Hey Plexus928, The aerodynamics of the Swan-mobile was probably not at issue in the design. Speaking of a head turner, a few years ago there were actually bets being made within the automotive engineering community that the aerodynamics prior to the availability of super computers were so crude that many cars were equally inefficient at speed in either direction. Even after all the water tank, wind tunnel and exotic calculations had been made, in many cases it was actually a gut instinct that was considered the final authority. Last year I read an article in Popular Mechanics (Reverse Engineering) that used an operational 1984 928S in a bi-directional test case. It was dismembered and the upper body mounted in reverse to it’s running chassis. A real world evaluation was made by comparing an identical 928 to the mongrelized 928 (total weight, front/back ballast. ground clearance, tires, etc....). The final result indicated the drag coefficient of the original orientation was considered slightly more aerodynamic when the vehicles were kept under 100 mph.
Looks versus aerodynamics have come a long way in automotive design. The worst thing that could happen in the Swan-mobile is a few feathers floating around in the cab....
Michael
