Mercedes Bionic (2005) Cd: 0.19

(first posted 1/30/2012)             For most of the fifties, sixties and into the early seventies, automotive aerodynamicists were mostly non-existent, or hiding in their dust-collecting wind tunnels. The original promise and enthusiasm of aerodynamics was discarded as just another style fad, and gave way to less functional styling gimmicks tacked unto ever larger and squarer bricks. But the energy crisis of 1974 suddenly put the lost science in the spotlight again. And although a trough of historically low oil prices temporarily put them on the back burner, as boxy SUVs crashed through the air, it appears safe to say that the slippery science has finally found its permanent place in the forefront of automotive design. Read the rest of this entry »

(first posted 1/29/2012)        [Like Part 1, this has been expanded and updated]

In the “streamlined decade” of the thirties, automotive aerodynamics was promoted as the great breakthrough to the modern high speed automobile, and to finally shed its horse-and-buggy roots. It was almost a religion, and its influence was almost universal. By the end of the thirties, highly streamlined automobile concepts were in every manufacturer’s styling studios, if not already rolling down the assembly line. The assumption was that the post-war era would be dominated by further developments on the air-splitting Tatra theme, like this 1947 Tucker Torpedo. But the reality turned out quite different, especially so in the US. Read the rest of this entry »