Quote:
Originally Posted by aerohead
Zeder's paper, to my recollection, covered the R&D of the DeSoto Airflow sedan aerodynamic test mule, which pushed the boundaries of the Airflow's streamlining. A quarter-view is shown, plus a schematic representation.
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I went and looked again. The paper is: "Is It Practical to STREAMLINE
for FUEL ECONOMY?", SAE 410139.
Drag coefficients are shown as 'K', which is in lb sq feet (mph)^2 - eg a De Soto Airflow is listed at K = 0.00140. Does anyone know how that could be converted to Cd?
[This equation is wrongly cited by me. I correct it later in the thread.]
The shapes that are shown are very generic.
When I was working on the section on the Airflow in my upcoming book I glanced through the paper and then discarded it. A second look hasn't told me a whole lot more!
Reading the paper, and reflecting on the quotes attributed to Chrysler at the time, I think that they had no idea of what had been going on in car aero in Germany over the previous decade or so.