Something for you guys to think about.

[Christ]

How old are we talkin? They used struts in the 60's/70's, I know.

[Old Mechanic]

Connected to the center link between the steering box and the idler arm.

That's assuming its independent suspension.

regards
Mech

[Christ]

Mech -

That also assumes it's not Rack/Pinion, which is probably a safe assumption, since I don't believe that was widely used until the 80's-ish.

[Old Mechanic]

The 1886 Benz 3 wheeler had a rack and pinion.

I have a nice Franklin mint model or the 1886 Benz with a functional rack and pinion.

Most cars of the era of the picture (probably 1930s) used worm an sector, with a center link to an idler arm. The center link would be stable with the car body and it would only require two linked arms to operate the skirts. Some cars of the era had lights that were connected to the steering so they would point in the direction the wheels were turning.

regards
Mech

[Christ]

Great post, and good information. Where can I get some more info on that Benz?

[Old Mechanic]

Benz Patent Motorwagen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There you go my friend.

His wife Bertha was the first auto mechanic .

regards
Mech

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

If the wheel covers only had to move for turns above say 25% of the steering lock, then for normal driving the cover would not need to move from flush. It would move for tighter turns, which usually happen at lower speeds anyway. Also, since it is fixed only to the steering motion (and not the suspension) this would keep it from adding to the unsprung weight.

There is an aerodynamic advantage to having as little air space as possible around the tires -- but having that sort of a snug-fitting fender is a slightly different issue from this kind of pivoting cover. Because unless if you limited the vertical travel of the tire, then a snug-fitting "inner fender" would have to move with the suspension and with the steering, and this would add to the unsprung weight and to the complexity of the design.

So, it depends on how many aspects of the aerodynamics you want/need to address.

[JasonG]

Wonder if this was inspired by Tuckers design from the same era ?
His original design had fenders that turned with the tires so the headlights went around the turn. Supposedly it had a bad rudder effect and was scrapped in the development stage.

[aerohead]

Ford did this with their Probe-IV but a little different and I think better.
The image you show does not appear to respect "wheel flop"(GM's term not mine),whereas,in a turn,as in the picture,if you encounter a significant bump,the inner fender collides with the wheel arch.
What Ford did,was to let the inner fender( which turns and moves with the wheel) run inboard a bit to clear the arch during full articulation,then a flexible urethane outer membrane actually formed the outer "skin",which was stretched and deformed upon contact with the fender during turns or bumps,returning to a flat panel when the articulation subsided.
I believe Ford claimed a 9% drag reduction,I'd have to double-check that one.
Basjoos has come up with an elegant solution to all this.It's low-tech,fool-proof,and within the means of any modder.Check out his AeroCivic if you haven't already.

[Frank Lee]

The same era? Struts? Did you guys look at the year?