The Chrysler Airflow will forever be known as a car ahead of it’s time. One of the first cars to have been designed with aerodynamics in mind, the shape and contours of the vehicle were just too much for most of the buying public and it was gone from the Chrysler line-up in just two years.
An interesting factoid about the car is that Orville Wright was one of the lead advisors in the development of the car. His input was all on the aero-end, not the styling end. While designers were given the basic shape to work with (which, when viewed with modern eyes in nice) but did little to make it look any better. It was donned with an ornate waterfall grill and other accoutrement that pushed it from odd to gaudy and odd. Simply put, it was the Pontiac Aztek of the era.
In this Chrysler promotional film, you’ll see an Airflow hauling the mail at Bonneville, setting speed and endurance records and a second film of that very car being driven across the country for less than 35 bucks in fuel. Seriously!
