideal. Most people are in a hurry and couldn't care less if you're on a bicycle, they would rather run you over than slow down.

[Xist]

Our local postman drives a U-haul van.

[jcp123]

Few of our local postmen still drive those. Lots of RHD Cherokees, but I have seen everything from CRvs to Caravans, Trailblazers, even some S10 Blazers and a Cavalier.