The above selfie by Karin Brøgger wraps up the story of our session for Danish television with the 1937 Chrysler Airflow, but it also raises a question. Please note that the car has a lot of character (not “characters” as in the four hangers-on).
At the New York Auto Show, held in April, Chrysler introduced a concept car called the Airflow. Of course it’s an EV.
“I must say, it looks like anyone could have built it,” Maurice Merrick, host of the Horsepower Heritage podcast, says of the Airflow.
Aside from the problem that the classic Airflow never sold well, and it’s unlikely that public awareness and demand was high enough to warrant the name’s revival, does the Airflow concept even stand out?
In fact, there’s another question.
How is it that, from Tesla to Nio, these cars end up having the same shape? It’s an especially pertinent question when we recall that just 10 years ago, before Tesla, no carmaker could sell many units of a hatchback outside of the subcompact and compact classes.
They’re all the same, distinguished only by lighting signatures, wheel patterns, and trim. They’re apparently soulless, and they long to be autonomous.
And who will be able to afford them? Oh, that’s right, we’re supposed to join subscriptions services instead of owning, and when we press “select” on an app, a robocar will show up to serve.
An old song asks: ‘Will you love me when my flivver is a wreck?’
I often see this camper rig at the truck stop down the road from home. It’s always parked in the same place, and one of these days I’ll find the guy and get his story.
The truck qualifies as a flivver, if you ask me.
Note the cutaway front fenders and homebuilt accessories.
We might also say it features body-on-frame construction front and back.
Vikings emerge in the NTT IndyCar Series
It used to be Brazilians everywhere you looked in IndyCar racing. Emerson Fittipaldi, André Ribeiro, Raul Boesel, Nelson Piquet, Rubens Barichello, Gil de Ferran, Maurício Gugelmin, and Christian Fittipaldi raced in the 1990s.
Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves continue the Brazilian march in the NTT IndyCar Series. Both drivers are in their late-40s.
Sunday’s Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America was won by Josef Newgarden, of Nashville. Second was Marcus Ericsson, the Swede who won the Indy 500 two weeks earlier and leads in the series’ points championship. Another Swede, Felix Rosenqvist, was sixth. Danish rookie Christian Lundgaard, finished 10th. Lundgaard turns 21 on July 23.
The Indy Lights Series also raced Sunday. Christian Rasmussen, a Dane, won that 20-lapper over Sting Ray Robb, an American, and Hunter McElrea, who has dual U.S. and New Zealand citizenship.
Series points leader Linus Lundqvist, a Swede, was fourth and Benjamin Pedersen, another Dane, ran 11th. Lundqvist has won four of the seven races so far this season.
Unsolved mystery number one: Where are the Norwegians and Finns?
Unsolved mystery number two: Why are there no new Brazilian drivers?
Unsolved mystery number three: Why so many Scandinavians now?
Answers to come in future installments.