Indie Auto
header-advert
  • Home
  • About
    • Introduction
    • Editor’s Notes
    • Story Ideas Bank
    • Why All The Data?
    • Fake Stuff
    • About Those Photos
    • Talk Legal To Me
    • Privacy Policy
  • All Our Features
    • Ad Nauseam
    • Ask Mr. Moose
    • Bird Chatter
    • Calendar
    • Current Events
    • Data Dives
    • Design Notes
    • Drive-By Musings
    • Fake Designs
    • Gallery
    • Histories
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Links
    • Literature
    • Media Analysis
    • Multimedia
    • Our Sponsors
    • Photo Essays
    • Quotes
    • Random Shots
    • Satire
    • The AI About Cars
  • Look It Up
    • In Auto Paedia
    • By author
    • By automaker or brand
    • By time period
    • By topic
    • By vehicle type
  • Readings
    • General Reference
    • Specific Brands & Automakers
    • Auto Culture, Policy & Business Strategy
    • Bibliography
    • Where To Buy Your Books
    • Recently-Posted Readings
  • Links
    • Bibliography of Links
  • Contact
    • Emails & Newsletter
    • Rejected Comments
  • Donate
HomeAerodynamics

Aerodynamics

Citroen SM
Design Notes

Citroen SM: A surprisingly conventional next step

June 12, 2025 Steve 5

(EXPANDED FROM 12/4/2020) In a post on the Saab 99, we mentioned how in the late-60s and early-70s a handful of iconoclastic automakers tried to mainstream their basic designs. A case in point was Citroën. […]

1953 Hudson Hornet
Gallery

1953 Hudson Hornet was both peak ‘step down’ and the beginning of the end

March 4, 2025 Steve 6

(EXPANDED FROM 1/15/2021) The 1953 Hudson Hornet’s styling strikes me as being peak “step down.” As a case in point, this was the last year for the rounded rear end. It looked dated compared to […]

Gallery

The Stout Scarab didn’t just anticipate the modern minivan

December 23, 2024 Steve 1

(EXPANDED FROM JUNE 2, 2023) Histories about the Stout Scarab tend to emphasize that it was the first production minivan (Peek, 2021; Wikipedia, 2023). However, this innovative 1930s car strikes me as also being the […]

2022 Chevrolet Corvette front
Design Notes

Styling comparison: C8 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray versus the original

September 5, 2024 Steve 17

(UPDATED FROM 10/19/2022) When I finally saw a new mid-engined Chevrolet Corvette Stingray in the wild a few years ago I wondered why General Motors called it a Corvette. The so-called C8 generation is simply […]

2023 Tesla Cybertruck
Design Notes

Is Tesla Cybertruck a brilliant breakthrough or a gimmick?

December 6, 2023 Steve 7

(EXPANDED FROM 3/12/2021) When Tesla’s Cybertruck was unveiled a few years ago, Electrek commentator Benjamin Winters (2021) dismissed the design as “objectively bad.” When he received pushback, Winters countered by arguing that “I’m an industrial […]

1976 Tatra T-613
Design Notes

Tatra was yet another automaker that deemphasized aerodynamics by 1970s

August 24, 2023 Steve 7

The other day Curbside Classic reposted a story about the Tatra T-613 (Shafer, 2023). What strikes me about that car, which was designed in the late-60s but did not reach production until 1973, was it […]

Chevrolet truck
Design Notes

Yes, but WHY do today’s automobiles look so similar?

July 26, 2021 Steve 7

(EXPANDED FROM 10/2/2020) Auto Extremist has reposted a Peter DeLorenzo (2021) column which argues that the auto industry has “reached the nadir of design. And it isn’t pretty.” The big reason why: Cars look so […]

2019 Honda Clarity airdam
Auto Paedia

Airdams: The greatest automotive innovation since the tail fin

October 30, 2020 Steve 1

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 […]

Quotes
Quotes

Lucid: Weight and aerodynamics matter as much as advanced batteries

September 25, 2020 Steve 0

“Peter Rawlinson, who led design of the Tesla Model S and is now chief executive of the electric car start-up Lucid, likes to wow audiences by showing up at events dragging a rolling carry-on bag […]

Birds chatter about the 2019 Jeep Gladiator
Bird Chatter

Jeep Gladiator is the brick that could save world

August 7, 2020 Steve 0

Posts pagination

1 2 »
  • 1964 Studebaker Challenger
    Brooks Stevens’s rejection of brand continuity was bad for small automakers
    June 14, 2025 0
  • EVs need a George Romney to champion them in the next few years
    June 13, 2025 16
  • Citroen SM
    Citroen SM: A surprisingly conventional next step
    June 12, 2025 5
  • 1936-37 Cord 810/812 tried to do too much at once
    June 11, 2025 10
  • 1963 Studebaker Daytona convertible
    Classic film shows human side of Studebaker’s end
    June 10, 2025 15
  • Once upon a time, car wheels were 36-to-42 inches in diameter
    June 9, 2025 5
  • Ram customized pickup
    What would you think if it was 1965 and you could magically see this truck?
    June 8, 2025 1
  • Brooks Stevens’s 1965 Studebaker Lark concept: Almost a baby Continental
    June 6, 2025 5
  • 1949 Packard Super Eight
    Packard kept a bigger foothold in the luxury-car field than commonly assumed
    June 5, 2025 9
  • Exner bio offers mostly positive take on controversial car designer
    Peter Grist views car designer Virgil Exner through rose-tinted glasses
    June 3, 2025 9
  • 1970 Mercury Cyclone
    1970 Mercury Montego had a last-of-the-wine quality
    June 2, 2025 2
  • A query, a thank you and an update on miscellaneous stuff
    April 4, 2025 0
  • 1956 Buick hood scoop
    Readers brainstorm ideas for future Indie Auto stories
    October 14, 2022 124
Society of Automotive Historian award to Indie Auto

Recent Comments

  • George Denzinger on EVs need a George Romney to champion them in the next few years
  • Lori H. on EVs need a George Romney to champion them in the next few years
  • Lori H. on EVs need a George Romney to champion them in the next few years
  • Lori H. on EVs need a George Romney to champion them in the next few years
  • Jeff Kennedy on EVs need a George Romney to champion them in the next few years
  • Jeff Kennedy on EVs need a George Romney to champion them in the next few years
  • Steve on EVs need a George Romney to champion them in the next few years
  • Steve on Classic film shows human side of Studebaker’s end
  • JohnH on Classic film shows human side of Studebaker’s end
  • Lori H. on EVs need a George Romney to champion them in the next few years
  • Lori H. on EVs need a George Romney to champion them in the next few years
  • Steve on EVs need a George Romney to champion them in the next few years
  • Kim in Lanark on EVs need a George Romney to champion them in the next few years
  • Robert Starinsky on EVs need a George Romney to champion them in the next few years
  • Steve on Citroen SM: A surprisingly conventional next step

Archives

Categories

Tags

1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s American Motors Auto culture Auto history media Auto media Automotive News Automotive Views Business strategies Chevrolet Compact cars Curbside Classic Design Design excesses Dodge Electric vehicles Engineering Fake advertising Ford Ford Motor Co. Full-sized cars General Motors Journalism standards Luxury cars Management culture Marketing Mid-sized cars Parody Patrick R. Foster Plymouth Premium-priced cars Public policies Rambler Richard M. Langworth Sporty cars Stellantis Studebaker
Follow Us
  • Facebook
  • RSS Feed
Search
Archives
Categories
Help keep the lights on
Quinault at night

Copyright © 2022 Olympia, Earth Media, LLC | All rights reserved