Getting in a fender-bender in old-time Phoenix


In my lifetime, which now spans over sixty years, cars haven't had fenders. Not really. So this morning as I passed some flashing lights and saw a car with some minor damage on it on a small side street here in Glendale (a suburb of Phoenix), it's strange that I would immediately think "only a fender-bender", which meant that it wasn't all that serious, no one was hurt, it just meant a hassle for that person, dealing with the police, their insurance, etc. So now of course I'm thinking of the time when cars actually had fenders, back in old-time Phoenix. Let's get into a fender-bender! You'd better drive.

Times have changed, and fender-bender nowadays really aren't all that bad. But in 1942 they could be very deadly. Since it's 1942, it would be decades before seat belts were even offered on cars, and even a low-speed fender-bender, say at 25 miles per hour, would send someone through the windshield. And no safety glass!

A fender, by the way, is a separate piece of metal that surrounds a wheel, like the crumpled up fender you see in the pic. Looks like they got hit pretty hard, but back in those days if you just hit your fender and bent it a bit, you could unbolt it, and put a new one on. Come to think of it, Volkswagen bugs had those! I stand corrected, I remember seeing those all through the 1970s! And yes, if you had a bug and you got into a minor fender-bender, you could just replace the fender. It was a lot easier, and cheaper than the type of complex and expensive body work required for modern cars! I'm still drinking my coffee this morning and waking up, and I'll ponder if I remember any other cars with fenders in the past 50-60 years. If you can think of some, please let me know!

By the way, if you're familiar with downtown Phoenix, you should recognize the building in the background of the photo up there. That's the Security Building, which is on Central and Van Buren. It hasn't changed, but cars have!
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