It's the kind of piquant statement that will torque some car fans tighter than a lug nut, and it's indisputably true.

The subject at hand is the astonishing video showing a recent institute crash test of a '59 Chevy Bel Air hitting a 2009 Chevy Malibu, the Bel Air's nearest equivalent among today's cars.

Bottom line: The Bel Air's driver probably would have died. The person behind the Malibu's wheel would walk away, sore and limping, but alive.

The video is simultaneously chilling and encouraging. Anybody who has been in a collision has to flinch as the Bel Air crash test dummy driver's head and torso snap forward and the car's doors fly open on impact.

If you're on the road today, though, take heart from the fact that the Malibu's computer-designed chassis did its job, sacrificing itself so you would survive.

The two cars were each travelling at 40 mph when they collided. That's an exceptionally violent crash, the sort guaranteed to leave people maimed or dead just a few years ago.

The fact that occupants of a well-engineered contemporary car would survive, bruised but whole, is the payoff for 50 years of research and regulation.

Nostalgia for tailfins is fine, but don't believe anybody who tells you today's smaller, more sophisticated cars aren't far superior to their predecessors.

The 1959 Bel Air measured 210.9 inches long, according to the National Automotive History Collection at the Skillman Branch of the Detroit Public Library. That compares with 191.8 inches for the 2009 Malibu, a typical contemporary midsize sedan.

The Bel Air the IIHS crashed weighed 177 pounds more than the Malibu.

The '09 Malibu has less steel, but makes smarter use of it. Countless crash tests and computer simulations have taught engineers where extra metal adds strength vs. being fuel-sucking dead weight.

You can see the benefits in the video: The Malibu's passenger compartment is almost unscathed; the Bel Air's occupants would have had metal collapsing all around them: the roof, dashboard, doors and foot-wells all became tools of mayhem.

It's not that GM, or anybody else, consciously made unsafe cars in 1959. They didn't have the tools or accumulated knowledge that come from 50 years of progress.

Though the Bel Air's mass was made up mostly of thick pieces of steel, the Malibu's weight includes goodies no one dreamed of in 1959 — antilock brakes, stability control, air bags, a CD player, standard air-conditioning, emission and electronic engine controls, to name a very few.

As much as we may love its looks, you couldn't give the '59 Bel Air away if it were a new car today. Not just because safety and environmental regulations wouldn't let you. It would be laughed off the showroom floor as hopelessly uncompetitive.

The video illustrates how far safety engineering has come, but improvement has been equally dramatic throughout a modern car.

From electric power steering to synchronized gears and tuned shock absorbers, today's vehicles are vastly more comfortable and easier to drive than their predecessors. Not to mention little things like heated seats, rear window defrosters and air conditioners that don't pour a stream of condensation onto your feet.

Electronic controls mean you no longer have to cross your fingers and hope the engine will start on damp mornings. They also provide fuel efficiency and performance most drivers couldn't have imagined in 1959.

Admire the beautiful shapes and roaring engines in classics like the 1959 Bel Air, but don't delude yourself that today's cars aren't superior in every measurable way.