Antique & Classic Cars Blog

Last evening I was sitting outside by Parkway Theater in South Minneapolis. Right beside me was a parking space on the curb–not a gap that could be a spot for the professional test driver, but a regular ol’ more-than-a-car-length gap between two other vehicles.

Didn’t even register until a BMW SUV backed into it–sorta. He cut the wheel all wrong and straigthened into the spot about 3 feet from the curb. So he left.

Then a Camry pulled up. The driver stopped next to the spot, directly across from me, which confirmed that the car would fit there without undue effort. But she and her passenger drove off.

Now I was paying attention. A minivan pulled up. It too would fit. The driver squared up next to the Ford F150 ahead of the space, started to back in, had the cut just right–perfect distance from the curb. Suddenly she stopped.

I watched and waited. There was a trailer hitch off the back but it was not threatening the car behind it nor was it near the curb. She was in. Totally. I had the vantage point. Another 18 inches back, cut the wheel right and square up and the deed was done.

But she pulled back out and drove away, slowing at a few other gaps up the street.

Wish I had filmed it: a driver with an expensive vehicle and no skill at parallel parking, someone with poor perception of her own vehicle’s size, and a driver with perfect approach who gave up when the game was won.

These events were so curious, I got up to read the sign next to the spot thinking maybe it was a valet-parking-only sign. Nope. It said 2 hour parking.

Is parallel parking a vanishing art? Do they still teach it here?

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 2:06 pm and is filed under Car stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.