In the curiosity posts, I ask you this time what is the biggest vehicle you'd drive on the road?
I specify "on the road" just to be sure we won't deal with mining, or industrial construction vehicles. It may be your actual car, maybe! Or something bigger! Let's start!
For my part, it always going bigger since I grabbed my driver's license in 1981; in the mid-1980's, I practiced my city driving in the narrow streets of Pointe-St-Charles neighborhood, in Montreal, QC, with my then-brother-in-law's 1976 Chrysler Newport. Yes, those that were as big as a whale, and with the suspension that make you feel like in a ship. Another one of my impressive moments was in 2005; I drove a french music band, and the two tour managers, across province of Quebec with a 32-feet Itasca motorhome. Going through orange cones with that vehicle was a bit special, while some of our routes were on construction. Finally, since 2010 in a training course, and since 2015 for my actual boss, I hit the roads with tractor-trailers; my actual machine is a 2004 Peterbilt 387, pulling 53-footers all across Canada and USA east coasts, from Newport, QC to Homestead, FL.
And you? What's the biggest thing you'd drive a the road?
Quote from: Richard3 on February 05, 2018, 08:02:39 PM
In the curiosity posts, I ask you this time...
Is there a series? :hmmm:
I've driven a Ford E-150, and I think that's as big as it gets in my case. This should be interesting.
Standard Penske moving truck (19')
Quote(...)
Is there a series? :hmmm:
(...)
...maybe!
An armored car for a week, worst job I ever took.
A dump truck with a chemical spreader box and a snow plow.
Did snow duty with VDOT in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
I'd love to say that I'd drive some kind of big rig just to park it in my yard, then customize it the way I want and take a picture of it so I could post it on the web, or use it for some other artistic or miscellaneous purpose, but I'd be lying.
The biggest vehicle I ever drove was a 1975 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 Limousine. I saw it for sale quite cheap, and I thought it might be the kind of car I could use to take teenagers to their prom, and/or rent out to movie crews. Despite the fact that I was under 25 and only had a standard New York State drivers license, the guy was determined to sell it to me anyway. I have to admit it was a bit intimidating at first, but eventually I seemed to be getting the hang of it. Then I tried to park in a tough spot, and I clearly couldn't do it. He knew that he shouldn't sell it to me, and so did I.
http://oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Cadillac/1975_Cadillac/1975_Cadillac_Brochure/1975%20Cadillac-10.html
http://oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Cadillac/1975_Cadillac/1975_Cadillac_Brochure/1975%20Cadillac-11.html
I agreed not to buy it, but we both agreed it was a really nice car. I wanted to check up and see if he ever sold the thing to somebody who could handle it. If the internet existed back then, I'm sure I would've taken pictures of the thing and posted it on some message board or somewhere else hoping it would attract potential buyers.
Riding: Military tank (don't ask)
Driving: my car.
The biggest vehicle I've ever owned is my 2001 Chevy Tahoe; as for driven overall, it's a U-Haul from Los Angeles to Seattle in 2000.
Biggest car I've ever driven was my parent's 1971 Catalina station wagon, which was also one of the cars I learned to drive on.
Biggest truck I've ever driven was a Ford F350 with a bucket attachment - this was in 1994 when a co-worker and I did overhead sign support inspections along I-95/I-93 (nee MA 128) between Randolph and Wellesley.
I drive one of these sometimes.
(https://static.fastline.com/assets/item/088/048/2553eb5a-efc4-4dae-8ae0-de1800c40b5a.jpg)
I usually drive a compact-size vehicle (by choice, I prefer it). However, I have driven a Class C RV (31 footer). That takes a bit more care when changing lanes.
Biggest vehicle I have driven is a 26' U-Haul.
Biggest vehicle I have been in? I was wondering about the glacier vehicles up in Banff/Jasper. Never made it into an ore hauler when I lived outside of Duluth.
I'm not sure but didn't we have a similar thread on this subject a while back?
For me, it was a Budget moving van (w/a Ford E-Series chassis) I rented to move my father from Nashville, TN to Sturbridge, MA over 10 years ago.
Quote from: Hurricane Rex on February 06, 2018, 01:52:19 AM
Riding: Military tank (don't ask)
Driving: my car.
Okay, I won't ask about the tank but I will ask you what kind of car you have/drive?
Quote from: Beltway on February 05, 2018, 11:52:18 PM
A dump truck with a chemical spreader box and a snow plow.
Did snow duty with VDOT in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Same here with NJDOT. Basically, this:
http://media.nj.com/traffic_impact/photo/njdot-asphalt-truck-and-trainerjpeg-14015db2b5062223.jpeg
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fidata.over-blog.com%2F2%2F36%2F63%2F15%2FCanada-2008%2FCCanada-20081306.jpg&hash=60b0135aa356717d47aaa027d96431a800dd477b)
The original colours of the DFS trucks and trailers. There's some remaining, but they'll be retired from the roads by 2020 for the trailers, and by 2019 for the tractors.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fexcellence-peterbilt.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F11%2FDFS1.jpg&hash=cc90ba01c461ee2a188349abbc0b6bb4d1c07b3a)
These are the actual colours of the units following the greens. The brand new ones are all white, with only the logo on the sleepers, and the website address on the trailers sides, and the logo on the rear doors.
One day, I'll take a pic of my dedicated truck... once cleaned.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on February 06, 2018, 11:52:28 AM
Quote from: Beltway on February 05, 2018, 11:52:18 PM
A dump truck with a chemical spreader box and a snow plow.
Did snow duty with VDOT in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Same here with NJDOT. Basically, this:
http://media.nj.com/traffic_impact/photo/njdot-asphalt-truck-and-trainerjpeg-14015db2b5062223.jpeg
The truck looked considerably different, but was about the same size.
Quote from: PHLBOS on February 06, 2018, 11:49:30 AM
Quote from: Hurricane Rex on February 06, 2018, 01:52:19 AM
Riding: Military tank (don't ask)
Driving: my car.
Okay, I won't ask about the tank but I will ask you what kind of car you have/drive?
Subaru Outback most of the time. If I don't drive that, its normally a small rental car that my parents let's me drive. In other words not that big.
Edit: I misunderstood the OP, I thought it said what is the biggest vehicle you've driven. If its what I want to drive, no larger than A 4500 series truck or similar towing a bass boat.
When I was doing the electronic trade-show circuit back from 1998 to 2003 I had occasion to rent a diesel bobtail, which I used to get loudspeakers and equipment from my production facility in San Dimas (near the 57/210 junction) to either Las Vegas or Newport Beach. Slow, noisy, and they really didn't like the NB I-15 hill NE of Baker or the reverse-direction grade south of the state line. Pretty much occupied the climbing lane for most of the duration of the grades. Also a pain in the ass maneuvering around parking lots for loading & unloading. Don't miss that aspect of the shows one bit!
It was either one of the cargo vans I used to drive for my old courier job or my dad's Chevy Silverado.
Largest I've driven on the road (not that exact truck but a similar model to it):
(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS5zkIJ0-SIQp8Flxf4sRNlMvDxyNaTHKYCVGLoJld0Ut-mobvQww)
My father in law was an long distance truck driver, I wouldn't have minded doing that if my career hadn't worked out. I actually did drive his Peterbilt sans trailer one time from his house to the pick up point for his trailer, so about 5 miles. It was interesting to say the least (and the day I learned the phrase "If you can't find it, grind it").
I have run many fine GM products on the roads: GP 9s, GP 15s, GP 38s, GP 40s :bigass:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4854704
Quote from: cjk374 on February 11, 2018, 01:56:01 PM
I have run many fine GM products on the roads: GP 9s, GP 15s, GP 38s, GP 40s :bigass:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4854704
Well... bigger than my Pete!
Ford F-250 TurboDiesel (infrequently) towing a long and heavy trailer.
Quote from: cjk374 on February 11, 2018, 01:56:01 PM
I have run many fine GM products on the roads: GP 9s, GP 15s, GP 38s, GP 40s :bigass:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4854704
On the roads? The railroad you work for must have some street running -- or at least some industrial spurs sharing paved facilities with automotive traffic.
Quote from: sparker on February 12, 2018, 01:12:12 AM
Quote from: cjk374 on February 11, 2018, 01:56:01 PM
I have run many fine GM products on the roads: GP 9s, GP 15s, GP 38s, GP 40s :bigass:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4854704
On the roads? The railroad you work for must have some street running -- or at least some industrial spurs sharing paved facilities with automotive traffic.
Grade crossings don't count? I have at least one that meets at a very sharp angle (15°-20° maybe?)
in Magnolia, AR: https://www.google.com/maps/@33.2789842,-93.2443906,0a,75y,353.2h,89.83t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sHrTS7EMhg_out7wJ1JB0NQ!2e0
I've driven my dad's 2010 Ford F-350 on numerous occasions. It's just a little larger than the MaineDOT's early-00's Ford E-250 van I had the chance to drive several times last summer. Other than that, I haven't driven too many larger vehicles.
26 foot moving van, shared driving from S.F. Bay Area to Seattle. Split driving, and taking a rather annoyed cat with us in the cab.
Am I missing something? Every answer so far has been the biggest vehicle you have driven. The question asks the biggest vehicle you would drive, so something you would like to drive but have never had the chance to would also be included.
What is the biggest vehicle I'd drive on the road?
As big as someone would let me.
I have passed a line of several US Army tanks, one at a time, in a '61 VW Beetle.
I drove a Penske truck from Brooklyn to Virginia in July 2001 because my aunt in Bay Ridge gave me some furniture. It was not the smallest size truck they offer. Driving that on Brooklyn streets was a challenge. Tell you what, driving that on the Interstate and the Jersey Turnpike causes me to understand a lot better what truck drivers go through in terms of dealing with stupid behavior from car drivers. I'm glad I do not drive something of that size often.
Biggest thing I've driven other than that was a rental Nissan Armada for a bit over a thousand miles on our trip to New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona in 2015. Larger than we needed, but at the time my wife was interested in maybe getting an SUV herself. That's about the biggest vehicle I'd want to drive, and it's maybe a little bigger than I'd like because parallel parking would have been tough had I needed to do it. I think if I were in the SUV market, I'd look at the Mazda CX-5.
In general I find the size of the two biggest cars we own (an Acura TL and an Acura TLX) to be a very comfortable size vehicle.
Question was, "What's (= what is) the biggest vehicle you'd (= you would) drive on the road?" Not you have driven.
I don't like driving anything larger than a midsize sedan. If I have to drive a truck or SUV/CUV, I'd rather it be a smaller one. I used to drive an old F150 a lot and it always felt too big for me. I kept bumping into things.
Quote from: leroys73 on February 18, 2018, 02:40:40 PM
Question was, "What's (= what is) the biggest vehicle you'd (= you would) drive on the road?" Not you have driven.
I answered that.
A Tank, oh wait! That's already been done (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmFiZoe-7P4)...
Quote from: 1 on February 14, 2018, 01:57:11 PM
Am I missing something? Every answer so far has been the biggest vehicle you have driven. The question asks the biggest vehicle you would drive, so something you would like to drive but have never had the chance to would also be included.
That is why I edited my post a few days past.
Quote from: 1 on February 14, 2018, 01:57:11 PMAm I missing something? Every answer so far has been the biggest vehicle you have driven. The question asks the biggest vehicle you would drive, so something you would like to drive but have never had the chance to would also be included.
With the above in mind, nearly any large domestic land yacht from the 60s and 70s.
Biggest example:
1971-1976 Cadillac Fleetwood (75) Limousine (1976 model shown below):
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/f1/91/21/f19121dbbbb5494dc03c74b97d4cc739.jpg)
Others/honorable mention (not in the limo category):
1959-1960 Mercury
1964-1966 Imperial LeBaron
1973 Imperial LeBaron (longest length 6-passenger sedan at 235")
1974-1978 Chrysler C-Body ('74-'75 Imperial LeBaron/Chrysler New Yorker/Newport)
1970-1979 Lincoln Continental/Town Car/Town Coupe
1971-1976 GM C-body (Cadillac DeVille/Fleetwood, Buick Electra 225, Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight)
Quote from: 1995hoo on February 19, 2018, 08:19:17 AM
Quote from: leroys73 on February 18, 2018, 02:40:40 PM
Question was, "What's (= what is) the biggest vehicle you'd (= you would) drive on the road?" Not you have driven.
I answered that.
My statement was not directed at you, 1995hoo. Seems many others had trouble interpreting it correctly.