Does any one know the average weight of a passenger vehicle

[rzemanfl]

in 1967 vs. their average weight now? I know big was the standard then, but there were plenty of Falcons, Beetles, Mustangs and such around too. BushCo's stupid tax policies and the loophole in the mileage standards have encourgaged behemoths in the uh-ohs (my way of saying the 2000's).

[soothsayer]

1. Small cars have gotten heavier, large cars have gotten lighter.

BUT overall cars seem to be heavier cuz more people drive SUVs.

[progdonkey]

2. a quick Google search of "car weight" turned up this...

Unfortunately, it's just a very brief summary of the article, so you can't see the specific examples.

"A mid-sized car today weighs about 600 pounds less than it did 25 years ago."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1076/is_8_43/ai_79381945/pg_1

[rzemanfl]

5. Thanks. My guess is that fewer people drive mid-size cars now

than did in '82 and there are way more big SUVs on the road today.

[RaleighNCDUer]

12. OTOH. they typical family of four weighs 600 lbs more than they

did 25 years ago.

Kind of balances out.

[madokie]

3. I bought my first new car in '67, a plymouth belevede 2 two door hardtop

and I would say it tipped the scales at maybe 3500 lbs. where as our present vehicles each break 4000 lbs easily.

[shadowknows69]

4. What kind of Sparrow?

oh, never mind.

[SheilaT]

6. Google is your friend.

I typed in What cars weight without even surrounding the words by quote marks, and got all sorts of information.

For crash testing, there are five weight class categories:
3500 lbs / 1590 kgs or more
3000-3499 lbs / 1363-1589 kgs
2600-2999 lbs / 1181-1362 kgs
2300-2599 lbs / 1045-1180 kgs
Less than 2300 lbs / 1045 kgs

According to one website (and I only glanced at a few before posting this) cars by the late 90's weighed less than a quarter centrury before. Which is what I was going to say myself. Older cars were made of heavier steel and metal. Today's cars, even the gigunda SUVs have far more light-weight plastic,m aluminum engines, and so on.

[rzemanfl]

7. I googled the weight of big Cadillacs. The '67 Eldorado had a

curb weight of 3,768 lbs. a 2005 Escalade's curb weight is 5,809 lbs. (Whatever curb weight means, I think it means empty.)

[A HERETIC I AM]

10. Curb weight is the heavier figure. What it would weigh sitting at the curb, ready to drive away

The other weights you can find on your own car (usually on a metal tag riveted inside the drivers side door) are
G.V.W. = Gross Vehicle Weight - same as "Curb Weight". Full of fuel but no passengers or cargo.
G.V.W.R. = Gross Vehicle Weight Rating - The most weight the vehicle is designed to carry safely. Passengers, fuel and cargo.
G.V.A.W. = Gross Vehicle Axle Weight (usually followed by either an "F" for Front or an "R" for Rear) The most weight a vehicles individual axles are designed to carry. Important on Pickups and heavier trucks.
Occasionally i have seen "Dry Weight" figures on these labels. Means the weight of the vehicle with an empty fuel tank and no oil in the engine.

Experience gained from a former career as a car hauler

[SheilaT]

13. An Eldorado and an Escalade are

not exactly equivalent vehicles. One was an ordinary full-sized sedan, the other a big, hunking SUV. I think the current Cadillac equivalent (from a brief look at the Cadillac website) would be the DTS, which weighs just over 4,000lbs. And yes, that is a little more than the 67 Eldorado, but not by much.

You really need to compare same kind of cars. Other than the SUVs, cars have gotten smaller and lighter in the last 30 years. SUVs are a category (along with minivans) that simply didn't exist a while back.

[Gold Metal Flake]

8. Car & Driver and Road & Track magazines publish weight data...

...as a part of their road tests, and have for decades.

The 1965 Mustang coupe with the base V8 was 2800 lbs. Add 200 got 67/68 amd 200 more for 69/70 and 200 more still for 71/2/3. 6 cyl cars weighed 100 lbs less, convertables weighed 200-300 more. Big block cars weighed more, but lets forget about those. The Cougar version of the Mustangweighed about 200 lbs more than the Mustang due to standard features, a longer wheelbase and more sound deadener.

The 1972 and later Torino/LTDII midsized sedans with base V8 were 3800. Options and different engines raised that. LTDs were around 4200.

The 1960s Tbirds started at 4600 and went over 5000 by 1970.

Todays Mustang is still around 3600 lbs. Check the manufacturer websites for weight data as well.

[CrispyQ]

9. And what about the average weight of the drivers & passengers?

I'll bet that's gone up too. ;) Also, there are probably fewer passengers per car these days than in '67.

[htuttle]

11. It's hard to imagine even a Roman emperor...

...riding around in a one-and-a-half ton solid steel chariot pulled by a train of 200-300 horses, but that is the equivalent of what many people are driving around today.

Seems like kind of a waste.

(I say this as the driver of a 250 pound scooter that is pulled by the equivalent of 12 horses, which is still kind of wasteful, but not so much as a car...).

[CrispyQ]

14. I'm glad I came back to this thread & read your response.

Harr!
:D
:thumbsup: