The airdam, and its twin brother the air curtain, are the tail fins of our time. They have become such a key part of today’s vehicles that even family cars have raced to offer the most fearsome airdams in the land.
Airdams are often placed in the lower chin of a front end. When they first started being used in the 1970s, they were largely used on high-performance cars. Airdams supposedly improved aerodynamics. However, their most important function was to signify that a car had reached 11 on a scale of 10 in testosterone-drenched sportiness.
The advent of 5-mph bumpers made it harder to squeeze an airdam under a car’s chinny chin chin. But after a dark time, plastic fascias helped airdams make a comeback. And when bumper rules were shrunk back into a bathtub, the airdam was set free to procreate. Bunny rabbits watched in awe.
Sometimes an airdam is actually functional
Consider the Honda Clarity. Its gapping maws reportedly channel air around the car’s tires (Greimel, 2016). This is a noble feature. The only problem is that the Clarity’s airdams are so large that they could dice, slice and eat an entire adult in one swift chomp (go here for further discussion).
Most recent airdams have been designed with little, if any, regard for their vulnerability in a fender bender. For one thing, they have been cluttered with lights. Even more importantly, airdams have often been placed at what was once viewed — during the now-discredited Salinist era — as bumper level.
Airdam styling is a window into an automaker’s soul
Some airdams look like weapons out of a sci-fi novel. Others resemble a portable toilet bowl. For the latter, adding a flushing device would be handy for camping trips and beach parties.
Whatever their personality, airdams exist for one big reason. Through the power of advanced market research, automakers discovered that you would not buy their vehicles unless they were well endowed.
So don’t fret the next time you get a fender bender that ends up costing lots of money to fix your airdams. Just remember that automakers are merely giving you what you want. Just like in the 1950s when they gave you tail fins.
NOTES:
This is an updated version of a story that was originally posted December 1, 2019.
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RE:SOURCES
- Greimel, Hans; 2016. “Honda’s fuel-cell car is all about aerodynamics.” Automotive News (subscription required). Posted April 23; accessed January 29, 2019.
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Credit Jim Hall with the first practical, aerodynamic air dams to keep the front ends of the Chaparral 2 (1962), 2A, 2B, and 2C glued to the racetrack. Certainly the front-end lift under acceleration of the Corvette Grand Sports and the Bill Thomas Cheetahs needed front air-dam spoilers. And, I remember seeing A.C.-bodied Cobras and perhaps a Daytona Coupe with front spoilers in either 1964 or 1965.
One of the reasons why air-dams / bottom spoilers was to help vehicles that depended upon under-bumper air intakes (1980s and 1990s Pontiacs, for example, were called “bottom-breathers”.) route air into the radiators, etc. I wish some trusted automobile-industry reporting source would test whether these air-dams /front-spoilers help aerodynamic efficiency !