Rumors also persisted that body was unsafe. Chrysler, who had been a strong proponent of the Airflow project, was stunned by the lack of interest in the car, which he believed pointed the way for the future of American cars. While Chrysler's cars looked better, with the Airflow bodies stretched over their longer wheelbases, the shorter 115 DeSoto wheelbase made the cars seem bulky. The automotive press gave the cars positive reviews for their handling and acceleration.ĭeSoto (and Chrysler) touted all of its Airflow bodies as "futuristic" in an age of streamlining, the public found the cars to be too different in a time of economic uncertainty. It also boasted a stiffer body and better weight distribution through the engine placement over the front wheels, in contrast to the common practice of placing the center of the engine's gravity just behind the front wheels. Because of the car's unibody construction, passengers rode within the frame of the car, not on top of the car as they did with other American makes. In addition to the benefits of its smoother exterior design, which translated into a quieter passenger compartment than on previous DeSoto models, the car featured wider front seats and deeper back seats with more leg room. In the rear, Airflows encased the rear wheels through the use of fender skirts.
Front and rear fenders received smoother, more form fitting curves. In place of the flat windshield that most cars had (and which caught the brunt of on coming winds as cars moved through the atmosphere), the Airflow split the windshield into two panes of glass, each angled to better redirect the air around them. Headlights were moved from their traditional pods forward of the radiator, and housed in flush mountings on either side of the broad waterfall-styled grille, which lacked the traditional upright radiator throat and decorative cap ornament. From the front bumper back, the Airflow's design represented the first major attempt to smooth away the wind catching objects and channels found on cars of the era. The aerodynamic, radically designed car debuted to much fanfare alongside its larger stablemate, the Chrysler Airflow.
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