I’ve flown in the -100s to -400s, including the SP. My last flight was on an EVA 400 last November. I don’t imagine I will be flying on one again.
The first time I saw one was at Heathrow in either 1969 or 1970. We had gone to meet my Dad who was flying back from Rome. We went to the viewing gallery (as you did in those days). While we were watching Dad’s Alitalia DC-9 taxiing by, a BOAC 747 was being towed westwards on an outer taxiway. It dwarfed the DC-9. I don’t know why it was being towed, as BOAC were not yet operating them - BALPA were in dispute with management about how much extra the pilots should be paid!
A QANTAS pilot friend of mine told me that once, on an SP ferry flight, they “accidentally” did a full-power takeoff. He said the deck angle and rate-of-climb were phenomenal.
In 1985, my kids, who were seasoned world-travelers due to my peripatetic career in the oil industry, had their first flight in a 737. We walked down the jetway at Singapore and through the door. My six-year old son looked around and said “Dad, where’s the spiral-staircase?”