German experimentation with low Cd automobiles in the 1930's

[Piwoslaw]

cfg83-
Good thing I saw that in the morning and not before going to sleep!

[orange4boy]

Herr Schlör is not amused.



But I am.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

I found another picture of the front of the 1939 Maybach Stromlinien Karosserie:

[NeilBlanchard]

And another picture of the Schlörwagen:

[NeilBlanchard]

I just noticed -- the front license plates are virtually painted on, both of these cars (above). :-)

[Frank Lee]

License decals... why not?

[silverinsight2]

I just noticed the inadequate wiper.


Yet another image

[Jyden]

With that curvature of the front screen, theres not much need for at wiper, just as theres not much need for at viper on a motorcycle helmets visor.

I think windows are made form some kind of plastic - perplex I belive it was called back then?
Also used in ww2 planes?

[Bicycle Bob]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

I think the VW had a "Z-bar" rear suspension but the Merc had swing axles as used in their GP cars of the time. I seem to recall the 50s cars had a low pivot swing axle, which was slightly better.

Swing axles = evil.

See Triumph GT6 for a worked example of why it's so bad.

A "Z" bar is an anti-roll bar with its ends turned opposite ways, to decrease roll stiffness. It was usually an aftermarket item to reduce oversteer on swing-axle rear ends. Mercedes did use low, central pivot swing axles for the legendary Gullwing and other racers of the era, but the parts count was almost the same as for many other systems with better camber control and less scrub.

[basjoos]

Its too bad the original (Design-classic-cars Infos - www.design-classic-cars.de) site disappeared, since it had a bunch of engineering drawings of the Schlorwagen including 2d cross sections of the vehicle taken at various points along its length and width.