[Big Dave]

Close But No Cigar

Basjoos’ article reminds me of some cars that at least look fairly clean aerodynamically but were betrayed by gas-guzzling drivetrains.

Airplane guys have a saying: “If it looks right, it probably is.” Flight is ruthlessly Darwinian and over time everyone knows what a winner looks like.

One car I always thought “looked right” was the 90s Buick Riviera. Yeah, it could have benefited from an air dam, side skirts, and fender skirts, but it definitely had a very smooth, almost sensual, curve into a very minimal wake area. Too bad it was cursed with a gas engine and an automatic transmission.

Camaros and Firebirds were surprisingly low-drag. Their secret was low roofline height which minimized frontal area for a fairly wide car. For a car with a stock engine to be capable of 135 MPH it had to have something on the aerodynamic ball. The price was paid by the driver, forced to drive peering through his moustache and knowing his back would be shot in a couple hours. These cars were betrayed by being wildly overgeared, and saddled with gas engines and all too often automatic transmissions.

There was a late-70s Cadillac that had a hatchback that came all the way down to the bumper. I forget the model. Again, a gas engine, automatic transmission and 3.73:1 gears condemned it to 14 MPG-land.