I love the look of older vehicles. I even want a few. I just don’t want to have to drive them anywhere. I’ll be content with a few bikes and a nearby train station.
It’s not smaller than modern cars. That’s a 1960 Licoln Contiental with a curb weight of 5,000–5,700 lbs (depending on the exact specs) and 227 inches long. For reference, a 2021 Cadillac Escalade has a curb weight of 5,635–5,823 lbs and a length of 211 inches.
Let me rephrase to be more precise. Cars of that size are not common anymore in the US, judging from then vs now parking lot photos. I know small cars are still being made; they’re making smaller cars than ever before these days, but that’s not an argument against there being a trend of cars becoming bigger on average over time.
My argument is that it ebbs and flows, but it’s been mostly big all the time. Sometimes, ridiculously big. They might be sedans that are shorter than a modern SUV, but most of that height is empty space. The curb weight is as bad as it ever was, and the road footprint might have been worse in the past.
To be fair you could have pointed to a specific era such as the late '70s and '80s post fuel shortage. '50s and '60s cars are notoriously inefficient solid steel death landships.
Do you even live in the US and have you SEEN how fucking HUGE vehicles driven by the average person are now??? There aren’t even CARS around hardly anymore. They’re massive trucks, suvs, or crossovers. Ford doesnt sell cars in the US anymore because of this (except the mustang). You can barely buy a wagon in the US now. Vehicles are FAR bigger and heavier than they were in the early days. Your photo depicts mostly tri five chevys which are not even large cars. Now yes caddy’s have always been huge but that’s their brand.
You can pick out times where there actually was a small car that was most popular. 1956 Chevy Corvette. 1961 Jag E-type. 1972 VW Beetle. It never lasts, though (and that’s even ignoring the fact that the first two there are sports cars that are specifically made small for performance reasons). To follow up what happened with each of those a year later, 1957 brings the Ford Skyline, which is gigantic. 1962 has the Lincoln Continental, which isn’t ridiculously large, but not especially small, either. 1973 is the Chevrolet Monte Carlo which is also more performance oriented, but not that small, either. 1974 brings the Impala, which is rather large for a two-door, and then 1975 is the Cadillac Sedan de Ville, which is the dictionary definition of land yacht. That was right in the middle of an oil crisis where we might expect a move towards smaller cars.
Yes, SUVs are taller and the truck market is absolutely ridiculous, and that does have an affect on pedestrian safety in itself. Popular cars aren’t particularly heavier than popular cars from decades ago, though, and they often have a smaller footprint on the road.
When you look at old cars, they were simple. Small, just enough power to get around. SUVs are monstrosities that shouldn’t exist.
Old car:
I mean it’s pretty long and probably not great on gas mileage, but hey, it’s dead simple.
I love the look of older vehicles. I even want a few. I just don’t want to have to drive them anywhere. I’ll be content with a few bikes and a nearby train station.
Hey found the guy that can point out the exceptions. How hard can I roll my eyes.
That’s rich coming from you.
Don’t follow, can you explain? Are you stalking me? This is the second strange message I got from you today.
I got your back, bro. I went through his history and pasted that same response to one of his random comments.
It isn’t an exception. The car pictured is still much smaller than modern US cars (I think the pictured one is a US one but not 100% sure)
It’s not smaller than modern cars. That’s a 1960 Licoln Contiental with a curb weight of 5,000–5,700 lbs (depending on the exact specs) and 227 inches long. For reference, a 2021 Cadillac Escalade has a curb weight of 5,635–5,823 lbs and a length of 211 inches.
Let me rephrase to be more precise. Cars of that size are not common anymore in the US, judging from then vs now parking lot photos. I know small cars are still being made; they’re making smaller cars than ever before these days, but that’s not an argument against there being a trend of cars becoming bigger on average over time.
My argument is that it ebbs and flows, but it’s been mostly big all the time. Sometimes, ridiculously big. They might be sedans that are shorter than a modern SUV, but most of that height is empty space. The curb weight is as bad as it ever was, and the road footprint might have been worse in the past.
To be fair you could have pointed to a specific era such as the late '70s and '80s post fuel shortage. '50s and '60s cars are notoriously inefficient solid steel death landships.
Yes I could add approximately 5653 caveats to everything I say. Let’s begin.
*
That’s some quick counting!
How about a whole parking lot? Do these look especially small to you?
Do you even live in the US and have you SEEN how fucking HUGE vehicles driven by the average person are now??? There aren’t even CARS around hardly anymore. They’re massive trucks, suvs, or crossovers. Ford doesnt sell cars in the US anymore because of this (except the mustang). You can barely buy a wagon in the US now. Vehicles are FAR bigger and heavier than they were in the early days. Your photo depicts mostly tri five chevys which are not even large cars. Now yes caddy’s have always been huge but that’s their brand.
Have you seen how big cars actually were in the past? Like look at the actual numbers of what people actually drove.
Here’s a list of most popular cars by year in the US from 1950 onward: https://www.rd.com/list/the-most-popular-car-the-year-you-were-born/
You can pick out times where there actually was a small car that was most popular. 1956 Chevy Corvette. 1961 Jag E-type. 1972 VW Beetle. It never lasts, though (and that’s even ignoring the fact that the first two there are sports cars that are specifically made small for performance reasons). To follow up what happened with each of those a year later, 1957 brings the Ford Skyline, which is gigantic. 1962 has the Lincoln Continental, which isn’t ridiculously large, but not especially small, either. 1973 is the Chevrolet Monte Carlo which is also more performance oriented, but not that small, either. 1974 brings the Impala, which is rather large for a two-door, and then 1975 is the Cadillac Sedan de Ville, which is the dictionary definition of land yacht. That was right in the middle of an oil crisis where we might expect a move towards smaller cars.
Yes, SUVs are taller and the truck market is absolutely ridiculous, and that does have an affect on pedestrian safety in itself. Popular cars aren’t particularly heavier than popular cars from decades ago, though, and they often have a smaller footprint on the road.
Yes 😭
Ok let’s begin! 🙄🙄🙄
Do you have any evidence your claim is true?
What is that question even? Do you have evidence to the contrary?
That’s not how claims work.
🙄
You could just say “no, I don’t have evidence”.
🙄🙄
See, that’s art.
Wildly unsafe for those inside, but art doesn’t have to be practical.
More importantly: wildly unsafe for those outside