Factory Aero mods that you may find interesting.

[QuickLTD]

An easily overlooked part of the Daytona/Superbird aero pkg. The rear window has been pushed out to the body lines.

[MARTINSR]

I forgot about the window! And I have a friend with one of those cars, how stupid of me. Yeah, it was a little more than simple bolt on items on that one.

Brian

[MARTINSR]

That Pontiac is even better than the Monte Carlo!

Brian

[lunarhighway]

not as glamorous as the cars above but nevertheless a very serious factory aeromod was that of the opel kadett e, standard vs GSI

where the standard car had a 0.32Cd wich was quite spectacular for a small hatch in the 80's
but the gsi lowered this to 0.30 with the addition of small hood vents a rear spoiler a different bumpers and moldings in front of the rear tires






it's remarkable that such subtle changes brought about such a great improvement

[cfg83]

Hello -

In a post I can't find, aerohead said that the original S-Series coupe would be a good platform for aero-stuff. It's also light, so it would be good for electrics. It was even a mule for the GM EV-1. Here is a side view :



You can see the very-close-to-covered wheels, clean flowing lines, and the swoopy nose.

Here is the front view :



The small front radiator opening is typical of a lot of late 1980's aero-designs. What I hadn't noticed before is what appear to be front wheel deflectors on each side. I am positive that between those deflectors would be a black plastic deflector to deflect air onto the radiator.

CarloSW2

[3dplane]

@cfg83! I got one of these sitting in the yard. Well, mine has the spoiler on the deck lid ( I guess that's the SC2 )

What appears to be a radiator opening ( Behind front plate in your picture )
is actually blocked off,fake opening.

You are right between the two deflectors there is a scoop type air intake.
( on mine it's broke off but at the edges I can see what it used to look like when it was there )

Unfortunately no title for it so I can't drive this little aero car : (

Barna

[cfg83]

3dplane -

That's neat! The fake opening makes it more aero than I thought. Too bad about the title.

CarloSW2

[3dplane]

Also interesting to note the little cup shaped ridges directly below the headlamps. They are probably some kind of turbulators for the time when the lights are opened up so the open lamps are not cutting into clean airflow,rather
ride behind a bubble of higher pressure air? I'm just guessing.
Of course it's a compromise because when the lamps are closed,the airflow could be cleaner without them.

I'm yet to see another car made with only a bottom air scoop and no other openings on front. It sure looks like they paid attention when designing the SC.

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by lunarhighway

it's remarkable that such subtle changes brought about such a great improvement

The other major change was the grill - swapped for the cheap one-piece big opening version for the small slit on the GSi / GTE. That version of the Astra / Kadett was good though - a kind of magic sweet spot of early 80s lightness, and mid-80s aero before weight became a serious issue for most cars.

[JasonG]

My S series would get 40 MPG on the highway.

Funny, 1970s they knew about droopy noses with small grills and sloping rears.
What happened in 40 years?