![]() The car that emerged was like no other American production car to date. The stunt caused a near panic, but the marketing department felt that this would send a hint that Chrysler was planning something big. Prior to the Airflow's debut, Chrysler did a publicity stunt in which they reversed the axles and steering gear, which allowed the car to be driven "backwards" throughout Detroit. The weight distribution had approximately 54% of the weight over the front wheels, which evened to near 50-50 with passengers, and resulted in more equal spring rates, better handling, and far superior ride quality. The engine was moved forward over the front wheels compared with traditional automobiles of the time, and passengers were all moved forward so that they were seated within the wheelbase, rather than on top of the rear axle. Spring rates in the rear of traditional vehicles were, therefore, necessarily higher, and passengers were subjected to a harsher ride.Īn innovative suspension system on the new Chrysler Airflow stemmed from the need for superior handling dynamics. When loaded with passengers, the weight distribution tended to become further imbalanced, rising to 75% or more over the rear wheels, resulting in unsafe handling characteristics on slippery roads. Traditional automobiles of the day were the typical two-box design, with about 65% of the weight over the rear wheels. Applying what they had learned about shape, the engineers also began looking into ways that a car could be built, which also used monocoque ( unibody) construction to both strengthen the construction of the car while reducing its overall weight, and thus increasing the power output by the engine as the lighter, more streamlined body allowed air to flow around it instead of being caught through upright forms, such as radiator grilles, headlights and windshields. Their engineers found that then-current two-box automobile design was so aerodynamically inefficient, that it was actually more efficient turned around backwards. Chrysler built a wind tunnel at the Highland Park site, and tested at least 50 scale models by April 1930. ![]() Another source lists Breer as watching military planes on their practice maneuvers, while still other sources attach the genesis of the project to Breer's interest in lighter than air airships and how their shapes helped them move through the atmosphere.īreer, along with fellow Chrysler engineers Fred Zeder and Owen Skelton, began a series of wind tunnel tests, with the cooperation of Orville Wright, to study which forms were the most efficient shape created by nature that could suit an automobile. According to Chrysler, Breer's quest was started while watching geese travel through the air in a "V" flight pattern. It featured solid axles front and rear supported by leaf springs and hydraulic dampers in all four corners.The basis for the Chrysler Airflow was rooted in Chrysler Engineering's Carl Breer's curiosity about how forms affected their movement through the environment. The 5.3-liter inline-eight engine was mated to a standard, 3-speed, Borg-Warner automatic gearbox. The 1934-'35 cars featured a round-faced dashboard that was changed to more conventional square gauges in the last production year. It featured seats with exposed frames until they were replaced with lower ones, for easier ingress and egress in 1945. ![]() Like most of the other cars from that era, the sloped back featured a trunk and the spare wheel inside. The split windshield could have been opened via two rotating knobs inside the car, to allow a better air-flow into the cabin. The grille was high, in a V-shape forging forward, and with horizontal chromed bars. The Chrysler Airflow featured a front fascia wit the headlights enclosed in the front fenders, in a time when most of the other car-makers installed them on a stainless steel rod, in front of the grille. It was available as a two-door coupe and four-door sedan. It featured more important discoveries than most of the other vehicles on the market, starting with the double-glazed windows, steel, tubular, frame, hydraulic power brakes, and a rounded shape. But it was too far ahead of its times so the customers could appreciate it. ![]() While the Airflow was a sales failure, the qualities of that vehicle were strong. On top of that, the streamlined shape made it faster and more fuel-efficient. It was a car ahead of its times, with unibody construction, not based on a chassis like any other car on the market. ![]()
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