AIRCRAFT Approach to Automobile Body Design 460222
THE fundamental difference between land and air vehicles, the authors explain, is that the plane is supported in the air dynamically, while the car is supported on the ground statically, thus accounting for the importance of weight, strength, and shape in plane design, but not necessarily so in car design.
The authors feel that the aircraft approach may not be directly applicable to car body designing, but they point out that the same basic principles that make for efficient weight, structure, and performance of airplanes can and should unquestionably be useful tools of the automobile body designer.
