There is really no mistaking some of the earliest products to come out of the American automobile industry. Large and bulky, they lacked the sleek lines and efficient designs which would come to define the muscle cars and diverse designs which the car companies would begin manufacturing in the 1940s.
In fact, the early days of automobile production were focused mainly on getting the cars into the hands of consumers, rather than around the practical and aesthetic lines we see in the industry today.
One of the first companies to break with the traditional concept of the box style automobile and try for a design which was both innovative and appealing was Chrysler. Headed by Engineer Carl Breer, Chrysler began research into automobile designs superior to the traditional two box models in the late 1920s.read more about Chrysler history.
Chrysler had defined several problems with the box model automobile by this time. The first was unsafe handling. Two box automobiles had a lot of weight (around 65%) placed on the rear wheels, and the percentage went up further with passengers or cargo in the back seat. This made for an unsafe design.
Breer had also noticed that the first automobile models were not paralleled in nature. Watching flocks of birds fly and planes practice maneuvers, Breer realized that the car designs of his era were not moving efficiently against the wind. read more about Chrsyler's aerodynamics.
Finally, Breer and Chrysler wanted to present the American public with an alternative to the bulky box design. With the cooperation of aviation expert Orville Wright and other Chrysler engineers, Breer began testing scale model cars in an artificial wind tunnel.
The result was the first streamlined American car to be produced, the Chrysler airflow. The vehicle was truly unlike anything that had gone before it, in design, handling, and appearance. Gone were the stark geometric rectangles which defined the Model T and other early cars. Instead, the Airflow used triangular designs throughout the vehicle to allow air to pass over and beside it, allowing greater performance.
That triangular design extended from the windshield right to the sloped back of the car. The windshield itself was made of two pieces of glass which formed a raked V, as opposed to the single pane, upright shield used in other cars of this era. Instead of passengers sitting over the wheels, seats were placed in a compartment between the wheels. The car also had a stronger structural integrity than other cars of its era. read more about streamline design principles.
The public announcement of the Airflow model caused a great stir in America’s auto capital, Detroit. Chrysler designed a stunt car which could be driven backwards throughout the city, a drive which literally brought Detroit to a standstill. The timing could not have been better, and all eyes were on Chrysler as it wheeled out its pioneering project.
Unfortunately, at least for the early models released in 1934, welding techniques had not caught up to the hopes of the design team. Many of these first Airflows had significant problems, including engines which would break loose from mountings at speed over 80 mph. In addition, Chrysler plants were not able to produce enough Airflows to ensure one in every dealership across the country. Finally, the production team had not counted on the additional expense the streamlined design would cost to manufacture, which made the Airflow by far one of the most expensive models on the market. read more about the Airflow production.
Combined with the fact that people just did not like the look of the Airflow, the line met with sales numbers which were an incredible disappointment to the company. The 1935-37 models of the same line did nothing to recoup the losses, and the Airflow was eventually discontinued. read more about the Airflow´s market failure.
The Airflow did leave its mark on automobile history, however. Even as Chrysler was retreating to a more conservative style of vehicle which would last for the next decade and a half, foreign car companies were adapting the design of the Airflow into their own models. The AA, for example, was the first production model from the company which would come to be called Toyota, and it was made available in both a sedan and a cabriolet style.
Volvo also adapted the idea of the Airflow into its line of vehicles known as the Carioca. Volvo’s model met with even less success than Chrysler’s, although the Toyota AA was comparatively popular in its markets.
While the Airflow’s design was not well received in its day, the general concept would define automobile manufacturing starting in the post War years. Modern models which follow the principles the Airflow was built on include Ford’s Taurus and Thunderbird.
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