The Chrysler Airflow

In their list of the "50 Worst Cars of All-Time", Time Magazine included the 1934 Chrysler Airflow -- and for all the wrong reasons. The Chrysler Airflow was manufactured from 1934 to 1937 -- and its design was at least 20 years ahead of its time. Back then, the Airflow (Chrysler also produced a Desoto Airflow model) was the thirties equivalent of Ford's Edsel flop of the fifties, and it shouldn't have been.

The Chrysler Airflow

The Chrysler Airflow was the very first commercial vehicle with a streamlined body design made by a major American automobile company. The only sin that Chrysler committed was bad timing, putting the models on sale before the American public was ready for such a design. Strangely, when the Airflow was put on display as a concept car at a major auto show two years before they were available in the marketplace, Chrysler received tens of thousands of inquiries from prospective buyers. During the two year lag, these buyers lost interest, and automobile critics ridiculed the design.

Carl Breer and Orville Wright

The revolutionary aerodynamic body design was the brainchild of Carl Breer, Chrysler's chief designer. He was inspired by the sight of geese flying in a V-pattern. It was the aerodynamic shape of their bodies that moved him the most. The boxy shape of most cars of the time was subject to the perils of wind resistance, especially rollovers. Breer wondered why aircraft design principles and methods couldn't be applied to automobiles. He knew that, to achieve his goal, he would have to design wind socks to test the aerodynamics of the body design. To help him construct the wind tunnels, Carl Breer enlisted the help of Orville Wright of Wright Brothers fame.

Besides its innovative aerodynamic design, the Chrysler (and Desoto) Airflow's body included a frame that was integrated into the solid steel body. This was a forerunner of today's unibody construction. The body design also had a lower center of gravity than any other car on the market, helping reduce the probability of rollovers. Other Airflow innovations included a one-piece curved glass windshield as opposed to the then standard flat-panel windshields.

Note that the Airflow wasn't the first streamlined car. There were earlier aerodynamic cars sold in Europe, including the 1932 Volkswagen and the 1933 Czech Tatra. There were also some earlier American experiments, but the Chrysler Airflow was the first such American car that was mass produced.

Financial Flop

Although the Chrysler (Desoto) Airflow was a financial flop, Chrysler was only able to stave off bankruptcy because they had continued production of their popular boxy conventional vehicles. Another factor that led to the Airflow's failure was that Walter Chrysler had seen a Cadillac concept car that had an aerodynamic design and urged that the Airflow be rushed into production. As a result, there were some production flaws in the model's first run. This set loose the critics.

In 1936, Ford appropriated much of the Airflow's design innovations and produced the Lincoln Zephyr, a highly successful aerodynamic streamlined model that included some well-placed conventional design features.

In 1935, driver David Haartz established stock car endurance records at Daytona, while driving a Chrysler Airflow Coupe. It took years to beat this record.