Aerodynamic Cars in the U.S. - Airflow Origins

[JDaly]

I found out a bit more about the revolutionary Chrysler Air Flow when researching aerodynamics. Chrysler pulled it off the market and went retro.
Regardless of Chrysler’s success or failure, designers the world over saw the revolutionary benefits of the Airflow design. General Motors introduced a fastback coupe appearance on all of their nameplates from 1942 until 1950. Countries with more expensive fuel considered these practical efficiency designs more important than styling and they imitated the Airflow. Volvo got a smaller copy of the Airflow into production; Peugeot with their 202 and larger 402 models found major sales success, and imitating the Airflow would be a secret of the success of a brand-new venture in the auto business called Toyota.

Here's my substack post on it which you may find interesting.

[freebeard]

Hemmings Special Interest autos had an article on the Pentastar Star Cars that 404s, but I posted about it at Permalink #83 in a post from 2012.

The article is gone but DDG has archived the pictures that I didn't post there.




If they'd brought this to market, when I bought my first car the used cars lots might have been full of Beetle-sized front wheel drive cars with five cylinder radial engines.

[Phase]

Why’s it called the airflow? The cd of that looks like it would be 0.83 lol. So much turbulence and detached flow and early separation and a huge wake

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by Phase

Why’s it called the airflow? The cd of that looks like it would be 0.83 lol. So much turbulence and detached flow and early separation and a huge wake

It was Cd 0.51, compared to Cd 0.683, for the car it descended from.
They got to Cd 0.244, but that was only for information, no intention of manufacture.

[aerohead]

https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthre...1-a-13538.htmlThose who've seen the Chrysler DeSoto Airflow ( Cd 0.51 ), aerodynamic test mule of 1934, may recognize many of it's features in it's lineal descendent, the PT Cruiser, however, the kammback ( Cd 0.268 ), and boat-tail stinger ( Cd 0.244 ) is conspicuously absent.
We won't see any of these features in the upcoming Stellantis 'Airflow', resurrected in name only.

[freebeard]

Their Plan B was to make a conventional car and give is a similar name.

https://www.oldcarsweekly.com › features › car-of-the-week-1935-chrysler-airstream
Car of the Week: 1935 Chrysler Airstream - Old Cars Weekly
The Airstream model was a new offering in 1935, and one Chrysler probably didn't plan on when it launched the radical new Airflow design the year before. The Airflow was svelte and streamlined with an alligator hood and wind-cheating design that seemed like a good idea at the time, but was snubbed by the buying public.

Breer's stinger

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Their Plan B was to make a conventional car and give is a similar name.



Breer's stinger

One reporting told of a rumor that General Motors had a streamlined car in the pipeline, and Chrysler gave themselves an immovable deadline to get the Airflow into production ahead of GM's offering.
The early production quality was low, and Chrysler suffered a hit to it's reputation which tugged on the Airflow's image.
There was criticism of the styling, and it was de-fanged as fast as Chrysler could do it, running for an unremarkable look.
GM did have a fastback design in the wings at the time of Pearl Harbor. It would be around 1948 before it came in to production as the 'Sedanette.'
If you watch the original, 1951 'The Day The Earth Stood Still' you'll see some of the Sedanettes on the streets of Washington D.C..

[freebeard]

The only thing that would match a hot rod Lincoln, was a 1949 Cadillac Sedanette with a GMC 671 supercharger.

Apparently 'Chrysler has overcome the Airflow debacle. They showed this at the Consumer Electronics Show:


https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/....and the Chrysler harmony thing, what ever the hell it is

[aerohead]

' guess they were ashamed of the rest of the car.

[aerostealth]

https://youtu.be/GEiMi1GNKM0

How some cars are more aerodynamic backwards. Video by Superfast Matt