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MG MG Y Type - The End of Classic Car Driving

Over time I have noticed that the modern person has grown in weight and stature so that they can no longer fit easily into cars built when people were far smaller. It is quite impossible for two 15 stone men to fit into many pre-war light cars. Although I by modern standards of 12 stone and 5ft 11 of moderate size found the MG TF cramped and as well as its suspension hard. I once attended a performance of a restoration comedy at the Regency Theatre Royal Bath and spent a most uncomfortable time wedged into a seat with the elbows of the persons next to me wedged into my sides. Malnutrition from an early age will be the only way to overcome the problem. Bryan
B Mellem

Haha Bryan - maybe the EU will come up with some legislation on how big people should be so that we can return to smaller cars and save the planet.

Paul
Paul Barrow

In my local supermarket car park I noticed an early Mini, The Morris Mini Minor, parked alongside the BMW version. The original Mini took up just half the allocated space whereas the new version hardly left enough room to open the car doors.

Back when I was forty pounds lighter, we didn't have McDonalds, KFC or Burger King. And a pizza was almost unheard of, something foreign that you ate on holiday in Italy. The only fat burgers on offer was from a takeaway called Wimpy. That and the chip shop, which always did a roaring trade on Friday & Saturday night, following a session of copious pints of beer.

My guess is it will get worse, we seem to be following the American trend of "eat as much as you like" for a set price. With the sales of beer and tobacco falling like a stone the marketing boys have turned to fast food in order to make a fast buck. The result being, people of gargantuan size. So will we all be driving trucks with easy access sliding doors before too long?
R Taylor

Re upsizing!
In our garage, the Y type fits through the door easily, several inches to spare, the (Modern) MGTF fits, with a few millimetres to spare, the wife's MG3 has to have the mirrors folded!

Public car parks also vary in width, but that doesn't solve the width of the average 21st century adult compared to mid 20th century contemporaries.

Dave
D P Jones

The Y type has one good feature in that future drivers can sit on the back seat with the sliding roof open, no doubt the springs will need up rating.
On a cautious note I understand that Paleontologist have found that over time species progressively increase in size followed by a sudden extinction !! Bryan

Ps Dave I think part of the reason for modern cars becoming so large is the armoured plate surrounding them.
B Mellem

Mr Bean famously solved one of these problems, by adopting Brian's driving position. But then Rowan Atkinson was probably only 7 stone ringing wet!
Like you, Dave, our proper cars go inside the shed, moderns have to make do with the car port. It's the natural order of things. John.
J P Hall

It's not just the size of modern cars - it's also the weight. Have a look at this chart.

1930 MG M-Type - 514kg
1937 MG TA Tickford - 889kg
1947 MG YA Saloon - 991kg
1948 MG Y Tourer - 933kg
1969 MG Mk3 Midget - 714kg
2004 MG ZR160 Hatchback - 1145kg

The weights of some new hybrid cars are scary !.

Cheers

Tony
A L SLATTERY

This thread was discussed between 04/11/2018 and 05/11/2018

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