Bumper regs and how the 74 GTV got around them

[Janice & Steve Ashby <sjash@domain.elided>]

	Sorry about the excessive quoting of the April 1973 issue of R&T, but
there is an article in there about whether the time is right to buy a new
car or not because smog and safety regs are killing the sports car. 
	After a description of the law requiring safety equipment (lights,
steering, brakes, suspension, exhaust) to survive an impact and teh fact
that some makers exceeded the law with "no-damage" bumpers, the article
continues...
 	"...we prefer these merely conforming bumpers to the no-damage ones. The
choice, at least for now, seems to be between front and rear ends that only
look ugly after impact and those that look ugly all the time.
  	In 1974 the U.S. bumper regulations take another leap "ahead."
Protection requirements are the same but the rear bumpers have to survive
the exercise at 5 instead of 2.5 mph. In addition, they have to go through
a "pendulum test" in which a pendulum weighted in ac-cordance with the
car's weight is swung repeatedly against the bumpers at heights between 16
and 20 inches off the ground. Thus the height of 1974 bumpers is
effectively set and the protective face must cover this range of heights
regard-less of the car's shape.
	Not every 1974 car has to conform to the 1974 height regulations, however.
There are three grounds for exemption. Exempted cars must be on a wheelbase
of 115 in. or less and have either a con-vertible top, a "pillarless" roof
like the traditional hardtop's, or no designated seating positions behind
the front seats. Thus all roadsters, all 2-seaters, some convertibles and
some hardtops like the Datsun and Toyota coupes, Triumph Stag, Mercedes
SLC, BMW CS and Opel Manta are exempt in this way. And if "designated
seating positions" are elim-inated from the rear compartments of the
Porsche 911 and some other tight 2 + 2s as they have been from the Alfa
Romeo GTV, these cars could also go through 1974 with the same front
bump-ers they have now, only altering the rear ones. When 1975 rolls
around, that's the end for some models. Try to imagine, for instance, a 911
with its bumper faces 16-20 in. off the ground!"


I especially like this part about the bumper laws killing off the 911 body
style in 1975!

Steve Ashby

74 GTV 2000 (with a newly replaced rear bumper and boy are those screws by
the gas tank hard to get to)
75 Spider (with a 74 rear bumper)
Denver CO

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