When aerodynamics and good looks collide

[Cd]

If you think of it in an extreme way, the wheels of a car are like the legs of a body.
Large wheels look planted firmly and muscular, while tiny wheels resemble thin arms or legs, ready for the object to be pushed over.
This is exaggerated even more by having the car ride high over the wheels, versus hunkered down and low.



Flared fenders resemble broad shoulders. Like an animal ready to pounce

[Cd]

Another example is the grille area on a car. I think a large mouth-like grille gives the car a personality and can make the car look 'angry' or timid.

Even the Prius is now sporting a frowning, growl like grille.





It's just that desire to have your car be an extension of yourself. The same reason why knights would prefer a muscular horse. It was an extention of their 'manliness'.

As far as a long hood, i have read that this is subliminally suggestive of ones size below the belt. ( I have even read car reviews where the guy describes a particular cars long hood as such )

I think an extreme example of all of this is shown in the design of the Chevy Spark
Tiny wheels, an extremely high belt-line and a super narrow width make this car look as if you could kick it over.
Even with an 'angry' grille, the car just looks ridiculous.

Flared fenders and even a visual 'shoulder' above the wheels can give the car width and that pouncing, low slung look that cars like the Spark lack.

Look at the area above the rear wheels on the Camaro. There is that 'shoulder' that give the car a pouncing look



Look at the 'shoulder' area on the 2nd gen Prius . It's not there.

With the new design, there is a 'visual' shoulder line as well as a small flare :


And yet another example is the size of windows on cars. Large windows look like large eyes. Feminine and cute. Small squinty windows look 'mean'

[Cd]

I'm guessing that car makers make cheaper economy cars to look feminine and cute because of demographics. They know that men think with their d---ks, and women mainly on emotions.
Men will blindly go for the 'macho' looking car because they think of it as an extention of themselves, even if it is priced much higher.

The Karmann Ghia image above is an example of having excellent aero and looking macho at the same time.

It is low to the ground, and has fenders which have a flare to them, but that do not stick out in the wind causing drag. It is purely a design trick.

With the reduced window height, the car looks mean, and this reduces frontal area, as well as the angle of the glass, both of which help with the cars drag as well as the appearance.

The rear decklid / trunk / whatever is extended outward and the air leaves nice and clean

I'm really glad to see this car is alive ( I posted about it years ago on this forum when the guy that was working on the car found my post on Ecomodder and linked to this project. It was apparently sold and i guess this is the new owner

What an awesome car !

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...shop-6720.html

[freebeard]

An interesting analysis. I for one appreciate that you included a ratted out Ghia.

It's been pointed out that one exception to the frowning face on macho cars is the AC Cobra with it's guppy mouth.

I'd put the differences in the Spark and Camaro to packaging and expected performance. Difference in the cabin of the two cars isn't all that great. But the engine and tires for higher peformance exact a toll. For the opposite case, continuity across platform sizes, I'd compare the '67 Imapla and Corvair coupe.




In this case I think the smaller car is more successful

For the pouncing animal stance, try moving the front axle forward, in this case 8":

[kach22i]

Don't leave out the happy face Mazda's, daring to be different.

Mazda MX-5 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Mazda3 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


If the wheels are indeed like legs, then that may help explain why rear wheel covers, look somewhat like a dog lying down at rest.

a Country Gallery


Carlos Unknown 6C2500 - Page 2 - Alfa Romeo Bulletin Board & Forums



That Ghia needs rear wheel covers to complete the look, in my opinion.

[NeilBlanchard]

[ecomodded]

@ NeilBlanchard
I am impressed that they used tuft testing back then , not too mention how advanced the aerodynamics were.

To bad we lost all those years of what should of been world wide development of low cd cars.

[freebeard]

That's a very interesting set of skirts. Obviously some sort of 4-bar hinge arrangement. I wonder where the upper bar[s] is/are. One in the middle would impact the top of the tire. The reason why I'm interested is that once my panel van is on the road, I'd want to make a front fender skirt that uses 4-bars for it. It would look like this:



Of course, not being Photoshpped, it would fit more like the Alfa's.

[serialk11r]

How about the Porsche 911? They could probably work on small details to get the Cd a little lower (seeing what Mercedes has done) but 0.27 with 295 tires or whatever is pretty damn good. It manages to pull off a pretty masculine look.