Last November, Car2Go came to Eugene, and I documented their Smart cars that seemingly had such an affinity to CCs. I even asked the question “Will they replace Eugene’s CCs?” No worries on that account; Eugenians did not use them enough, and the Smarts have been packed off to hopefully more lucrative markets. But they’re still at it elsewhere.
CC Reader DS23pallas shot this one paired up with what has to be its polar opposite. This is in Calgary, Alberta. Even their stances are opposite.
That is a funny looking picture. Those cars don’t look like they could have been spawned from the same planet.
If nothing else, this picture illustrates that this was a different planet in 1959 from what it is today.
I wonder how both would fare in the offset frontal collision with each other. A modern twist of David and Goliath, perhaps?
Would smart car bounce off the Cadillac like a tennis ball? Or would smart car inflict enormous damage to Cadillac’s body, burying itself deep inside the engine bay?
Hmm…
Looks like someone’s is hungry for a snack!
You beat me to it. The caption should be: “The shark about to attack.”
That was my thought also–the little fish is minding its own business, unaware of the shark approaching!
The shark’s much more attractive. That fish needs eating.
I like the forward rake of the not-Smart playing off the rearward squat of the Caddy.
Somehow each slant works to make both seem ready for action (tho’ only the ’59 seems ready for “takeoff”)!
What a hoot!
CC Outside my house not so long ago. This time, small is old (launched the same year as the Cadillac).
That photo reminded me of my encounter with rednecks and their jacked-up 4×4 pick-up truck.
I chanced on a test drive of right-hand-drive 1966 Mini in Denver a several years ago. The guy who owned Mini was very sceptical about Mini having room for my 6’8″ body so I prodded him to let me drive. Due to the steering wheel in a truck-like position, I was able to fit in the Mini so splendidly.
At the beginning of a test drive, I need to visit the petrol station and peruse the window cleaning equipment to clean the windscreen. As I pulled into the station, the rednecks saw me and laughed so hard at how ridiculously tiny Mini as compared to their pick-up truck.
As I climbed out of Mini, their laughter fizzed out faster than Roman candles, their chins slowly made the way to the concrete floor, their eyes pressed out of the sockets, and their voice boxes and mouths ululated the bluest of blue language. They took a long look and couldn’t figure how could a Gulliver giant fit in Lilliputian car.
So I had a last laugh…
Are you making fun of my automobile?
Great video! Thanks for the link!
Great story – thanks for sharing it!
Is this in Parkdale (toronto)? That looks like my old apartment on the left. Dowling Ave
Two great photographs,well done and thanks.
These 2 are opposites in more ways than the obvious difference in size. The Cadillac is the epitome of wretched excess, while the smart is an all-electric (supposedly zero emissions) plug-in that uses no gasoline.
Owned by the same person?
An interesting possibility. Atone during the week for the weekend’s automotive debauchery?
Actually, the Smart is a Car2Go car share vehicle, gas powered. Mercedes has launched this service in a number of cities to compete with Zip Car and others (and probably make better use of its Smart plant’s capacity).
Amen. I love the ’59 Caddies for that very reason!
Ooops, not really color-blind, I just remembered that the electric smarts were all white except for a GREEN slash….not the blue pictured here that I should have remembered from previous articles belong to Car2go.
That was only when they first came out, now the Smart “Erectile Dysfunction” model comes in many different colors:
We know we shouldn’t, but we do prefer the Cadillac, at least I do……
If that Smart Car gets any closer to the Cadillac, it will probably get caught in the Caddy’s gravitational pull. If someone tries to drive the Smart Car, they won’t be able to go anywhere. It’ll just orbit around the Caddy.
Not so Smart to raise your rear end up to a big angry lunging land shark.
I sometimes get a Smart with an automagic transmission while my 03 Caravan is in the shop and I look forward to my Caravan every time. In the Caravan I gently accelerate to about the speed limit with each gear change happening smoothly. In the Smart if I do not goose it the tranny falls into each gear change with a lurch like a buoy on a bay which is annoying. The seat also hurts my back and maybe shoulders after a 100 or so miles which also makes me miss the Caravan. The roof of the Smart is plastic and sometimes I get a weird noise reverberation while driving across the Interstate Bridge which really catches you by surprise. The Smart is a hoot on the back roads of the West Hills and totally could get me killed and or arrested. Seemingly overnight all the Car2Go Smarts have sprouted a bike rack which is handy because I used to see bikes sticking out of those frequently.
If these two crashed like that 59 Impala and 09 Malibu I would compare it to a rock getting hit by a tissue box.
I still laugh when I see a Smart. If ever a car was mis-named then this is it. It is too small for 21st century European roads.
The Smart Roadster/Coupe had some merit , so they stopped making it. Stupid ?
BTW, “zero-emission ” electric cars are NOT zero-emission…the emissions are just located at the coal-burning electric generating plant.
Car2Go also failed here in cc rich Redondo and Hermosa Beaches. The parking fines racked up by the cars in ticket-happy Hermosa erased any profits. Locals around here still prefer to putt around in old VW busses and Mercedes diesels.