I am really surprised this didn't kick up
I've seen a Road Runner that was so twisted up that there's a buckle in the roof and the doors don't shut. This was a violent 4 speed car with no cage and no frame connectors. It was undrivable and basically scrap at that point. The guy ended up getting a different body and transferring all his parts over, and he definitely put connectors and a 6 point rollbar in the replacement.
If ANY car has a good amount of power, put frame connectors in - my .02.
Back in the 80's, 90;s I restored more than a few 440 B and E bodies 4 speed cars, usually 3:55 geared. All had been run hard, I remember especially the B body ones have some pretty good body flx, not so much with the E bodies.
Some run with slicks, cheater slicks and all street tire back in the day were different than today .
The ridigity of these cars comes from the roof, floors, and rockers. The subframe is a platform to hold the drivetrain and suspension, We are also talking of cars now that are what around 50 yrs old, Even the cars that have not lived in the rust belt have thinner metal, everywhere!!!!
Torque boxes were a must for a vert. Hemi and 6pa E bodies had torque boxes. I understand Tony's argument, and maybe he s correct. I am no engineer.
I bet the engineers made thee cars as cost effecient as possible, and the cars had a life of what 6 years on average, then they became a wore out car, a half used up second car, or junker. Time for Joe to buy the new latest model!!
