![]() The fascinating part of this story lies in the details. This new understanding of aerodynamics, though an important part of the story, often overshadows an equally important subplot. This shocking revelation led to a new teardrop design and eventually the Airflow. Current Chrysler models were actually more aerodynamic when driven backwards. The results of early wind tunnel tests provided a surprisingly amusing result. Chrysler took this idea and ran with it, constructing the industry’s first full-scale wind tunnel at the company’s headquarters in Highland Park, Michigan. Wright suggested building a small scale wind tunnel to test aerodynamics on miniature prototypes. The trio met with aviation pioneer Orville Wright to find inspiration. Along with two of his associates, Fred Zeder and Owen Skelton, Breer began searching for answers. The Airflow was largely a product of engineer Carl Breer, who realized that the high compression engines of the time would never be able to achieve their maximum efficiencies in the body styles Chrysler was designing. Regardless, Chrysler deserves credit for attempting to break away from the dominant boxy styles that dominated the industry at the time. Whether or not the Airflow was an attractive automobile is still highly debated today. It won’t sound familiar to younger generations, but that car was the Chrysler Airflow, which was distributed under both the Chrysler and DeSoto brand names, with a few minor differences in design. As such, Chrysler became the first manufacturer to mass-produce an automobile based on “streamlining” as it was referred to at the time. Because of its unscrupulous actions, GM killed the Airflow and the ground-breaking vehicle was discontinued in 1937.Of all the major car manufacturers, Chrysler was the first company to step out of the comfort zone many manufacturers had found themselves stuck inside of. ![]() The company was never sued and there were surely no repercussions for its actions. By using steel almost exclusively in its chassis, it featured modern safety during a period when even low-speed accidents were potentially fatal.Įven after its impressive public relations campaign and consumer report, GM’s sneaky strategy to take the Chrysler Airflow was very successful. The Airflow was made completely out of steel during a time when most vehicles still used wood in their construction. The Airflow’s complete uni-body construction was cutting-edge at the time, but now it is a method that is still used today in cars made worldwide. The newsreel impressed safety consultants, car experts and the automotive media in a big way, but it did not save the Chrysler Airflow. In addition, Gm implied that the Airflow was a danger on the roads, although they never proved that either.Ĭhrysler reacted by releasing a remarkable newsreel demonstrating the Airflow’s advanced suspension (by shooting out a tire at excessive speeds) its utilization of safety glass (by having a baseball pitcher throw a fastball at the windows without them shattering) flipping the vehicle (and driving away from it), and finally, driving the car right off a 110-foot cliff and then driving away from the scene with only one shattered window. In response, GM retaliated by placing large advertisements in the Saturday Evening Post announcing that this new, cutting-edge Chrysler was plagiarized from a top-secret GM design they were currently working on, although those plans never materialized. As a result, General Motors became jealous over the smaller Chrysler that was garnering great reviews and impressing consumers with its wow factor. Its drastically streamlined design made it stand out from anything else on out on the road. The car received a ton of media attention when it came out, but many of the country's leading carmakers of that period thought it posed a serious threat to the automotive status quo. Of course, all of us at Lagrange Co Dodge Inc were not around to see this vehicle firsthand, but some people in Lagrange, IN surely owned them back in the day. ![]() ![]() Introduced in 1934, the Chrysler Airflow was the wonder of its age and one of the most aerodynamic and advanced cars ever built. ![]()
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