death by steering column (stupid question)

Ramcharger is correct..(67 up)? your column's steering shaft is only held in place at the upper housing by two snap rings. The shaft itself... further down the tube is hollow with the top and bottom halfs telescoped into one another. These two halfs are lightly held together by two plastic shear pins. These pins "should" snap preventing a rather nasty hole thought your bod in a head-on (er). "Unless", someone has change the column by making the shaft itself shorter/longer and tack welded the two telescopic tubes together. This at times happens when guys want a floor shift column to replace their standard column shifter. The main reason...some columns connect to a Power Steering unit car and the person has manual steering. Therfore the shaft can be extended to make up the differance in length loss.

PS This does not mean a non-modified column would save your life..but it couldn't hurt (pun)