Remember kids... always wear a helmet. (The almighty bikeradar helmet thread)

without crumple zones or sacrificial crash cones, the load from an impact is transferred into the chassis - having been involved in the repair of cars from the 50's to the present day, the severity of damage from a low speed accident on an older car is far more than with a current car traveling many times faster....

Only because straightening a chassis is more of a ball-ache than replacing oversized plastic bumpers.