Early Risers.

[iL Dottore]

6 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

It would not surprise me to see that the Fiat 500L is the same size as the Mini Countryman.

 

Like the Countryman, it is substantially bigger than the original reintroduced model.

 

I agree that the current FIAT 500 is bigger than its ancestor (but there again, so are we; the average UK male in 1965 was  7ft 5in tall, weighed  11st 8 lbs with a chest of 38in and a waist of 34in; nowadays the average UK male weighs 13.3 stone and is 5ft 20 inches tall with a chest of 43in and a waist of 37in).

 

Although the modern day Fiat is bigger than in the 60s, a car review website had this to say about the Fiat 500 dimensions: The Fiat 500 is only 3.5m long, 1.6m wide and 1.5m tall, so it's shorter and thinner than the Mini, but a little taller. The normal Mini Hatchback is 3.8m long, 1.7m wide and 1.4m tall. The original Fiat 500 was 2.9 m long, 1.3 m 52 wide (without mirrors) and 1.3 m high. So, the current version is not that much bigger than the original Fiat 500.

 

However, I would argue that the big difference between the modern Fiat 500 and the modern Mini is that they have managed to take out all the quirkiness and the fun factors from the Mini, turning it in from a convenient micro about town runaround to a bloated "lifestyle" car.

Edited February 6 by iL Dottore
Highlight typo

[Tony_S]

3 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

the average UK male in 1965 was  7ft 5in tall, weighed  11st 8 lbs with a chest of 38in and a waist of 34in; nowadays the average UK male weighs 13.3 stone and is 5ft 20 inches tall with a chest of 43in and a waist of 37in).

I don’t think so!

[Grizz]

11 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

I agree that the current FIAT 500 is bigger than its ancestor (but there again, so are we; the average UK male in 1965 was  7ft 5in tall, weighed  11st 8 lbs with a chest of 38in and a waist of 34in; nowadays the average UK male weighs 13.3 stone and is 5ft 20 inches tall with a chest of 43in and a waist of 37in).

 

Doc if this information had come from anyone other than you I would have read it and filed it under ‘worry about it tomorrow’…

However the average UK male weighing 13.3 stone with a 37in waist could just be slightly problematic. Particularly if, in the exceedingly unlikely event that, Mrs Grizz were to read this little nugget. Methinks Grizz would be wearing a duck tape mouth piece for 99.9% of the day, with a brief reprieve for a sup of low calorie water here and there. Probably for the remainder of my life. 
 

 

Edited February 6 by Grizz

[monkeysarefun]

5 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Sold as a Pontiac here. One of the few (only?) Australian designs to be sold in the US.

 

 

The  V8 VE Commodore sedan was also sold there as a Pontiac G8 in 2008-ish.

 

GM had planned to import the Holden ute as the G8 ST  ("Sports truck...Street truck...?)  at the same time -  they used Mr 50 Cents to announce it at the 2008 New York Motor Show  -  but the financial crisis killed that idea.

 

 

In 2011 The larger Holden Caprice was modified  into a police patrol vehicle and used by a few police departments in the US.

 

 

The 6.2L VF Commodore  SSV was sold there as the Chevy SS a few years later until Holden themselves were killed off.

 

 

Edited February 6 by monkeysarefun

[Tony_S]

5 minutes ago, Grizz said:

However the average UK male weighing 13.3 stone with a 37in waist could just be slightly problematic.

I can remember being about that so that must mean my brain is ok. 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. It's now started raining and Arthur Itis is doing a rain dance. I found some bacon reduced to clear at Tess Coes this afternoon so bacon butties are in order for supper later tonight. I had a check on fitting the rollator into the car and closing the parcel shelf but it will still be to big so I'm going with the original idea of getting another parcel shelf and cutting a hole in it. On the subject of cars getting bigger the new car fits on my drive (just) and I was surprised to learn that it shares the floor pan of the Nissan Micra/Renault Clio. 

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, tigerburnie said:

2750 nm of torque? it ain't the bhp that gives you the oomfffffffffffffffffffff

 

 

But there's room to put the shopping in it.

Edited February 6 by monkeysarefun

[New Haven Neil]

44 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. It's now started raining and Arthur Itis is doing a rain dance. I found some bacon reduced to clear at Tess Coes this afternoon so bacon butties are in order for supper later tonight. I had a check on fitting the rollator into the car and closing the parcel shelf but it will still be to big so I'm going with the original idea of getting another parcel shelf and cutting a hole in it. On the subject of cars getting bigger the new car fits on my drive (just) and I was surprised to learn that it shares the floor pan of the Nissan Micra/Renault Clio. 

 

The Nissan Note is a re-badged Renault Modus - or vice-versa!

[New Haven Neil]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

the average UK male in 1965 was  7ft 5in tall,

 

7ft 5???????????????

[New Haven Neil]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

I agree that the current FIAT 500 is bigger than its ancestor

 

Indeed - but is it just me that sees the increased size and altered proportions make the car look like a tortoise?

[Coombe Barton]

... Liz um, um, Truss and the Haunted Pencil are trying to stir things up again and moving a little to the right of Atilla the Hun. They’re trying to appeal to the dying out generation ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/02/06/covid-world-view-um-um-and-the-haunted-pencil-and-grandmas-birthday/

[Coombe Barton]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

I agree that the current FIAT 500 is bigger than its ancestor (but there again, so are we; the average UK male in 1965 was  7ft 5in tall, weighed  11st 8 lbs with a chest of 38in and a waist of 34in; nowadays the average UK male weighs 13.3 stone and is 5ft 20 inches tall with a chest of 43in and a waist of 37in).

I wondered where Typoman had bu99ered off to.

[monkeysarefun]

I learned to drive in my mums Fiat 500. They were called the Bambina here and 5000 were manufactured under license in New Zealand by Torino Motors  in the 1960's.

 

I did my driving test in it and the road the tester chose  for me to demonstrate my 3-point turn skilz  in was so wide given the cars size that I could have  done a figure of 8 in it. As it was I got marked down for changing  up into second gear as I drove to the opposite kerb. 

 

 

 

Edited February 6 by monkeysarefun

[Hroth]

4 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

I learned to drive in my mums Fiat 500. They were called the Bambina here and 5000 were manufactured under license in New Zealand by Torino Motors  in the 1960's.

 

I did my driving test in it and the road the tester chose to demonstrate my 3-point turn skilz  in was so wide given the cars size that I could have  done a figure of 8 in it. As it was I got marked down for changing  up into second gear as I drove to the opposite kerb. 

 

 

 

 

Did you have to have the lid open to fit in?

 

[monkeysarefun]

3 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

Did you have to have the lid open to fit in?

 

I managed ok but we had an Irish Setter that used to love sticking her head out the roof and getting the wind in her ears.  Used to get a lot of double-takes from pedestrians because from side-on it looked like a dog was driving a little car.

Edited February 6 by monkeysarefun

[Grizz]

Recently I have been playing with one of these…it’s a monster. 

 

[New Haven Neil]

2 minutes ago, Grizz said:

Recently I have been playing with one of these…it’s a monster. 

 

 

Didn't Sigourney Weaver fight an alien with one of those?

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I don’t think so!

Quite, there's definitely a typo in there. It should be 5ft 7in

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I agree that the current FIAT 500 is bigger than its ancestor (but there again, so are we; the average UK male in 1965 was  7ft 5in tall, weighed  11st 8 lbs with a chest of 38in and a waist of 34in; nowadays the average UK male weighs 13.3 stone and is 5ft 20 inches tall with a chest of 43in and a waist of 37in).

The weights and other dimensions ARE correct, the heights - obviously - are not! 😮😠

The correct average height for the 1960s (according to the sources I found) was 5'7", whilst the current average height in the UK for males is 5'10".

 

Please note that these are averages and not median values, all it takes is one significant outlier at either end of the bell shape curve to alter the average value. This I reckon implies that there are enough really, really skinny  men in the UK to offset all the Billy Bunters and bring the average weight down.....

 

 

[Gwiwer]

2 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

3 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

2750 nm of torque? it ain't the bhp that gives you the oomfffffffffffffffffffff

 

 

But there's room to put the shopping in it

Yes. But not the ego 

[Barry O]

Used to see a Fiat 500 driving around Leeds with a revolving clockwork key on the rear of it. Painted black with flames painted up the side panels..  must have disolved by now!

 

Remember the Alfa Sud.. aka "the Soap sud" which returned to basic rust very quickly but had a very impressive engine and gearbox.

 

Youngest Herbert visited to collect his Birthday present. Seemed to be in an excellent mood.

 

Baz

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

The Nissan Note is a re-badged Renault Modus - or vice-versa!

It was made in the Nissan factory in Sunderland. My car was registered by the dealer who kept it for two years, probably as a demonstrator as it is fitted with every conceivable extra and I'm still finding new ones.

[TheQ]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I agree that the current FIAT 500 is bigger than its ancestor (but there again, so are we; the average UK male in 1965 was  7ft 5in tall, weighed  11st 8 lbs with a chest of 38in and a waist of 34in; nowadays the average UK male weighs 13.3 stone and is 5ft 20 inches tall with a chest of 43in and a waist of 37in).

 

Although the modern day Fiat is bigger than in the 60s, a car review website had this to say about the Fiat 500 dimensions: The Fiat 500 is only 3.5m long, 1.6m wide and 1.5m tall, so it's shorter and thinner than the Mini, but a little taller. The normal Mini Hatchback is 3.8m long, 1.7m wide and 1.4m tall. The original Fiat 500 was 2.9 m long, 1.3 m 52 wide (without mirrors) and 1.3 m high. So, the current version is not that much bigger than the original Fiat 500.

 

 

I thought all Italian cars were designed for someone with incredibly short legs and incredibly long arms...

 

The biggest of the 500s is 4,375 mm L x 1,784 only 4 inches shorter than the land rover and only 7 mm narrower than the landrover .

 

Evening Awl,

Started raining at 16:45, by 18:00 when I left for the MRC there were puddles already across the roads, and it hasn't stopped chuckinitdarn since.

Having been waiting weeks for the wire to continue on with the unmentionable at the MRC guess who left it behind...

 

Coming back it was gloves on time , the outside temperature has seriously dropped.

 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. No bacon sarnie for supper, I changed my mind and had a fried egg in a bap instead. Now that the rains arrived Arthur Itis has gone though a couple of Nurofen will be taken at bedtime to keep him quiet. 

[tigerburnie]

3 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

But there's room to put the shopping in it.

You didn't watch it did you? you could get at least 4 carrier bags in it, though you probably wouldn't get over any speed bumps on the way there though.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.