- Publisher: Popular Science
- Editor: Sarah Durn
- Published: April 29, 2026
From my Century In Motion column on Pop Sci
The streamline shape is still more aerodynamic than most cars today.
From the start, cars were built wrong. At least, that’s what Chrysler’s head of automotive research, Carl Breer, thought in 1930. Automobiles had never been built to be aerodynamic, he posited, and he was right. A few years earlier, he’d consulted aviation pioneer Orville Wright (the younger Wright brother), who suggested he build a wind tunnel. The results were damning: Every car Breer tested was more aerodynamic running backward than forward. That’s because early cars were boxy behemoths, built like motorized carriages...
In 1934, Chrysler bet big on teardrop-shaped cars
Many thanks to Sarah Durn, Popular Science Associate Editor.
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