Fishtail exhaust tips.. era?

What year were the fishtails first available? Im not talking about popularity, just when would it be possible to get them, whether for a motorcycle or a car?

 

My uncle remembers them on Harley's before WWII, maybe as old as 1936, but not on cars until after the war.

 

They came stock on motorcycles in the early thirty's. The design in your photo evolved in the latter forty's. Popularity has sort of come and gone and came back over the years.

 

I like them

 

I like them too, and im running them on my car, but was curious as to the era.
Im glad to hear they've been around for so long!

 

I dig em but i dont like the skinny motorcycle sized ones available so I took some aluminum tips off of a trans am and made me some.

 

THIS IS WHAT I MEANT TO POST, SORRY

 

do ya know what year T/A? just a little curious ........

 

For automobiles, the era would be the '20s. When racing resumed after WW I, mufflers were required at the Brooklands race track in England. Fishtails were very popular at that time.

The Scientific Design Of Exhaust & Intake Systems, by Smith and Morrison states "In the case of a fishtail, it's sides form a tapering p***age which may or may not have a decreasing cross-sectional area. Experiments show that even when the area was constant, there was a distinct reduction in high-frequency noise. There is no doubt that the fishtail is a most effective adjunct to silencing, on both car and motor-cycle engines".

 

Some where in the mid 70's Im sure. Heres a pic of what I started with.

 

thats alot newer than ya think, try 1998-2002 those are the cast tips from the trans-am and ws6 ls1 powered cars...

 

I bought mine at a "used motorcyle parts" shop. They came off of a harley that got burned up in a garage fire! $ 25.00 and just scuffed off the fire and away I went. Sorry I don't have a current pix showing the back.

 

I had those on my 57 Indian Enfield 700cc twin in 1967-8. It was a custom chopper with 1 pipe crossover to the left and they were both upswept to my shoulder height along a sissy bar. They bolted onto a pair of shorty mfflers back then. I am sure that they were on earlier bikes in the late 50's too.
Bob

 

nice !

 

i got'em...4 in a row...coolest tips ever!!

 

This is a 1930 Brough Superior British bike and I believe the fishtails were factory optional equipment not aftermarket .A top end high performance machine in it's day.




And this photo from maybe the 1950's shows a bobber with the whole damn fish as a muffler

 

That's a Brooklands silencer for a motorcycle, a car would have the resonator as close to the engine as possible.