The Dymaxion Car

The livescience.com website defines aerodynamics as “the study of how gases interact with moving bodies. Because the gas that we encounter most is air, aerodynamics is primarily concerned with the forces of drag and lift, which are caused by air passing over and around solid bodies.” Airplanes were the catalyst that brought serious focus to aerodynamics. To make them fly, a designer had to understand how air passed over and around them. It wasn’t long before designers were looking at how to apply aerodynamics to other moving bodies —cars and trains—and even some static designs affected by wind, e.g. buildings and bridges.

Early Automobile Aerodynamics