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Old 05-08-2015, 05:02 PM   #30 (permalink)
BabyDiesel
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Johnston County, NC
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Big Blazin' - '88 Chevrolet K5 Blazer Silverado
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mwilliamshs View Post
My van is 18' 9" without its rear-door-mounted spare tire and yep, it's as big as you want to try parking like a "normal" vehicle. The very "snub" nose of the van (< 18") is a huge asset. A long vehicle with a sizeable overhang at both ends would be a monstrosity. Consider the dimensions adopted by nearly all large vehicles from 18 wheeled Class 8 OTR trucks to bread vans to fullsize vans to minivans...short noses are the way to go, especially if the back's gonna be lengthy. Having driven a number of Corvettes, a GT40, etc trust me when I say long frontends belong on expensive cars that aren't driven on every errand because they get damaged easily and only the owner of supercar is going to pay for the repair over and over, not to mention the hassle and neck-pains of re-parking and craning out the window for an improved vantage point. Likewise, backing-in to parking spaces in a vette is a breeze since you can see everything up close and personal from that angle. A GT40...not so much LOL
Yikes! Making my car longer than a full size van was not planned. I agree with you that my car would be painful to park practically anywhere. I have driven a Corvette, and I can attest to the long nose problems. While I can not change the length from where I sit to the front bumper, There may be something I can do about the rear boat tail.

The bottom angle is 2.5*, and this gives the best angle for... I can't remember the name, but the angle is ideal I do remember from a post by Aerohead that the angle can go to 4-5* and still provide improvements. After that, there was a regression. Increasing the angle may be the only way to shorten this beast.
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