No Gas crisis, how big cars get?

So, I remember reading somewhere that before the Gas crisis cars on the western world got so long that the average car on the US was five to six meters (or 19,6 feet) long, one example being the Lincoln continental that was 5,5 meters

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Assuming there is no gas crisis, how big can cars get as the GDP levels continue to grow worldwide?
Engines were going to be gutted for Emission air pollution reasons, the CAFE fuel economy would be after the crisis
The 1970 Clean Air Act, requiring a 90 percent reduction in emissions of hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxide (NOx) from new automobiles by 1975

Also, the long term rise in gas prices is still going to happen once China, India, and the rest of Asia start really growing. That will do it by itself.
 
On the other Hand, big Sedans got Replaced by the massive pickups of today
View attachment 640188
Ford Super Duty
160" Wheelbase
250" overall length
96" body width
Curb Weight 7486
475HP

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1959 Caddy Fleetwood 75
149" Wheelbase
244" overall length
80" body width
Curb Weight 5670
325 HP
Meh, I prefer the big sedan.

Back in the 80s when Brazil still had some leftover of a economy my dad could buy a Lincoln continental, but he instead bought another car since he didn't want to pay for the gas. Today the Lincoln is more expensive than our house :v .
 
Regarding the 1961 Tempest, that was really a fun little car to drive even with half an engine and since it had a rear transaxle so there was no lump in the passenger compartment. It really had a lot of room, 6 passengers easily (or lots of space for 2 getting horizontal in the back seat) and a nice large trunk. IMHO a great little car and easy on gas, although back when gas was 30 cents a gallon that didn't matter much. And it was really fun getting that little plaything up to 75-80 MPH on the paper flat 2 lane roads in back country Indiana. An then flying over RR grade crossings!
 
Wouldn't even larger cars run into lots of issues with fitting through narrower streets, into parking garages, and countless other obstacles like that? I don't see all of them being rebuilt to accommodate these city buses everywhere.
 
Wouldn't even larger cars run into lots of issues with fitting through narrower streets, into parking garages, and countless other obstacles like that? I don't see all of them being rebuilt to accommodate these city buses everywhere.
Without the gas crisis the average size of the streets could get larger
 

marathag

Banned
Without the gas crisis the average size of the streets could get larger
Nah, the Clean Air act doomed the high HP engines you need for 5000 pound cars. Had to meet Emission targets in 1975.
Nobody would buy a big Lincoln with the performance of a Fiat 124

Pickups survived(and thrived) due to not being classed as passenger vehicles, so could stay big.
Though a 1978 Ford F-250 is the size of a modern Ford Ranger. Pickups really started to grow in 1998
 

CalBear

Moderator
Donor
Monthly Donor
Cars had reached close to maximum size possible. That was largely determined by the dimensions of Garages and driveways. The 1972 Continental and Eldorado had just about hit that limit (the standard is 20-22 feet and Continental was 19 feet nose to tail, with the Caddy coming in at 18'-8").

What might have continued was the horsepower wars. We were at 500 c.i. and 400+hp.
 
They can be confused with the 1964 Buick Sylark.
Yeah, the 61-63 Tempests were "cousins" with the Buick Special and the Olds F-85 of the same year range... each was a little innovative in some way (you could get the Olds and the Buick with the little aluminum 215 V-8), but the Pontiac was definitely the strangest of the lot...
 
Nah, the Clean Air act doomed the high HP engines you need for 5000 pound cars. Had to meet Emission targets in 1975.
Nobody would buy a big Lincoln with the performance of a Fiat 124

Pickups survived(and thrived) due to not being classed as passenger vehicles, so could stay big.
Though a 1978 Ford F-250 is the size of a modern Ford Ranger. Pickups really started to grow in 1998
I was just thinking earlier, that I can remember when a Ford F-150 was a reasonably-sized vehicle that you didn't need a stepladder to climb into :p
 
Without the gas crisis the average size of the streets could get larger
How would streets get larger? In many places, they already exist and you can't very well move the houses aside to get more street space for these monsters.
 
How would streets get larger? In many places, they already exist and you can't very well move the houses aside to get more street space for these monsters.
Yes, but new ones are being built, these would be larger

But yeah, in some places there would be no way
 
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