When aerodynamics and good looks collide

[Big time]

Why the human eye (well actually the brain) USUALLY prefers to have flared fenders instead of more aerodynamic smooth ones?

Why exposed wheels are usually preferred to fender skirts?

Why a long hood is preferred over a shorter hood with a more inclined glass for a smooth hood/glass/roof transition? The Ford Aerostar and other minvans look so soccer mom's while long hood SUVs look manly.

Why a well defined trunk is preferred over a fastback for family cars? The rear end of the Porsche Panamera looks horrible.

Big wheels and tires over smaller ones?

Ferrari style flying butresses over an inclined back window?

Please post your own if possible with pics.

Does it has something to do with the human eye being trained for centuries to look at animal shapes and perhaps horse drawn carriages?

[gone-ot]

Q: Why?

A: the female human body!

[ecomodded]

As for the wheel skirts

I think people like to look at the chrome wheels so covering them up with panels displeases them, mind you some cars from the 30's-50's look pretty damn sweet with the rear wheel skirts on.
Much like some Women..

[serialk11r]

Well the Ferrari 599 I imagine was done that way because the rear end of that car is high and the rear window visibility already sucks, so they made the rear window angle a little tamer and then fixed the trailing vortices with the buttresses.

Also fenders are probably the greatest mystery of aerodynamics, you see so many radically different fender designs claimed to be aerodynamic.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by Big time

Does it has something to do with the human eye being trained for centuries to look at animal shapes and perhaps horse drawn carriages?

Cultural rather than DNA/RNA genetic.

Given a poll of a beautiful cars in this forum verses a forum composing of the general public, there would be differing results.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I think if you can appreciate and understand a subject then the idea that it looks, tastes, sounds, smells odd or weird is quickly dispersed.

[jamesqf]

I think some of this is as much about function (or perceived function) as looks. E.g. wheel skirts are a pain when you have to change a flat or put on chains, larger tires should (all else being equal) give a better ride on rough roads, more inclined glass area creates more greenhouse effect...

[user removed]

Brainwashing.

The more aero the more appealing to me.

regards
Mech

[aerohead]

Here's some thoughts:
*In 1928 General Motors was the world's largest auto maker.
*By 1928,GM's Sales Division was already fearful that all their products were going to end up looking alike.
*By the early 1930s,GM officially adopted the annual styling change as a matter of corporate policy.
*After this time,if you were going to be in the automobile business,your products were going to have to look different every year.
*Products were targeted at every conceivable demographic.
*Since then we've been married to the 'law of the Paris dressmaker',as GM's CEO,Alfred P.Sloan Jr. spoke of it.
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The aerodynamics were 'finished' by 1922.Since 'wing' type cars have human factors challenges,we're stuck with the half-body 'pumpkin seed' of Paul Jaray for low drag.
Since low drag cars will all look alike,we get into the vicious cycle of the annual styling change,as since 1931,the buying public has had a firm expectation that next years cars will look different.Which can't happen with low drag cars.
And certain 'suppliers' have grown accustomed to profits from high-drag auto components and won't willingly see to their own extinction.
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In 1985,Hucho remarked that cars with Cd 0.13 or lower were not a question of 'technological feasibility',but rather a matter of what emphasis low aerodynamic drag played within design specifications.
Automotive design singularly lags all other product manufacturing with respect to fluid mechanics.
'Whatever Lola wants...,... Lola gets...,...'

[freebeard]

tangerine metalflake

The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I didn't re-read it for purposes of this post, but from memory...

Wolfe differentiates Apollonian vs Dionysian (Ed Roth vs George Barris) styling, so it all goes back to Ancient Greece. I would pick the thread up in the 1930s—the 1937 Lincoln Zehyr vs the Willys-Bantam Jeep in 1940. You asked for examples.




Combining the two looks is not always successful.


As for what it all means:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rArpyMXT2ew

Rat Rod vs Lamborghini Aventador! Roadkill Episode 5 - YouTube

Long story short: Guys dig lambos, chicks dig rat rods.

[aluminumwelder]

I think it's all in the eye of the beholder. I've always liked aerodynamic shapes more than boxy ones.