re: '74 GT Veloce bumper exemption

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@domain.elided>]

In AD8-0046 Andrew Watry asks about the 1974 bumper requirements and
exemptions, citing a 1974 Car and Driver road test which had mentioned the
"exemption from federal pendelum tests available to pillarless coupes for 1974
only" and asks "So is this the exemption that saved the GTV from impact
bumpers?  Has this been revealed before?"

 In AD7-519, 02 Mar 1999, Steve Ashby quoted extensively from the April 1973
issue of R&T:

 "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 accordance 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 regardless 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 convertible 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."

 Andrew wondered whether the quarter-window framing is light enough to qualify
as not a pillar (and I would say yes, IMO) but it had already been established
that the GT Veloce was a two-seater, the seat-like rear things and rear
ashtrays being merely a package tray for smoking packages. Thus having met the
basic less-than-115"-wheelbase" qualification and at least one and perhaps two
of the three either/or conditions it got away without the uglies.
Fortunately.

John H.

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