German experimentation with low Cd automobiles in the 1930's

[NeilBlanchard]

Originally Posted by basjoos

In the mid to late 30's in Germany, there was a lot of work done in creating vehicles with a low Cd. The impetous for this was the building of the Autobahn, which provided a roadway that was capable of handling much higher speeds than the typical car/engine combinations available at the time could produce. They soon found that by reducing a car's drag, the existing engines could propel a car much faster down the Autobahn than it could could do in a traditionally shaped car body. Unfortunately this bout of automotive experimentation was shut down with the the start of WWII and most of the vehicles lost in the ensuing conflict. The following website (in Germen) shows a number of these cars (hit the "Tour" buttom at the bottom of each page to go to the next page). Its interesting to look at the state of the art back in the 1930's. There were some fairly wild looking designs.

http://www.design-classic-cars.de/jaray/kamm.html


1939 Maybach Stromlinienkarosserie

The article link leads to a generic page for me -- there is no article there. Is it now broken?

[basjoos]

Unfortunately, that very comprehensive series of web pages on German streamlined cars disappeared last spring or summer. It also had a large number of engineering drawings of Schlor's "pillbug" which are now gone.

[naturalextraction]

When I saw that I looked out my window an saw my 1968 Cuda and thought, now that is an idea I could implement with something that has the basic outline anyway. I do custom fabrication metal work anyway and I've been wanting to do something along those lines. I'm working on fairings for my Bonneville bike and this would help move me along anyway. That cuda with a 318 four barrel at highway cruse it achieves 27mpg. I'm sure with a solid underbelly pan, and wheel fairing, lexan for the back tail light area, etc, I can get it over 30+. I have some other modifications on the induction system that make it that efficient. All while still having it's 235hp on tap. I like the Honda! Great aerodynamic modifications.

[winkosmosis]

Originally Posted by naturalextraction

When I saw that I looked out my window an saw my 1968 Cuda and thought, now that is an idea I could implement with something that has the basic outline anyway. I do custom fabrication metal work anyway and I've been wanting to do something along those lines. I'm working on fairings for my Bonneville bike and this would help move me along anyway. That cuda with a 318 four barrel at highway cruse it achieves 27mpg. I'm sure with a solid underbelly pan, and wheel fairing, lexan for the back tail light area, etc, I can get it over 30+. I have some other modifications on the induction system that make it that efficient. All while still having it's 235hp on tap. I like the Honda! Great aerodynamic modifications.

It's a shame that even though carmakers are making retro designs, they aren't copying good aerodynamics from the past. I guess focus groups don't like aero

[hypermiler01]

1969 Barracuda Blowfish - Bonneville Salt Flats - Hot Rod Magazine

::: MoparMax ::: 69 Barracuda Set to Go - 8/1/2006

[basjoos]

Originally Posted by naturalextraction

That cuda with a 318 four barrel at highway cruse it achieves 27mpg. I'm sure with a solid underbelly pan, and wheel fairing, lexan for the back tail light area, etc, I can get it over 30+.

One way you can determine your car's potential mileage increase via aerodynamic drag reduction is to notice what your mileage increase is when you are drafting another vehicle. Since when drafting, the only thing that has changed is the reduction in wind drag and its effect on lowering your engine's loading (rolling resistance and engine rpm's are unchanged), the mileage you get while drafting is the mileage you could get by lowering your car's Cd.

The Cd on my car is now so low that drafting results in little change to my car's mileage.

[hummingbird]

Beautiful vehicles! and blind manufacturers, for not reviving them... they would not be gasping for air now if they did.

BTW I am convinced basjoos worked on at least the Maybach in his previous birth...

[naturalextraction]

I don't remember seeing that Barracuda before, great design for Bonneville! What a great looking car to boot! Almost looks like a nose piece from a Super Bird from the era but it's not.
Lowering the car is a big help and the nose piece is really great. For my use a type of retractable head lamp assembly from a Corvet would be fairly easy to place for street. That picture is motivating. I took a picture of literally every car at Bonneville last year for the main purpose of Aerodynamics as applied to the individual cars characteristics. Implementation of those ideas takes time to do them well. Right now my 72 Dusters engine is done and ready for installation. It has the new fuel system developed and I'll be re-painting it anyway. So implementation of those modifications are prime. It already has a belly pan that helped strengthen the Uni body frame along with frame rail connectors. It is NOT aerodynamic and just adding the body pan made a very noticeable difference. Although the scoops are nice they are just more drag. (Below older photo, it wont have that type of flame job) A nose like the Cuda from the above may still look good. I'm hoping to pull the Bike trailer to Bonneville with the Duster. The Cuda is looking like a better candidate. Sounds like I better make up my mind pretty soon! Aerodynamics is really cool and I'm enjoying learning more about it and application to specific gains towards this subject matter of mileage and efficiency. We're building an 1/8 scale model of the Bike to place in a small wind tunnel we made. Hoping to find the best design for this bike. Thanks for the pix of the Cuda Hypermiler01!

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

I have a copy of the Hucho book (from the MIT library -- my spouse is a librarian at Harvard, and she got it on inter library loan!), and I will be able to make a 3D model of the Schlör Pillbug!

[cfg83]

basjoos -

Originally Posted by basjoos

One way you can determine your car's potential mileage increase via aerodynamic drag reduction is to notice what your mileage increase is when you are drafting another vehicle. Since when drafting, the only thing that has changed is the reduction in wind drag and its effect on lowering your engine's loading (rolling resistance and engine rpm's are unchanged), the mileage you get while drafting is the mileage you could get by lowering your car's Cd.

The Cd on my car is now so low that drafting results in little change to my car's mileage.

I never thought of this. This is good to know for strategic aero-testing.

CarloSW2