Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-18
STREAMLINED AUTOMOBILES
WOULD REDUCE POWER COSTS
Process Smoothes Curves of Body So
There Is Minimum of Air
Disturbance.

appear, and that the engineers have to
md place to put the seats, the en-
CINE and the rest of the running gear.
Women are having more and more Cat
least as much, which Is a LOTT to say
about the purchase of q new car, and
like to be up to the minute in conven-
ttonal style One car is scarcely more
reliable than another in the same
price class, so that the looks, even to
men, is becoming an important sales
factor.
Manufacturers are well aware of the
value of style in making sales and have
wrought many clever changes In the
appearance OF motor cars without rad
ical change In body design Color adds
charm and draws attention. Every
year now seems to bring forth new
line of shades and tints, so that even
Nature, with all her splendor and riots
of color, can scarcely rival the beauty
of the one-time horseless carriages
newest paint jobs. The use of mold
ings, lining and two or more colors
give many illusions which are pleasing
to the eye and an easy means OF Great
ing style.
Bodies have been lowered some, and
now that the front drive is here will be
lowered still more, thus cutting down
the frontal area and eliminating part
Of the head resistance. Front tenders
are being Strengthened out and bodies
In general nodded into smoother curves
and better lines.
Yet car bodies are still far from be-
ing streamlined. The airplane has
long covered tail, which some might
think served little purpose other than
to support the rudder and elevators.
Yet 1t is necessary for streamlintng to
cut down air resistance, and 1t pays to
build on this tail.
Must long tail be added to the
automobile? Well, perhaps not nearly
as long as the airplane tail, but great
improvements could be made by using
a front drive and making a car no
longer than between the bumpers of the
present cars. Many things have been
suggested, such as the placing Of the
engine in the rear or the use Of radial
engine.
Experts Make Predictions.
Men In authoritative positions are al
ready making predictions. w. L. Fisher,
editor of the Automobile Engineer, dis
cusses the probable development Of a
moderate priced vehicle designed log
ically rather than conventionally. Ad-
vance ideas agree on one main point, he
said The motor vehicle of the future
will be a streamline structure.
In comparing with the airplane, one
may think that the automobile is not
in the same speed class. Yet Glenn
Curtiss won the Gorden Bennett Cup
at the first international aviation meet,
in RHEIMS, France, at an estimated
speed of 40 miles an hour. Maj. Sc
grave made some 231 miles an hour, and
Kay Don, another British driver, ex-
poets, or hopes, to make 275 miles an
hour. These race cars, because OF their
great horsepower and small useful load,
are in a separate class from any pas
senger or commercial car, but they do
prove the need of streamlining.
Some of the early builders OF race
cars thought the air could be cut like
a piece of cheese, and so built their cars
with thin edge on the front without
paying much attention to the shape OF
the rear. But folly bred of ignorance
will not last long. Flying has made peo-
pie air-minded, and ir-minded means
streamline- minded.
Detroit now has a boulevard leading
out from it which is 1o2 feet wide, with
lanes for slow-moving traffic and lanes
with no speed limit. Charles Franklin
Kettering, head of research depart
ment, predicts that the next 10 years
will see great many more Of these i'm
proved highways. highways which are
widened, Strengthened and leveled. The
motoring public can no more afford to
travel crooked up and down roads than
the railroads can. Such highways viii
add more miles to the safe speed Of au-
tomobiles.
So present conditions cause predic-
lions based on nature and on engineer
ing knowledge. Convention seems to be
nearly lone objection to streamlining
(from the public's point Of View and
convention is bound to give way to
practically.