Your Studebaker as a nuclear bomb shelter?

[jnewkirk77]

Hi, folks ... Jake here with a message from the Federal Civil Defense Administration and your friendly Studebaker Dealer.

Today, the threat of nuclear war is ever-present. Should you be driving down the road when "The Big One" is dropped, your new Studebaker will be able to withstand that tremendous blast. These pictures will show you just how well two new Studebakers, with all their "Built to Take It" toughness held up to the mighty shock wave of a nuclear bomb during a recent test in the Nevada desert.





Actually, folks, the photos come from Autoblog, where the following was posted early this morning:

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/12/26/would-your-car-survive-a-nuclear-blast/

See more here:

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/12/could-your-car.html

There was a brochure produced around the time of this test that explained how your car (!) could be used in a pinch to shield you from such a blast. [:0]

http://omp.ohiolink.edu/OMP/Previews?oid=4561950&searchstatus=1&count=0&hits=0&sort=creator&results=12&searchstring=&searchmark=0&searchtype=kw&format=list&p=1&Jump.x=9&Jump.y=9

I love this part:

"Before an attack, roll the windows down to equalize pressures and to prevent glass breakage ... After an attack, windows should be raised to keep out as much dust as possible; it could be contaminated by radio-active fallout."

And we think our government is inept today ... well, yeah, it is, but I think the absolute last place I'd want to be in the event of a nuclear attack would be inside a car, even if it is a sturdy ol' Stude!

Jacob Newkirk - Owensboro, KY

KEEP AMERICA BEAUTIFUL! Drive a Studebaker!

[2R5]

Those cars may still be around but I bet those men are long gone

[IMG]Home of the Fried Green Tomato
"IF YOU WANT THE SMILES YOU NEED TO DO THE MILES "

1960 Champ
1964 Daytona HT

[studeclunker]

I don't know about those people in the picture, however, a friend of mine's husband died just two years ago of lukemia. He was part of a regiment that participated in those tests. From what I understand, nearly all of them died of cancer of some sort. So much for DC comics' theory of nuclear genetic enhancement.[B)] As to those cars, I certainly hope none of our members are driving the things around. They'd practically glow in the dark![:0]

By the by, the government wasn't inept... just curiously concerned about the keeping the public calm. they were perfectly aware that most, if not all, citydwellers would be lost in a nuclear attack. The reason for 'Duck and cover' and the other campaigns of the fifties and sixties was just to give the public a, admittedly false, sense of security. They continue to lie just as much today.[8] Then again, when in history has anyone ever been able to get the truth from a politician or bureaucrat?


Home of the famous Mr. Ed!
K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Studebaker!
Ron Smith
Where the heck is Lewiston, CA?

[BobGlasscock]

OK, maybe I'm a little slow, but I still practice 'duck and cover'. I thought it worked. My teacher told me to also have an umbrella handy to keep the radioactive dust off of me.

Weren't all those tests in Nevada below ground?

ooh, a glow in the dark Studebaker! I want one!!

'50 Champion, 1 family owner

[52-fan]

Many of the early tests were above ground. There are movies of the mushroom clouds they produced.


1952 Champion Starlight, 1962 Daytona, both w/overdrive.Searcy,Arkansas
"I may be lazy, but I'm not shiftless."

[sals54]

Considering all that I've put my 54 Coupe through for the last 38 years it just may be able to take that sort of blow. Bob, I hadn't thought of the umbrella. I better get one of those in my fallout kit.

sals54

[PlainBrownR2]

Look up the specifications on the M1A1. Somewhere in there describes a system that recirculates the air inside the tank, in the event of a situation arising from chemical, biological, or radiological environments on the outside. Unless somebody provides blueprints where the ventilation system protects in a nuclear blast, somehow I can't see it doing much more than giving me air, defrosting my windows, and on occasion providing heat. Now provided my Lark may survive the blast, but that drafty bugger has a situation, particularly with keeping out radiation fallout, as problems at the atomic and microscopic level will arise resulting in cancer, sterility and radiation burns.

[img=left]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/My%201950%202r5%20Studebaker%20Pickup%20with%20turbocharger/P1000137-1.jpg[/img=left][img=left]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/My%201950%202r5%20Studebaker%20Pickup%20with%20turbocharger/P1000145-1.jpg[/img=left][IMG=right]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/Ex%20Studebaker%20Plant%20Locomotive/P1000578-1.jpg[/IMG=right]
[IMG=right]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/My%201964%20Studebaker%20Commander%20R2/P1010168.jpg[/IMG=right]

[sals54]

Sterility???? I've already got 6 kids. I don't plan anymore, but the cancer and radiation burns don't sound too fun either. Maybe some aloe vera will help.?.?

sals54

[whacker]

I may be the only member of the SDC that has actually seen a nuclear blast live in person. When I was very young, my father worked for the Atomic Energy Commission. We lived in Las Vegas at the time, and one night my mother woke my older sister and me up very late. We piled into the 1951 Starlight Coupe that was our family car at the time and drove up to Yucca Flats. We waited until just before dawn, when the blast was set off. I was about 40 miles away, in the open. My father was only 3 miles away in a trench. I still remember it, although I couldn't have been much over 5 or 6 years old. At one time we had pictures of it, but I have no idea where they are now.

[Lark8girl]

This is intersting stuff. Last week my father descriped his Marine expierence in the trenches near the testing. Before the blast he saw Jeeps that were melted from previous tests. He wore protective goggles and clothing. He said he still remembers the flash of light and one man who looked at it and went blind. I asked if he could tell me about the noise but he had no memory of that. He did not ever have cancer, but wondered if I was an only child because of his being there.

Lark VIII girl

[whacker]

I doubt the blast had anything to do with your lack of siblings. My family includes a brother and sister, both younger than me, and my father witnessed several of the open air tests. I was upstream of the winds aloft and saw the mushroom cloud build and the begin to dissipate to the east before we left. I read later that the John Wayne movie "Genghis Khan" was filmed at that time in New Mexico, downwind of the Yucca Flats test site, and that the incidence of all types of cancer for the people involved in that movie is very high. John Wayne, of course, was a heavy smoker and died from lung cancer.

[sals54]

I hope your 51 Coupe did not have numbers painted on the doors.... sunblock anyone?

sals54

[Desert Explorer]

Gotta wonder if any of that vintage iron is giving some Neveda member 10,000 rads from a boneyard fender, if not a full blown restoration? "Glow in the Dark" studes do sound fun, until your hair falls out in clumps and you slump over driving it a few years later.

[dlagrua]

I'm sure that those old hunks could survive an early nuclear blast test if you rolled the windows down as stated. However, you would receive a lethal dose of radiation so you'd be dead anyway. Also early Nuclear bombs were very small in comparison to what we have tnow. A nuclear blast today would vaporize those cars.