As for the reason of moving the filler from the back to the sides, I'm going to have to go with safety, though I don't know if that's true. I'm assuming the whole drop in gas tank in the trunk is why it was in the back?

Here's an actual picture of the hinged light in a 52 Cadillac.

http://oldcarandtruckpictures.com/Ca...ler_detail.jpg

 

And here's one for the 55.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...icial%26sa%3DN

The safety aspect I could certainly see it more the Caddy and Chevy being that the fuel door was 8 inches from the exhaust...hmmm nice hot exhaust, gasoline dripping down, sounds like a love fest.

As for the one in the middle though? I guess it could drip down the back and slide down to the muffler?

 

I was thinking more of the Mustang with the drop in tank that would explode. I don't know if this is the case with all of them or if they even had drop in tanks in the trunk like the Mustang. Definitely something that would be interesting to find out.

 

Exploding Ford Horse Cars. And I thought it was just Pintos.

 

Some of the Mustangs in the '60's would have the gas tank neck just inside the rear of the trunk. If someone rear ended the car the neck will fly off and the tank would get squeezed and spray gasoline in the compartment. We we all know that gasoline burns/explodes best when in a spray mist form.

Rear end accidents would literally burn people to death.

 

quote:

Check which side the tailpipe is on. The oppsite side of the filler cap for safety at gas pumps?


So how does that reasoning fit with dual exhaust?

_____________________________

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With dual exhaust it doesn't matter which side the filler cap is on. I just notice that cars with a single exhaust coming out from one side. The gas filler cap is on the oppisite side of the car. I perfer that the gas filler cap be on the driver's (left) side of car.

 

Well then your rational for it being for safety goes out the window for dual exhausts.

There has to be a better reason than that.

 

From what I'm looking up online, this isn't to far from the truth. A lot of it has to do with the exhaust. Fuel and hot exahust is a very bad combination, unless you like things exploding. The problem that comes about with dual exhaust is more then obviously, it's on both sides. Now also from what I'm reading, the back is not an option for fuel filling anymore as it's unsafe. That would explain why it has totally disappeared. I'm not sure if that largely comes from the Mustang or if it was just found unsafe in more cars, but the Mustang seems to stand out more then the rest.

From what I'm assuming there's a regulation to the location of the fuel filler door in relation to the exhaust and in relation to the back of the car. Again, assuming, though I would have to go outside and start looking at the side of cars to see if they are in similar locations. Obviously for cars that have engines on the opposite side, back instead of front, the location isn't going to be the same, duh. But I'm thinking that they have to be in a certain location also for reasons of crash safety I'm sure.

Now back to the dual exhaust. This is all pure speculation so don't take it to heart. When the manufacturers do dual exhaust, or I'm sure even if it's custom, I'm sure the mufflers, or exhaust outlets, have to be so far off the inside of the body that if gas were to drip down from the gas filler, or pour down for that matter, that there is no risk of a fire being started.

If you look on this link and these pictures, scroll further down to see what I'm talking about,

http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2005/03/05Mufflers/

you can see that obviously, as with every car, the exhaust is tucked well into the chasis. When we come to the back we can see that the body is away from the muffler, which again is with every car for obvious reasons, but I wonder if there is a regulation for more of a gap for the dual exahust cars because of this whole gas issue that we have been talking about. As you can see in the close up picture, and some of the others, just as the body gets closer to the mufflers there is a lip. Now I'm not sure if this has to do with the design of the car or if it has something to do with helping to direct the volatile liquid away from the side of the car. Obviously the entire bottom of the car is like this all the way around because it would look strange just the one side like that.

Here's another one.

http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2008-...er-r-t/124127/

This is the side of the Avenger R/T Now something that may look as simple as wheel flares to us may be something that helps direct the flow of fuel away from the exhaust. Obviously if there's a whole lot then it will just go down the side, down the rim, which to me could be very hot if it touches that brake caliper, but whatever runs down the sides could be out far enough that it doesn't come close to the exhaust?

But then on this one,

http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2...33185.1-lg.jpg

That kind of falls apart as neither of the above comes into play. Though in this case the gas would just fall down over the tire.

This is all in theory. I have absolutely nothing to back it up with, it is all in observation and therefore could all be wrong. That is my disclaimer for the day, everyone have a good day.