Cars
The sober Dolphin
The article discusses a test conducted in 1936 at the Autodrome de Montlhery to compare the fuel consumption of a standard Ford V8 Type 68 with a highly aerodynamic car called the Dolphin, created by Andre Dubonnet.
On 24 March 1936, the Autodrome de Montlhery, near Paris, provided the setting for a rather unusual test. It involved a perfectly standard Ford V8 Type 68 carrying four people, and a rather strange vehicle, dubbed the Dolphin, created by Andre Dubonnet. Despite being built to be highly aerodynamic, this car, too, easily took four people. So, what exactly did the test consist of? Basically, it was an exercise designed to find out how much fuel a standard production car consumed compared with a car designed to guarantee maximum aerodynamic efficiency, over the same distance (194.477 km) and travelling at the same speed. Predictably, the Dolphin performed better in terms of aerodynamic efficiency, but the really surprising finding was that it consumed 38% less fuel, a remarkable difference.
Despite its (perfect) teardrop shape, the Dolphin, thanks to an ingenious Y-shaped frame and very forward-set driving seat, could accommodate four people.
If this test had been meant to show that it was time to upgrade the aerodynamic efficiency of the standard production cars, then this result alone would have been enough. But instead, Dubonnet’s brilliant creation, based on an idea by Giuseppe Coda, ended up being yet another example of a fantastic prototype that remained a one-off. Indeed, the Dolphin was never put into production, although it did go on to inspire many stars of the “crazy” 1930s.
