I talked to Phil on Saturday - I was hoping to meet up with him in Texas this weekend, but unfortunately my trip was cancelled, so it'll have to be another time.
I didn't realize until I read the
edmunds.com piece featuring several ecomodders from this forum that he's been doing this stuff for so long!
Anyway, we talked about a bunch of stuff, including many of his vehicles, and I thought it would be interesting to present his "aero fleet" in a single thread. So, with Phil's blessing, here it is:
The first one he aeromodded was his...
'64 VW Karmann Ghia
- bought to replace a thirsty El Camino with a v8 that could get 18 mpg at best
- the Ghia was purchased wrecked - the previous owner had smacked into the back of a big Caddy, braking on a wet road.
- Phil put the front clip from another Ghia on it, and then started modding it after reading about Car & Driver magazine's Crisis Fighter Pinto
- Reshaped the front to mimic a Porsche Carerra
- was good for 41 mpg @ 70 mph
'62 Dodge D-100 pickup
- this was his grandad's truck (still has it!)
- the shape of things to come?
'70 VW bus
- link to thread with more details of this project: Phil Knox's aero-modded 1970 VW van
- Modding this VW was Phil's thesis project, and he used many of the same techniques NASA did for its van testing:
- full belly pan
- skirts on rear wheels
- 18 inch tapered rear extension
1984 Honda CRX
- ultimately, the mod set included: nose, hatchwing, gap-fillers,wheel skirts,wheelcovers,bellypan,and boattail
- 18% improvement in mpg, 36% drag reduction, 9mph improvement in top speed
- Estimated Cd: 0.23
- tested at Bonneville, and systematically at Chrysler Proving Grounds, in Michigan in 1991.
- Still has it! (On guard duty - long story)
'94 Toyota T-100
- what *hasn't* Phil tried on this famous truck?
- @ 75 miles per hour, with aero mods fuel economy improved to 32 miles per gallon from stock 23.3 mpg.
Custom mini hypercar
- under construction
- motorcycle based
- VW front end?
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