How big is BIG these days? Interesting comparison here.

Someone brought up how well modern car designers conceal the size of new vehicles these days. Case in point here, everyone comments on how HUGE my Roadmaster Wagon is, but nobody thinks my wife's Buick Enclave is excessively large....until you park the Enclave next to the Roadmasters.

The Enclave especially makes my son's 78 Electra Wagon look small. Funny Stuff!






-Texas Mike

 

Size doesn't always matter!

 

All new vehicles (even sedans) are much taller today than they used to be. This is because morbidly obese Americans can't get their fat @$$es out of lower vehicles. Heck I once parked my 84 Custom Cruiser next to a newer Ford Taurus 4dr and I was amazed when I looked over and saw that the door handles were at my eye height!

 

Interesting, but also note that the older cars are roomier inside than an equivalent sized newer car... all that safety stuff takes up a lot of room seems like...
I have noticed that yesterday's intermediate is today's full size when it comes to sedans, at least comparing my 73 galaxie or colony park to my 00 crown victoria, the vic is about the size of a torino...
Now as for roomy I'd take the bloat of the old boat myself, you can fit three adults across the seats on the wagon and still be comfortable enough to drive... the vic not so much.

 

We're not obese, just old. After we got old and stiff we were having trouble climbing in my 1/2 ton Dodge quadcab, even with running boards.
I realized I sold the RV and 15 MPG was getting boring. So I traded for a Chevy Impala. Much smaller, not like the old Impala's I knew and loved.
Yet four can ride in it comfortably and the trunk is larger than some pick up truck beds. Even with the larger V-6 I get 28 city and 32 highway.
Best of all we can get in and out fine. I still hate 4-doors but there are advantages.

Then I discovered a mini van was even easier to get in and out of. Most friends have, and the vehicle I rode in when we moved from Florida to Illinois, are Dodge Caravans.
I have to admit it was comfortable, even easier to get in and out of, and the fuel mileage somewhere in the 20's.

I think I'll just buy a Hover-Round.

 

I've only been obese for the last 20-25 or so years but I've been taller than 6'1" since I started junior high in 1976. All sedans/wagons/Rancheros/El Caminos are fairly big-sized, but they were still a hassle for me to get in and out of when I was a teen, simply because my butt was lower than my knees, and I had size 13 (school), 14 (college and Naval service) and up to 16 (nowadays) feet. Designers and engineers do their work on bell curves, so those who are outside of those bell curves end up having trouble getting in and out of cars, no matter what they are.

 

You all may not consider yourselves overweight, but an unscientific survey that I conduct anytime I am out in public suggests that the American public is HUGE. Our local WalMart had to remove half their stock and widen the aisles so the average WalMart shopper could fit. My local hospital now has "widebody" wheelchairs. And if you ever fly (which I do frequently), you KNOW that every passenger that sits next to you is 300 lbs.

 

Well that's true on average people are larger (not necessarily fatter) overall than they where 30 or even 40 years ago, the average height has increased, shoe size, you name it...
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/26/health/human-height-changes-century/index.html
https://ahundredyearsago.com/2012/02/06/average-height-for-males-and-females-in-1912-and-2012/
So since younger people are now generally taller, and overall larger, than their ancestors, I'm not suprised that car sizes are also larger, heck even the average home is larger than it was in 1973
http://www.aei.org/publication/new-...d-living-space-per-person-has-nearly-doubled/
and yes weight is also a factor
http://time.com/4435152/obesity-overweight-height-americans/
and who knows if its because of all the processed foods we've been fed for the last few decades but regardless our diets have changed over a 100 year span.

 

Yeah, I am obese, but even when I wasn't, getting in and out of cars is a hassle for me.

 

Of course it's bigger, the Enclave is a full size SUV/ truck / van hybrid.
When I'm in public I do unscientific surveys on people with inflated egos doing unscientific surveys in public.
Not hard to spot, they have real big heads and have to drive convertibles with the top down or vehicles with open sunroofs so their skulls don't get scuffed.

 

Aliens!

It is true, over time humans have grown taller and larger. It's also true that if humans go into space they get taller yet and their heads get larger. That still doesn't mean their brains grow larger.
After Wayne Newton discovered figs and gravity less foraging for food was replaced by fast food, busing and cell phones replaced walking and playing outside, humans have evolved to taller and overweight vegans.

Go to any museum or restored old homestead and notice the chairs are smaller, closer to the floor, and beds are narrower and shorter. You are taller than grandpa and grandpa was taller than great grandpa.
Most adults today have problems entering, exiting, and sitting in a Model T Ford or a stage coach.
It's also an unscientific fact that the average Walmartian is obese and partially brain dead. We can blame Sam Walton for that. This study has been conducted in the deep south, east coast of the USA, and the midwest.
Scientifically, people are tired of small cars and trucks built to haul short people. Smart Cars were never very smart. We need real station wagons!

 

I have a fun thing to do when you see a guy in a convertible with the top down, yell "wow!!! Look at that guys car!!!" They love it...

 

Wayne Newton

Isaac Newton

Fig Newton

 

Fig Newtons...they had it right, a guy dressed in a fig suit, looking as fat as can be, dancing around and singing, "The Big Fig Newton!"

 

Relatively speaking, Wayne and Izaac were brothers. Wayne became a famous singer but Izzac just sat in the orchard under trees and tried to think of ways to get rich without working.
Izaac gravitated deeper into the orchard and met Adam and a girl called Evening Star. He sat under an apple tree nibbling on figs from Adam's tree. Evening Star became famous in Vegas along with Wayne and his world so she shortend her name to Cher. That was already taken by Sonny's wife so she became know as just Eve.

When the factory I went to after highschool closed I worked as a salesman for
Which became Sawyer Biscuit co which became Supreme Bakers, which became Keebler Cookies. For almost a year I was an Elf then went to the factory that made Holt tractors.