Full size Pick-Ups and Parking Spots

My truck is wider and longer than a typical 8' bed. It can be a challenge if you dont park far out...
 
Is there a particular time limit you'd like to dictate?
Dictate, no, but how far back should we compare?

Model T had a wheel base of 100.
Length of 128
height is a bit over 69
Weight 1480lbs

So the 1980 truck is ridiculous by comparison.

I'm sure the Model T was much easier to park.
 
Dictate, no, but how far back should we compare?

Model T had a wheel base of 100.
Length of 128
height is a bit over 69
Weight 1480lbs

So the 1980 truck is ridiculous by comparison.

I'm sure the Model T was much easier to park.

Probably not. No power steering for one and the steering mechanism was antiquated. I’m not sure what type it was. Recirculating ball perhaps?
 
Here is a mid size/compact Ranger from 2003. This can give you an idea of how much trucks have grown.

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I think I did a comparison of the New Ranger vs Old Ranger vs F150 and the new Ranger seemed far closer to the F150 in most dimensions compared to the old Ranger.

I suspect Ford and others know what people want, for the most part.

It may not reflect the rank and file here at BITOG, but this is one place where Ford and likely RAM and GM have the finger on the pulse of the buyer.
 
Driving a full size crew cab I've thought for some time that parking spaces were getting smaller. It's a pain to park in most parking lots.

😪
 
The mirrors in both my F-350s were wider than most parking spaces. The snowplow hoist sometimes made my J-20 and 92 F-350 longer than a space. My second F-350 was ALWAYS too long-extended cab longbed with a plow hoist and wide mirrors.
 
Basically modern medium sized trucks are the 1/2 tons of 15-20 years ago.

And the modern 1/2 tons are the 1 tons of 15-20 years ago.

Then the 1 tons of today are yuuuggeeeeee
 
Spots are certainly getting smaller. My 1 ton crew cab long bed is 22 feet bumper to bumper. My kids 1997 Extended Cab Z71 short bed is 19 feet bumper to bumper. The hitch from the ground is almost exactly the same. The 97 1/2 ton is 6.4 feet wide, the 2017 1 ton is SRW is 6.7 feet wide.
The height is where they really differ.
 
thanks for linking "truth about cars" on the same line how raising the subarus ground clearance reclassed them. takes uncle sam + long time + lots of lobbyinging $$$$ to make or change laws that manufacturers find the loopholes quickly! recently read that big business paid 30% of our taxes in the 50's BUT only 7% today with loopholes passed by lobby money, business as usual in our great country!!!!!
 
On the parking spot size-

First of all, at my last job, I knew and followed the parking rules and policies to a T. Parking largely was not even aware of their own policies, and I received more than one complete BS ticket when I was parked 100% legally and within their policy. In 10 years, I never paid a parking ticket, and became enough of a pain to the director of parking that when I received one, they'd just magically disappear from my record, not show as appealed and dismissed. BTW, I received several failure to display tickets per year because my MG always had a "Sticker" pass rather than a hang tag(several reasons, but fully within the rules, an extra cost to me, and displayed exactly as instructed to do) and the photo provided would invariably have the pass in full view. I lost an "official" appeal on this because they claimed to have forgiven multiple failure to displays that year and I had a "long history" of them, so ended up going up the food chain to get that sorted-and after that when it still happened they'd take care of them immediately because I would fight them.

All of that aside, I'm sure I had a file an inch thick at parking and was known as a perpetual trouble maker, but again I made them follow the rules. Heck, I even reported them to the NCAA one time for creating student athlete parking spots that ate up most of a faculty/staff lot(benefit available to athletes not available to regular students, so a small violation for a school that was already on thin ice for big stuff-those went away a few weeks later with no comment).

At one point, the lot where i normally parked had closed for a few days for resurfacing. The day it reopened, I pulled in, got out, and thought "How on earth did I miss the lines that badly?"-I was over. I'd parked in the same lot, and usually the same spot, for 2 years or so at that point, so it was unusual that I didn't just whip into my spot and have my car centered and straight without any extraordinary effort. That day, I tried a couple of times, and managed to get a few inches on each side. This was in my MKZ, which isn't a small car, but isn't abnormally large either.

I thought maybe it was just that spot, so tried a few others over the course of a few days(and got a few door dings in the process) and some were better but none like they were. The same number of spots were present, but they'd shrunk, and I pretty quickly spotted it-they'd inset the last spot of each row a couple of feet from the islands rather than running it right up to as before.

A bit of digging turned up parking regulations for the city, including, by ordinance, the minimum spot width. I'm sort of pulling numbers out my rear, but these are close. I believe the city required lots to have a minimum width of 9 ft. I took my tape measure out, measured several spots, and found them in the ballpark of 8 ft-some a few inches over, some a bit under.

An email to the director of parking followed citing the ordnance number and the actual width of spots. They tried to deflect blame to the contractor who had done it, but I insisted that they were still in violation of the ordinance and I expected them to handle it properly. Two days later, the lot was restriped to the proper width.

Call me Karen if you must in those dealings with parking, but I paid them a lot of money every year(and an increasing amount every year) and the parking department operated at a huge surplus. In some of my last communication with them over yet another parking problem when campus was shut down, the director complained about them "losing money" due to "lack of citations."
 
When I was working I had a designated parking spot. Another employee bought a new truck, a Toyota Tacoma "double cab". That truck just didn't fit in the parking spaces (which had been the same size for years). It was almost impossible to maneuver into the new owner's designated space.

This was not a case of smaller spaces, it was a case of a too big truck, and a smallish truck at that.
 
You are not imagining anything. Pickups have gotten taller too. Anyone parked next to them will have fun backing out of that space.
I remember when my dad bought his (now mine) 2001 F350 brand new it was like a monster truck in comparison to the older trucks. Tall and a ton of ground clearance.

Now it looks like a lowered 2wd next to newer trucks!
 
I remember when my dad bought his (now mine) 2001 F350 brand new it was like a monster truck in comparison to the older trucks. Tall and a ton of ground clearance.

Now it looks like a lowered 2wd next to newer trucks!


Totally agree. I knew someone who had a late 60’s or very early 70’s Chevy pickup. The ground clearance was not all that high though it was higher than a sedan or station wagon. The seats were higher though sitting on a steel frame with the thick cushions and springs.
 
When I was working I had a designated parking spot. Another employee bought a new truck, a Toyota Tacoma "double cab". That truck just didn't fit in the parking spaces (which had been the same size for years). It was almost impossible to maneuver into the new owner's designated space.

This was not a case of smaller spaces, it was a case of a too big truck, and a smallish truck at that.
If a Tacoma is too big, the spot is too small.
 
What about the PU’s that leave the Ball Mount on, Good for you to trip over, or hurt your leg, or when they parallel park and punch a hole in your grill.
^^^ I never leave my hitch in the receiver for just this reason! I thought I had broken my leg when I walked between my truck and the front of my wife’s car and I had forgotten to take my hitch out of the receiver, we park nose to tail in our garage. It only happened once! 😫
 
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