Sir Vival was the name of a car revolutionary in the that for 10 years Walter C. Jerome was working with the help of some university students who gave class. The american engineer devised the vehicle to protect the lives of the four occupants as no other car had done before.
the decade of The 50 in the united States was a boom of sales, having left behind the Second World War. But it was not until 1965 when there was a real concern for the safety. That year he published Unsafe at Any Speed, the controversial book by Ralph Nader that put legs above the automotive industry and recognised to the citizens of the need to improve road safety. The Sir Vival, introduced in 1958, was ahead of this perception.
Just see the images to certify that Jerome broke all the molds with their prototype. The most obvious characteristic was that the body is divided into two articulated sections, the first housing the engine and the second as interior. A Car turned out a little weird so look where you look. By separating the two elements are minimised the impact for the passengers in case of accident because, theoretically, the front would absorb the force of the collision.
The front wheels are not turned around but what did the whole front. Thus, the two headlights also accompanied the movement of the car on the curves, illuminating always in the optimal direction. A third light placed in the other section of the chassis, in front of the driving position, always pointing to the front offering a complete delivery routes at night and in tunnels.
Talking about the driving position, it also has a crumb. It was placed in the center of the car, raised above the rest of the occupants and forced the driver to look through a turret glass. The elevated structure had a windshield designed so that it is not any distortion in vision, and, by means of mirrors, allowing a view of almost 360 degrees.
The circular shape of the windscreen prevented the use of a windshield wiper traditional. The creator of the car gave samples of their ingenuity once more by placing a few edges of the fleece to the sides: using a mechanism the crystal rotated and cleaning to enjoy every moment with unbeatable visibility.
Outline the main features of the Sir Vival
That the driver was in the center and appreciably higher than the rest of the passengers (about a meter above) allowed him to better master the environment. But it also had an additional function since, according to Jerome, sectioned off from the driver to avoid be distracted with the chatter of other passengers.
the top of The turret had an air inlet of considerable size, to ventilate the passenger compartment. The interior of the strange Sir Vival was reached by paths sliding doors located on both sides of the car, a solution that is very rare at the time. We employed a mechanism for making swing each door in parallel to the vehicle and boasted of his strength remained closed even after an accident (he would have to call the fire department to get out?).
The seats had seat belts, something that had very little in the market, and only Ford and Nash offered optionally on some of their cars. The interior was padded, and its structure, moreover, was reinforced by several steel tubes that served as protection in the event of a rollover. Basically it was a safety cage as the cars in racing today.
The driver had great visibility and was oblivious to the distractions of the passengers
In a time in which all manufacturers used-to-bumper metal, this american engineer devised a solution much more innovative. The contour of your car with body articulated was protected with a – bumper-rubber air-filled. Something like the airbumps the Citroën C4 Cactus, although more rudimentary, as expected, in the five decades that separate the two systems.
it was Also news the employment of side lights in order for the car to be seen better at night. The design is somewhat unorthodox body made this prototype reached the 5,3 meters in length. Jerome wanted the production model to be more compact free and built at a rate of about 10 or 12 units per year.
The creator of this machine, which is segmented in two sought investors to carry out your project. The car was displayed in a multitude of events, many of them of great national and international importance, and also went out in stories in prestigious publications such as Life, Motor Trend or Mechanics Illustrated. Despite the effort, Jerome never got sufficient funding and the prototype was left as a the only Sir Vival existing and still survives!
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