Tail fins (cars)

[FedoraFan112390]

When did tail fins start becoming popular on cars? When did they end? Why are they lampooned at times today?

 

[2jakes]

When did tail fins start becoming popular on cars?

Car tailfin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Stearmen]

just for reference, here is a P-38, as stated this is where Harvey Earl got his idea. In my opinion, the fins never got any better looking!

 

[LizzieMaine]

The lampooning started as early as 1958, when social critic John Keats published "The Insolent Chariots," a stinging attack on Detroit's emphasis of "design" over substance. Fins were also criticized in Vance Packard's "The Waste Makers," an attack on planned obsolescence published in 1960. The idea in both cases is that they were silly and pointless from an engineering standpoint and intended only to make the previous year's models look dowdy.

 

[David Conwill]

Most point to the P-38-inspired 1948 Cadillac as the origin of the design, although aircraft themes certainly existed pre-WWII (see the Topper car, for example). They ended in the mid-1960s, also on Cadillac--though they lasted longer in some overseas markets, probably because they started later.

If I may shill for my present employer momentarily, one of the featured classes in this year's Hemmings Motor News Concours d'Elegance will be "1955 - 1962 Tailfin Evolution", so if you want to see some examples of the breed, you should come join us at the Saratoga Auto Museum in September.

 

[Stanley Doble]

There is some truth to the idea of planned obsolescence but tailfins had a function. They stabilized the car at hiway speeds especially in crosswinds. This became important with the building of interstate hiways and the higher speeds possible with new V8 engines. Chrysler products were wind tunnel tested and had the most effective fins.

For a direct comparison of fins vs no fins you could compare the 1961 and 1962 Chryslers. They were practically identical, used the same body chassis engine etc except the 62 was shorn of fins. Experts who tested both reported that the 61 was definitely more stable at high speed and less prone to wander.

 

[Fading Fast]

There is some truth to the idea of planned obsolescence but tailfins had a function. They stabilized the car at hiway speeds especially in crosswinds. This became important with the building of interstate hiways and the higher speeds possible with new V8 engines. Chrysler products were wind tunnel tested and had the most effective fins.

For a direct comparison of fins vs no fins you could compare the 1961 and 1962 Chryslers. They were practically identical, used the same body chassis engine etc except the 62 was shorn of fins. Experts who tested both reported that the 61 was definitely more stable at high speed and less prone to wander.

All these years, I thought they were just a style feature. I know spoilers were used to stabilize cars, but never realized that fins also served a purpose. Not that I doubt that the drive behind them was style, marketing, etc., but it's nice to know they did something practical at lease in some cases.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Highway speeds is the key -- the tests proved they had no impact one way or another below 60mph, where most driving was still done.

One myth connected with fins that was common even at the time they were manufactured was that the fins on a 1959-60 Chevrolet would actually measurably lift the rear end of the car at highway speed. There are people who will swear up and down that they were "there" and "saw it happen," but wind-tunnel tests proved that the fins created even a small amount of lift only when driven *in reverse* at highway speeds.

A lawsuit was filed in 1963 against Chrysler by the family of a child severely injured in a bicycle accident when he hit the fin of a parked car. Fins were dead by that point, but there had been other hearsay stories of people being injured by them in prior years that didn't help their reputation with car buyers.

 

[HudsonHawk]

All these years, I thought they were just a style feature. I know spoilers were used to stabilize cars, but never realized that fins also served a purpose. Not that I doubt that the drive behind them was style, marketing, etc., but it's nice to know they did something practical at lease in some cases.

Spoilers are used to create down force to keep the car from wanting to lift, but the horizontal stabilizing effect of vertical tail fins is extremely minor, if even at all, for passenger cars, even at highway speeds. Race cars use them to prevent the car from pitching in high speed turns, and it provides less drag on the horizontal spoiler, but it's really only effective in very high speed turns, and even then they have to be really large relative to the length of the vehicle (think the big wings on those really short, powerful sprint cars). Chrysler touted their wind tunnel tests, and the prototype Dart design, as being more aerodynamic and more stable, but much of that was over-the-top simply to confuse and impress the public from a marketing standpoint.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Fins are making a comeback, at least in nostalgia & advertising.

And my two personal favorites:

 

[David Conwill]

Those ads are pretty old at this point, I think they kicked off the "Chevy Runs Deep" ad campaign. The "art fair" one is a direct reference to the Woodward Dream Cruise.

American manufacturers are notoriously reluctant to spend much time dwelling on the past, as they seem to think their history makes them seem out of step and irrelevant in the modern world. "The only history worth a tinker's dam is the history we are making right now" and all that.

 

[Fading Fast]

Say what you will about the Boys From Marketing, but "They don't write songs about Volvos" is a damn good line, especially hovering over that viciously aggressive Vette's back.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Song For A Volvo

Big and Square and deadly dull
Bits of rust upon the hull
Gets her where she needs to go
In the rain or in the snow
She doesn't care what people think
Mechanics' bills forever stink
Gets a sticker every time
Obsolescence is a crime
Volvo, Volvo don't go fast.
Who cares if you get there last
Might be old and might be rusty
Dumpy car's forever trusty.

 

[Fading Fast]

I dated a girl back in the early '90s whose parents bought her a Volvo (they wanted their only child to be safe) and it was an awesome car - solid, reliable and, honestly, basically enjoyable to drive. Also, I'm sure it was 100 times safer than a split window '63 Vette. That said, I'd have preferred then, and now, to be driving that Vette.

Life is not always about the most practical decision, the safest path, the logical choice - sometimes life is about taking a bite out of the apple (yes, I know the Garden of Eden metaphor), diving off the cliff, having one too many (occasionally). Everyone has to strike his or her own balance, but IMHO, those moments of pure fun - opening up the Vette's four barrel carburetor on an empty road, for example - can carry you through many boring, practical days.

 

[GHT]

Say what you will about the Boys From Marketing, but "They don't write songs about Volvos" is a damn good line, especially hovering over that viciously aggressive Vette's back.

Maybe they just couldn't find the words, or maybe a Volvo with fins was too much for Americans. And did I read that a New York guy has done three million miles in his?


One vehicle with fins that does get attention has to be this bus:

 

[scottyrocks]

Maybe they just couldn't find the words, or maybe a Volvo with fins was too much for Americans. And did I read that a New York guy has done three million miles in his?
View attachment 48509

Yes, the 1800 was a hot little number.

 

[David Conwill]

I'd cheerfully drive a Volvo 122 ("Amazon") or 240...or a '63 Corvette, for that matter.

Hmm, or a Volvo Amazon with a '63 Corvette engine...

 

[Fading Fast]

Yes, the 1800 was a hot little number.

Agree, but I like the 1900 even more



That's a car worthy of a tune.

 

[GHT]

The Volvo PV60 was rather elegant too:

 

[Stearmen]

Spoilers are used to create down force to keep the car from wanting to lift, but the horizontal stabilizing effect of vertical tail fins is extremely minor, if even at all, for passenger cars, even at highway speeds. Race cars use them to prevent the car from pitching in high speed turns, and it provides less drag on the horizontal spoiler, but it's really only effective in very high speed turns, and even then they have to be really large relative to the length of the vehicle (think the big wings on those really short, powerful sprint cars). Chrysler touted their wind tunnel tests, and the prototype Dart design, as being more aerodynamic and more stable, but much of that was over-the-top simply to confuse and impress the public from a marketing standpoint.

This is what happens when you get your down force wrong on boats!