Classics dwarfed by moderns
Discussion
hahah, lovely pictures, indeed to good not to share here.
that GR Yaris compared to the Elan, wow...
a few months ago I saw my first GR Yaris at a showroom, wanted to know if I would like it...
I found it way to 'big' high... not closely as compact to say the lovely Peugeot 205 GTI, so it did not do much for me for that new price money.
The Elan looks lovely, sweet.
that GR Yaris compared to the Elan, wow...
a few months ago I saw my first GR Yaris at a showroom, wanted to know if I would like it...
I found it way to 'big' high... not closely as compact to say the lovely Peugeot 205 GTI, so it did not do much for me for that new price money.
The Elan looks lovely, sweet.
Edited by GTRene on Monday 24th January 01:23
Lotus Elan +2 said:
This one is from Harry Metcalf's latest video that he posted yesterday, I was surprised at how tiny it was.Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeYvA-bXH_w it is a good watch
Welshbeef said:
Lotus Elan +2 said:
As Harry pointed out the Elan sprint has zero crash protection it doesn’t even have any bumpers. 
Welshbeef said:
Lotus Elan +2 said:
As Harry pointed out the Elan sprint has zero crash protection it doesn’t even have any bumpersRichB said:
rowing up in the '60s, smaller cars look normal to me and the gross, hulks look ridiculous, however in this eco-conscious, green age that we all live in now all I think is how hypocritical the general public are. If we built small and light we'd probably get 60mpg from modern engines but no one would buy them. The public wants 2.5 ton lardy lumps yet frets about using a petrol lawnmower or burning a log. Madness...
Crash protection for internal and external is an additional weight to factor. It would be interesting to see the minimum total weight of the safety that is mandatory today. None would wind back on that especially to external protection /that’s if you don’t care about yourself.
RichB said:
rowing up in the '60s, smaller cars look normal to me and the gross, hulks look ridiculous, however in this eco-conscious, green age that we all live in now all I think is how hypocritical the general public are. If we built small and light we'd probably get 60mpg from modern engines but no one would buy them. The public wants 2.5 ton lardy lumps yet frets about using a petrol lawnmower or burning a log. Madness...
You make a good point Rich.A few years ago I had a Dacia Sandero Stepway as a hire car in Italy. Initially I wanted to hate it, but I grew to love the thing over the following fortnight and 2,000 or so kilometres. But even as basic as it was, I reckon they missed the mark. You see, it had air conditioning, electric windows, airbags left, right and centre, radio and CD player, remote central locking etc. All great, but things not everybody needs. No manufacturer (not even Dacia) makes a really basic car any more, a modern-day Renault 4, if you will - because we've all been conditioned to need all the bells and whistles.
Welshbeef said:
RichB said:
rowing up in the '60s, smaller cars look normal to me and the gross, hulks look ridiculous, however in this eco-conscious, green age that we all live in now all I think is how hypocritical the general public are. If we built small and light we'd probably get 60mpg from modern engines but no one would buy them. The public wants 2.5 ton lardy lumps yet frets about using a petrol lawnmower or burning a log. Madness...
Crash protection for internal and external is an additional weight to factor. It would be interesting to see the minimum total weight of the safety that is mandatory today. None would wind back on that especially to external protection /that’s if you don’t care about yourself.
Aside from extra height from SUV type's, there's no real extra interior space in modern vehicles that they class equals from say the 1970's.
All the extra length, width and thus weight has all gone external to the interior passenger cell/space.
We could all go Jap K-car route for inner cities I suppose, and maybe that sort of law might not be a bad idea for some UK cities, and at least they are made in RHD
People can only buy what if offered to them by the manufacturers. Most of this is being driven by legislation.
Welshbeef said:
Crash protection for internal and external is an additional weight to factor.
It would be interesting to see the minimum total weight of the safety that is mandatory today. None would wind back on that especially to external protection /that’s if you don’t care about yourself.
A new MX5 isn't much over a tonne and does well in crash tests. The problem is everything else is much heavier. But I don't know why people go on about the safety of old cars. If you're worried, don't buy them. It wouldn't be difficult to build a car today that met all the safety regs and was light but it would need to be small and basic which wouldn't sell.It would be interesting to see the minimum total weight of the safety that is mandatory today. None would wind back on that especially to external protection /that’s if you don’t care about yourself.
rovermorris999 said:
Welshbeef said:
Crash protection for internal and external is an additional weight to factor.
It would be interesting to see the minimum total weight of the safety that is mandatory today. None would wind back on that especially to external protection /that’s if you don’t care about yourself.
A new MX5 isn't much over a tonne and does well in crash tests. The problem is everything else is much heavier. But I don't know why people go on about the safety of old cars. If you're worried, don't buy them. It wouldn't be difficult to build a car today that met all the safety regs and was light but it would need to be small and basic which wouldn't sell.It would be interesting to see the minimum total weight of the safety that is mandatory today. None would wind back on that especially to external protection /that’s if you don’t care about yourself.
Yertis said:
Lotus Elan +2 said:
I'm on a GT6 FB group and a while back there were a series of pics from the US showing what happened when a car like that on the right is hit by one like that on the left. Tragic outcome as you can imagine. Almost enough to put me off my old Triumphs.here
RichB said:
Yertis said:
Lotus Elan +2 said:
I'm on a GT6 FB group and a while back there were a series of pics from the US showing what happened when a car like that on the right is hit by one like that on the left. Tragic outcome as you can imagine. Almost enough to put me off my old Triumphs.here
Given how much more time and effort goes into UK driver training compared to US driver training, and how much harder it is to pass the UK driving test compared to US driving tests, the standards of driving out on the roads are not much better on UK roads compared to US roads. Somewhat better, but not much.
21st Century Man said:
ajprice said:
It's opposites day, a modern dwarfed by classics https://twitter.com/thealso/status/148264799092174...
Naughty, driving that S660 on Tennessee plates, it can't be registered with them under the 25 year rule? I saw it at Bicester and appreciate it's from a museum in Tennessee, but I thought it was on those plates for display.Or is it a UK registered number that's been made up on a set of Tennessee plates?
Nope, number doesn't check out.
Edited by 21st Century Man on Sunday 16th January 20:34
Edited by 21st Century Man on Sunday 16th January 21:13
Rostfritt said:
HubNut on YouTube did a test drive of it a while back. It belongs to a university or museum in Tennessee. It is over in Europe for some reason that got cancelled and has ended up doing some sort of tour. So all legal being on those plates.
It was at the Late Brake Show Manchester event, and it is tiny 
.Rostfritt said:
HubNut on YouTube did a test drive of it a while back. It belongs to a university or museum in Tennessee. It is over in Europe for some reason that got cancelled and has ended up doing some sort of tour. So all legal being on those plates.
I know that driving around on foreign plates as a temporary import is fine. What threw me, or rather what I was questioning is how it's on US plates in the first place? It's too young to be US registered under their 25 year rule for imports, very rarely some vehicles can comply, but I doubt an S660 is one of them?https://www.autoshippers.co.uk/blog/everything-you...
OK, this is off topic, but a couple of weeks ago we were talking about car parking spaces. I came across these spaces yesterday.
So this is a modern parked in a new parking space at a playing fields where my kids used to play Saturday morning football. An Up! is small for a modern car but it's narrower than a Mk1 Golf so in classic terms it's a normal sized family hatchback
Well with the doors open it still didn't reach the edges of the space. The car is nowhere near the back of the space, I reckon I could have got two in length wise.
The parking bays at this place never used to be anything like this size, my X300 was a tight fit, but I guess there are so many massive thing using the place these days they just painted in much larger bays.
So this is a modern parked in a new parking space at a playing fields where my kids used to play Saturday morning football. An Up! is small for a modern car but it's narrower than a Mk1 Golf so in classic terms it's a normal sized family hatchback
Well with the doors open it still didn't reach the edges of the space. The car is nowhere near the back of the space, I reckon I could have got two in length wise. The parking bays at this place never used to be anything like this size, my X300 was a tight fit, but I guess there are so many massive thing using the place these days they just painted in much larger bays.
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