Romanian Clown-Shoe Car Pioneered Aerodynamics
- Editor OGN Daily
- 6 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Aurel Persu's century old creation rivals that of even the most slippery EVs today.
In 1922, the Romanian engineer and designer created a vehicle that may look strange by modern standards, but actually represented a breakthrough in aerodynamics. And if it was built today, more than 100 years later, only a handful of cars would beat it in that department.
Persu graduated from the Charlottenburg Higher Technical School in Berlin in the early 1900s and continued to study both aerodynamics and aircraft in Romania during the First World War. After the war, he returned to Berlin and, in 1922, was granted a patent for an aerodynamic automobile that had its wheels tucked into the bodywork. That was a big deal, as most cars at that time were open-wheeled.
According to a website dedicated to him, the car had a coefficient of drag of 0.20, while others say 0.22. Even at the more conservative estimate, 0.22 is still an astonishing figure for 1922. Today, there are only a few cars that outperform it.
The bulbous front end is where the passengers sat, while the engine, transmission, and the rest of the drivetrain were in the skinnier rear tube - and was reportedly capable of 62 mph.
Persu only made one example of his slippery shoe-shaped car and used it as his daily. He clearly enjoyed driving it as his raindrop-shaped car has over 100,000 miles on it. Even though he built just one car, it was one of the most innovative automobiles of all time.
The lone example now lives at the Dimitrie Leonida Technical Museum in Bucharest, Romania.
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