Street Legal Streamliners?

I figured a lot of rodders who build their cars take a whole lot of inspiration from the boys who first started taking fenders off Model As and tearing down the salt in the late forties. There’s a whole bunch of 40s/50s style 32s, 34s and As, and I think there are even a few belly tankers with license plates on the road. I love the aircraft like quality that many of these early land speed racers had, like Schneider trophy seaplanes for the salt.

So has anybody gone the next step and built a road legal streamliner? There’s so much inspiration, and such a wide variety of shapes and styles with tons of flexibility, that I can’t possibly be the first one to think of it. Yet I’ve not seen anything like it on the HAMB – so why not?

Any of you ever thought about it? Any of you ever done it?!

Here's a thing I've been working on. I wanted two seats and to be able to put it on a Triumph Herald chassis - hence the 92" wheelbase and squat looks. I reckon with a longer wheelbase you could make a real nice looking machine.

 

that would be cool to see a belly tank on the road..

 

The trouble with tanks is I think they look beautiful when they're in racing trim. By the time you got headlights and tail lights and turn signals and wing mirrors stuck to them (and fenders in some countries) they loose a bit of that clean speed look. Also a lot of places don't let you use lexan windshields, you have to use auto windshields, which are generally flat and I don't think they'd look right without that blown bubble.

Here's a few of the better streetable ones here (never knew that second one was a two seater - training tank?!)




So these do exist, though I reckon if I wanted to make a tank for the road I'd try and make pop-up/retractable headlights.

What I want to see is some road going versions of these:










These are some of my inspirations. I like the lexan engine cover on the MG EX135.

 

If you look at many sports racers they were streamliners with two seats and headlites. If you built such a car it would end up looking like a sports car. And they are called "Tanks" not tankers. Tankers bring gas to the station.

 

I just posted these the other day street streamliners from the past are amazing

 

Hi all,

Original post corrected, my apologies.

I guess a lot of the fifties racing cars like the Lotus IX, Elvas, Lolas etc looked a bit like bobbed tail streamliners. I quite like the long-tail teardrop aerodynamics of a land speed racer though.
I see what you mean - once the cockpit gets any bigger than the bare minimum it starts to look quite different.

Hi Ryan - I agree on the streetable belly tank, much as I love their shape by the time they're built for the street they are compromised, and that says nothing of how I'd feel about trying to drive one on the road in traffic.

I've seen the Buick special a few times. I think it looks fantastic (from the back especially - I might do somthing different with the front). But the chances of me making somthing like that are quite remote - you'll notice my inspirations have considerably fewer curves! Here are two fromthe swoopy thread that sort of fit the bill:



Waaaaaay over my compound-curve quota though! This Alpha has similar proportions to some rear engine LSRs:



Fewer curves too.

 

I've been thinking about building an aerodynamic car for highway MPG.

I like your drawing.

 

Highway mpg is a big thing for me - much as I love driving my Plymouth I can't afford to run it on a 100 mile round trip every day at $9 a gallon. And since 3 hours a day is a big part of sombody's life to spend in a car, I'd like to do it in somthing interesting.

No reason I can't use some techniques that rodders use to go fast to make somthing go a little more economically.

I'd be looking at an aluminium body (I HATE working with fibreglass). Instead of welding I'd rivet it together. Get the polishing mop on it and it should look pretty sweet.

 

Maybe not the type of pure,
purpose-built 'streamliner' you
have in mind, but what about
building a 'Bonneville-styled' '53
Studebaker coupe?? You could
slam it, chop the top, clean up
the nose a bit, remove or fare-in
the bumpers and run steel wheels
with skinnies and Moon-style
spun-aluminum full wheel disks.
etc. etc., like the LSR guys do - and
you could end up with something
that would be both authentic looking
and still street-legal and drivable -
and also, be extremely slick, both
aerodynamically and esthetically
too!

Mart3406
===========

 

X2 on the '53 Studie idea.

 

Not all of these were street driven, but most could have been...

 

It looks like the Studebaker's drag coefficient isn't that good:

http://www.landracing.com/forum/index.php?topic=3558.0

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Turbina

The Turbina held the record for lowest drag coefficient on an automobile (0.14) for 30 years.<sup id="cite_ref-hemmings.com_0-0" class="reference">[1]</sup>

 

Any info on this one?

 

Alfa Romeo 163

 

Brake specific fuel consumption article:

http://www.autospeed.com/A_112611/cms/article.html

 

Kinda suprised that no one has mentioned Seret's build here on the H.A.M.B.

 

This I could drive!

 

That is true, but the last time I looked Formula 1 and Top Fuelers had horrible drag coefficients.

But even standing still, a Stude, a T/Fer, and an F1 car all look scary fast and swoopy cool.

 

Thanks for the insirational stuff guys.

The stude is about the best HAMB friendly production car in the States as far as aerodynamics is concerned - the Carrera Panamericana Studes always lead the pack. Aerodynamics and low weight I think go a long way towards this.

Really like that Alfa 163, looks a lot like the Auto Union Coupe that never got built.

I'm still carving away at my drawing:


I've put the cockpit back a little and altered the front. What I'd really like to do is get it solid-modelled and run some CFD on it, it's the little tweaks, especially around the rear, that could make big differences to how streamlined this thing is.

For headlights, I reckon I can use some sealed beams hidden behind flush-fitting clear covers screwed into the body work. The shapes are all pretty simple to hand form, the most difficult being the fender 'pods' covering the top of the front wheels. They're not really necessary but without them the car is a bit featureless. I think it'd look a lot like MGs EX135 and EX179 but with the two person cockpit stuck on top.

There are a few reverse curves and a few compound curves but because everything is rivetted together (and to a frame) I think I can tackle them individually without screwing up a massive single panel.

 

You could probably drive the Austin-Healey streamliners on the street, but parallel parking would be a bitch:

 

The thing with F1 cars is they're not made to go fast. They're made to go fast round corners. All those downforce aids add masses of drag to them, but taking a corner at high speed wins more races than reaching a higher top speed on the straights. Those big fat wheels don't help the aero much either. Same thing with the wing on a top fueler, but I reckon that might be more efficient than an F1 wing.

 

I love that Healey, about the same wheelbase as the chassis I'd like to use too. I don't think parallel parking would be that bad, if I can get my 60 Plymouth into a British sized parking space then I can do it with those Austins!

 

The top one is a recreation. Here's the story: http://www.austinhealey.com.au/rebirth.html

 

How about a Jag XKE with a diesel engine? Not sure if I am kidding or not. But it would work.

Something like a TDI VW engine should give you a top speed of 100 MPH and 40+ MPG.

 

I was chatting to a pal about something like this. In the end we figured using a glass Porsche 356 coupe body on a Beetle pan and a diesel Smart car motor, while keeping everything as light as possible would make an excellent and very economical commuter car. The diesel Smart gets an alleged 70 to the gallon, so with better weight and aero, you should beat that. The early 356 went pretty well considering how little power it had available.

I like the idea of a Herald chassis though. How about making a "one sided" roof and fitting a hard tonneau over the other side. Removeable for carrying passengers or for sunny days. I think light weight will be more help to gain economy than aerodynamics in real world street driving. A small diesel engine would most likely be the best thing too. Depends how madly deep into it you want to getinto it I suppose! Ending up with a cool car is probably more important than all out economy, or?

 

A discussion like this is not complete without Frank Costin's designs.













And this one, which is not by costin, but looks a it like it could have been one.

 

They may get GPM instead of MPG, though.