this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2025
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It isn't an exception. The car pictured is still much smaller than modern US cars (I think the pictured one is a US one but not 100% sure)
It's not smaller than modern cars. That's a 1960 Licoln Contiental with a curb weight of 5,000–5,700 lbs (depending on the exact specs) and 227 inches long. For reference, a 2021 Cadillac Escalade has a curb weight of 5,635–5,823 lbs and a length of 211 inches.
Let me rephrase to be more precise. Cars of that size are not common anymore in the US, judging from then vs now parking lot photos. I know small cars are still being made; they're making smaller cars than ever before these days, but that's not an argument against there being a trend of cars becoming bigger on average over time.
My argument is that it ebbs and flows, but it's been mostly big all the time. Sometimes, ridiculously big. They might be sedans that are shorter than a modern SUV, but most of that height is empty space. The curb weight is as bad as it ever was, and the road footprint might have been worse in the past.