Pretty Cool Article About The Mopar "Wing Cars"...

[Oldschool]

I thought this was a pretty interesting and informative little article. Kinda cool...

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/the-superbird-wing-was-not-idiotically-ineffective-or-1704941408

 

[roadman5312]

  Good read, thanks   

[Chryco Psycho]

Hardly "DUMB & Ineffective , everything on the car provided additional downforce even the front fender scoops pulled air from under the nose adding down force . the Daytona had a CD .29 m the Superbird was .30 these numbers are rarely matched even today .
Wht is mind blowing is in 69 Buddy Baker exceeded 200 MPH in a Daytona while today that seems unimpressive with Verons over 250 . nothing , no race cars in Formula 1 , Indy , CanAm , No other circuit racecars were that fast in 69, I this was largely a modified stock production vehicle , not a tube chassis or monocoque chassis !

[brads70]

    When I was at the racetrack tech inspecting rookie's would often show up with out a rear spoiler and say they couldn't be bothered it was " just for looks" I'd explain " ya? well stick your cupped hand out of the window going 60 MPH and then tell me how a 6"x60" spoiler doesn't do anything ,let alone at 100 mph plus !"    I so love the wing cars! Thinking outside of the box is so inspiring to me! 
I really noticed a difference with my front spoiler even at "legal" hwy speeds!  No more floaty lifting feeling.

[RzeroB]

They were definitely innovative. But I always thought that the design of the nose, with the apex of the point, or "splitter" so high above the ground, would force an equal amount of air under the car as over it. With the nose directing all that air under the car, I'm really surprised that they didn't "float" at high speeds. Maybe it was the sheer mass of the car combined with the wind-generated down-force that kept it planted and stable at high speeds?

What's interesting (at least to me ) is Ford's counter to the winged Mopars - the pointy-nosed King-Cobra. The apex of it's pointy nose is lower to the ground than the Mopars and the part below the point looks like it is shaped to direct air out and around the front tires. Visually it "looks" more aerodynamic to me, but apparently it really wasn't. From what I have read, it was considered "unstable" at high speeds and the FoMoCo boys couldn't resolve the stability issues and ultimately abandoned the project. Maybe they gave up on it when they felt protesting the Mopar winged cars with NASCAR was making headway and would eventually lead to official sanctions against the winged Mopars? Interesting in that even though the King-Cobra's front end looked more aerodynamic it wasn't, and that although the Mopars looked like they would direct too much air under the car, they proved to be a highly effective design.

[LC7110]

I was doing some reading earlier today and came across this article, which seems to be fitting to this topic...

http://www.hotrod.com/features/1505-one-owner-original-paint-barn-find-daytona/?adbid=10152759896462540&adbpl=fb&adbpr=13601527539&short_code=310ki&sm_id=social_aumohotrodsshub_default_20150520_46139366

I'd love to have that type of a story about my cars.

 

[Oldschool]

Great article LC...    Thanks...   

[RzeroB]

I thought this was a pretty interesting and informative little article. Kinda cool...

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/the-superbird-wing-was-not-idiotically-ineffective-or-1704941408

 

I love the post article comment by Calzone Golem! 

[ec_co]

      

[brads70]

     

  x2 !    good one!

[Bullitt-]

I had a conversation not to many years ago with my Dad's best friend from near Florence AL(a long time Mopar guy) who told me he ran into a retired Chrysler engineer who was involved in some of the design on the winged cars.
I found this article which confirms much of what I was told... Space Program made it's contribution right here in Huntsville AL

http://www.superbirdclub.com/protohood.html

Another article mentions testing the wing at our airport, about two miles from where I live.
about half way down
http://www.allpar.com/model/superbird.html

[TelisSE440]

Great articles and stories guys  . Thinking how Mopar indeed was thinking out of the box and other companies like FoMoCo were thinking inside a sealed box and subsequently killing the winged cars so early...