What is the year ...

peasant

...they built this:

- mid-engined (the first ever !)
- a W 6 cylinder, no less
- centrally positioned drivers seat
- drag co-efficient of 0.28
- patended transaxle design

?















nope, not the 70's














not the 60's either







The year is in fact 1921 !! and the car looks like this:



Gallery here: http://www.formfreu.de/?p=5714
Wiki page there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumpler_Tropfenwagen

mike65

Its a boat!

Tomebagel

Its a plane!

trevorbrady

that's the Deutsche Technik Museum in Berlin, isn't it? I was there the year before last. The amount and quality of military stuff is unreal. I couldn't help but notice a lack of swastikas on the planes though

peasant

trevorbrady wrote: »

I couldn't help but notice a lack of swastikas on the planes though

Might have something to do with the fact that it's actually illegal to display that in Germany (though I don't think that applies to museum exhibits)

unkel

I'm surprised at the CW of only 0.28. Granted a nice tear drop shape, but those windows are awfully vertical and then the open wheels...

peasant

Unlike most other streamline cars that try to achieve the teardrop form on the horizontal level, this guy did it vertically.
Basically, the shape of this car is a section of aircraft wing put on its edge

unkel

peasant wrote: »

Unlike most other streamline cars that try to achieve the teardrop form on the horizontal level, this guy did it vertically.

Aye, I acknowledged the tear drop design, didn't I?

Interesting point in the ad pointing out the low fuel consumption though. This was back in 1928, before the start of the global recession. I'd have imagined that petrol was relatively very cheap in most markets, but maybe there were some limitations in availability of fuel in Germany??? Linked maybe to post WW1 repair payments???

Edit - only just reading the wiki article. I must say the windtunnel pic confused me before

Max_Damage

Tomebagel wrote: »

Its a plane!

It's Superman!

corktina

Max_Damage wrote: »

It's Superman!

I was gonna say that! German wartime planes didnt have swastikas,,,they had a kind of Iron Cross emblem....

Blue850

Tomebagel wrote: »

Its a plane!

:rolleyes: this is the plane:D

trevorbrady

god help the poor pedestrian they run into :eek:

peasant

corktina wrote: »

I was gonna say that! German wartime planes didnt have swastikas,,,they had a kind of Iron Cross emblem....

OT ...but what the heck

They actually had both. The "cross" being the tactical sign of the Wehrmacht or Luftwaffe (you'll also find it on vehicles) and the swastica being the sovereign emblem