Petersen looks into the wind for aerodynamics exhibit | Hemmings ...

Photos courtesy Mercedes-Benz Classic

Aerodynamics is a key component of a car?s performance, as well as a key component of design, but you rarely hear people bragging about their car?s drag coefficient. A new exhibit, Aerodynamics: From Art to Science at the Petersen Automotive Museum, aims to help change that.

The exhibit, open through May 27, 2013, attempts to highlight some of the landmarks of aerodynamic design from the early days of motoring to the present. ?The timing for an exhibition of aerodynamic vehicles has never been better,? said Petersen Curator Leslie Kendall. ?Now that most automakers have turned their attention to perfecting the aerodynamic qualities of their cars, museum visitors will be fascinated to learn that the pursuit of sleeker, more efficient shapes actually began during the early 1900s. Not every visitor will find all of these early cars attractive, but they will certainly find them interesting.?

More than a dozen vehicles will be featured in the exhibit to illustrate how the art of streamlining evolved into the science of aerodynamics ? among them the 1940 BMW 328 Mille Miglia, a 1928 Martin Aerodynamic from the Lane Motor Museum, a 1938 Delahaye, a 1941 Tatra T-87, a 1979 Ford Probe design study, a 1937 Airomobile, a 1935 Chrysler Airflow and the 1992 Oldsmobile Aerotech.

The cars in the Peterson exhibit are some of the more radical examples of aero, but not every slippery car in history looked like a science experiment. Mercedes-Benz Classic recently rolled some of its more historically pleasing shapes into the wind tunnel to see how they would fare.

Up for consideration were a few million dollars? worth of classic Benzes from the 1950s: a 1952 W194 300 SL race car, a 1954 W198 300 SL production car and a 1951 W188 300S coupe. The results were interesting. The race car weighed in with a drag coefficient of .376 (wind speed 80.77 MPH) the production 300 SL was a close second at .389 while the 300S had a drag coefficient of .670.

Those numbers put the 300 SL race car in the league of a 1999 BMW Z3 coupe or a 1996 Ferarri F50; the production 300 SL in the neighborhood of a 1989 Mazda Miata or a 1978 Nissan 280ZX; while the 300S actually has a higher drag coefficient than a Mercedes G-Wagon which has a Cd of .54.

For the full details from the M-B wind tunnel test visit Daimler.com.

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