A good example of this is the mid '60s to early '70s Alfa Romeo Spiders, GTVs and Giulia Supers. The latter car was about as boxy
as anything up to that point. I had a friend who owned a white one and we nicknamed it the fridge. You might remember it from the original Michael Caine film, The Italian Job, in which the little Alfa sedans were the blue and white police cars attempting to catch the zippy little Minis on their way out of Turin. The little box turns out to be much slipperier through the air than the sleek Italian convertible, made famous in another classic film, The Graduate, and yet again more efficient than the beautiful GTV coupe.
Back to the Bionic Car, its unique teardrop shape, pug-nosed up front, thick in the middle and canting inward towards the rear end, has proven to deliver amazingly low wind resistance: its mere 0.17 coefficient of drag would make it the most aerodynamic vehicle on the street if produced today.
The
most wind-cheating car currently available in production trim is Honda's rather awkward looking Insight hybrid. With a Cd of 0.25, it is quite a bit more resistant than the Bionic Car, although the Honda's Citroen DS21-like rear fender skirts also resemble those on the new Mercedes concept.
Interestingly, if you're into such things, the fish car is also shaped a little bit like a Bell 204 / 205 H-1 Iroquois helicopter, otherwise known as the 'Huey', but not so much as the boxfish itself. The car doesn't include the fish and helicopter's tail section, but its nose and fuselage is uncannily similar in shape to both.
Ironically, Mercedes has given the Bionic Car a helicopter-like wrap-over windshield, which looks extremely interesting as it darts to a point atop the car's roof, but in reality, combined with two additional strips of glass that extended to the rear of the car, butting up to a wrap-over glass rear liftgate, it caused an almost unbearable greenhouse effect to those inside the cabin.
 |
| The Bionic Car features a unique teardrop shape, pug-nosed up front, thick in the middle and canting inward towards the rear end, proven to deliver an amazingly low 0.17 coefficient of drag. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
Back to the Bionic Car, its unique teardrop shape, pug-nosed up front, thick in the middle and canting inward towards the rear end, has proven to deliver amazingly low wind resistance: its mere 0.17 coefficient of drag would make it the most aerodynamic vehicle on the street if produced today.
The
 |
| Ironically, Mercedes has given the Bionic Car a helicopter-like wrap-over windshield, which looks extremely interesting as it darts to a point atop the car's roof. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
Interestingly, if you're into such things, the fish car is also shaped a little bit like a Bell 204 / 205 H-1 Iroquois helicopter, otherwise known as the 'Huey', but not so much as the boxfish itself. The car doesn't include the fish and helicopter's tail section, but its nose and fuselage is uncannily similar in shape to both.
Ironically, Mercedes has given the Bionic Car a helicopter-like wrap-over windshield, which looks extremely interesting as it darts to a point atop the car's roof, but in reality, combined with two additional strips of glass that extended to the rear of the car, butting up to a wrap-over glass rear liftgate, it caused an almost unbearable greenhouse effect to those inside the cabin.