Size matters

[Flyair]

A few days ago a friend visited us arriving with his brand new Mercedes SL. As the weather was still rather wintery, we freed one place in our garage for his car, so he parked it along our Pagoda. It was a pleasant experience to watch the two generations of the SL family together. As we exchanged our impressions, it stroke us that these cars were a perfect example of what can be seen in respect to all the cars: size gets larger at each iteration of a particular model. And, putting things in proportion, it wasn’t that much the length, but rather the width that makes the difference. The growing size of their drivers is probably the reason of it, but this is in contrast to available space and streets’ size, especially in the historical centers of European cities.

As a related, but side subject, I noticed in the PN of October 2013 (http://www.sl113.org/wiki/uploads/Restricted/PNv7i4.pdf) that we were using derogatory language that does not fit the standards observed nowadays. Just think about it while reading this fragment relating how Inge got her Pagoda:
“With the car decided on, the problem now become one of acquisition; that is, “How do we get one?!” At the time, just as now, the car was quite popular, hence the comment from the dealer, “You will just have to order one and wait for it.” Well, that did not set too well with husband, and they started scouting around in the area, Pagoda stalking as it were. They saw one at a dealership in the region and went in to buy it. The dealer would have none of that, “The car is for a doctor in the area, you can’t have it!” Undaunted, Inge’s husband left their address and phone number. They got a call a few days later. It turned out the wife of the good doctor was a rather large woman, who was too heavy to fit in the car. Inge and her husband got the car!”

First: shouldn't we speak about that doctor’s wife at the most as of a person horizontally challenged? Second: I bet, should this happen today in the US, that doctor and his wife would probably sue MB requesting that the car is reworked to accommodate all the “body assets” forming that person or claiming a hefty compensation for moral damages, as some people do in regards to airlines.

[Cees Klumper]

I've noticed as well how cars have gotten larger and larger (oops, horizontally challenged). The difference is most striking when you see a vintage sedan, say a 1972 Opel Kaddett, on the road next to say a modern VW Golf or Ford Escort. Same class of car, but the modern ones are much larger. It's not the size of the occupants though, I think we're wealthier these days and can afford 'more car' now than before, so manufacturers make them larger, OR manufacturing methods are more efficient and we can get more car for the same amount of purchasing power. Or a combination of both.

[Cees Klumper]

"If size doesn't matter, I'll have the bigger one, thank you."

Bette Midler

[Flyair]

Cees,

No need to arrange for a pool to get 100% of votes supporting Midler's wise opinion.

[Peter van Es]

Actually, I think smaller is better. When we drive rallies it is very noticeable how much nimble, lightness, and narrowness helps in travelling quickly. The Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT we use is very, very narrow at 1580mm, and can squeeze through spaces...

When you see European cars that in our youth we used to think normal sized, or even on the larger side (e.g. a BMW 2002, or Alfa Romeo Giulia (below), or a Saab 96) next to a modern Mini, you'll notice that the Mini is taller, wider and longer than these old cars. The VW Polo of today is larger, and certainly heavier than a VW Golf of the first generation.

On Top Gear yesterday Richard Hammond tested the new, lightweight Alfa Romeo 4C which is very light indeed at ~ 850kg and with a 1741 cc engine, delivers 240 hp and a top speed of 258km/h (160mph). He was horrified at the width of the car which is over 2010mm including door mirrors. That's over 2 meters... and makes making progress through Italian villages quite hard.

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Size does matter, however I do agree with Peter that in some cases smaller is actually better.

Case in point I've driven several ///M3's over the past 10 years (2002 to 2012) one e46 and three different e92's. We still own my first ever e28 a 1987 BMW 535is (my daughter drives that one and will never ever sell it). Now to the issue on size, even though the 1987 BMW does not have the power house of the 2012 that I owned last, it is and was always fun to drive my original 1987 it was indeed smaller then the e46 or last e92 I owned.

Giving up my former ///M3 for a new Benz was not so hard since I found my new toy the 1969 Pagoda

I do have now what I refer to as "Something old and something new" I will make a proper photo shoot of the two once the snow melts here in Eastern Canada

Stan, I think you missed a golden opportunity when the latest SL was parked in your garage besides your Pagoda, you should have taken a photograph

[Flyair]

R-D

As for the photo session, this was the first thing that we had in mind, but two things were against it: mess in my garage and dirt on the new SL. So we promised each other that once spring is back.... etc etc stay tuned