Re: Packard wreck on eBay

Posted by Leeedy On 2014/6/7 10:50:50

Almost everything eventually finds its way onto eBay.

I am presuming here that the subject being discussed for sale are photos of a smashed 1956 Four Hundred with a Yankee Pacesetter mirror. These were apparently taken in 1957. I don't see anything in the back seat in the 4 photos I've seen so far. But yes there is someone in the front seat barely visible and mostly on the passenger side. The head of this person ended up appearing to be in the rear seat simply because the front seat biforcated under the compression of the body caused by the side impact. In other words, the front seat was mooshed and literally folded in the middle. This pushing the backrests to a position where they folded toward one another and dumped the upper portion of the driver almost into the rear seat as they sandwiched her.

Since this vehicle quite obviously slammed into a tree sideways and at a very high rate of speed, it would follow that the person off on the passenger side was likely the driver. When a vehicle is hit from the right or impacted somehow on the right, the tendency is for the (unbelted) driver to pushed in the direction of the impact. Thus ending up (in this case) on the passenger side. If the impact had been on the left, it would have been the reverse.

Despite today's safety countermeasures, the same kind of damage and possible death could still be a possibility under such extreme conditions. That's a pretty severe, violent crash even for today. And with a car that big and that heavy... sustaining the level of damage seen here, it was really moving! But... had the driver been belted-especially with lap and shoulder belts, properly positioned, the odds of survival would have been greatly increased. If there was a death here (and it appears so) it likely occurred from secondary impact inside the vehicle when the body and head were slamming around after the initial impact.

Anyway, there are lots of possibilities for the images having been taken. Law enforcement, fire rescue, or news photographer. Yes, they took such photos, even though ones showing occupants were rarely published in those days-unless it had to do with mob activity.

The general public does not realize that photos like this are taken all the time, even today. Many end up being reviewed by automotive engineering and safety people in hopes that they can find new ways to prevent or minimize damage and injury to vehicle occupants.

As an automotive professional who has seen more than a few such images over the years, yes, they are grisly, but often such photos have revealed ways to improve vehicle safety and construction. No comment on selling them over eBay, but I've seen worse on there-especially years ago.