This strangely shaped car may look like a bubble – but the top speed of 86mph it reached almost a century ago proves that it is anything but.
The world’s first aerodynamic automobile, the 1914 A.L.F.A. 40/60 Aerodinamica Prototype, was created for Count Marco Ricotti by the Castagna Coachbuilding firm.
Thanks to its futuristic tear-drop shape, it could attain the staggering speed from a relatively small 70 horsepower engine.
Sadly the one-off prototype never made it into mass production because, historians say, ‘it offered no performance improvement over the normal-bodied model’.
The car – with its clunky lighting, Rumpler-like fenders and rear-mounted dual horns – was simply too heavy.
A ‘tunnel’ at the front of the car is said to send air to the radiator, while the engine is inside the passenger seating area.
The desire of A.L.F.A., which later became Alfa-Romeo, to build a high-speed car apparently stemmed from an 1865 patent the firm filed for an ‘air-resisting train’.
Share or comment on this article: The birth of aerodynamics? Wonderfully weird teardrop motor that could reach 86mph almost 100 YEARS ago.
