Quote:
Originally Posted by Vwbeamer
I have one? Or do you mean no car manufactor has incorporated the design.
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Yeah, it's the lack of an OEM option or standard equipment that's curious.
In 1981, Ford knew that 12-inches of plywood, spanning the bed rails, ahead of the tailgate of a pickup, would show at the gas pump.
In March of 1986, General Motors was granted US Patent 4,573,730, for the half-tonneau, which included test results for all lengths of a tonneau cover in Figure 2. ( an expansion of the 1981 FoMoCo concept)
In 1988, Ford-financed research at Texas Tech University produced ' Darg Reduction For Various Truck Configurations' which included cab-wings, tonneaus, the half-tonneau, and GM's 'Aero Shell', none of which ever made it into production, with the exception of GM's AVALANCHE, GM's Holden Ute, and Dodge's RAM 1500 Eco.
In 2002, when Popular Science was going to streamline a pickup to compete against a Ford Taurus sedan, GM's Roger Clark, recommended mods to the Silverado pickup which included a full-tonneau, even though the half-tonneau was known to produce lower drag.