Remember that these specifications do not apply unless you are driving over
85 MPH which I strongly do not recommend. Most cars will not drive this fast
under normal conditions. The people who tested the designs tested them using
100 MPH winds in a tunnel. Unless you're driving through a hurricane, these
are not ideal road conditions. You are partly right, the marketing department
omitted certain details of these wind tunnel tests. That's advertisement,
they don't have to tell you everything, only what they want you to know. The
tests themselves were very real and were conducted by Exner himself. That's
how he came up for the final designs for the 1957 line-up. If you notice, all
the cars from the Imperial to the Plymouth had canted fins. As I said before
the unrealistic wind tunnel tests proved that this was the best design for
the tail fin. Under normal driving conditions, it is unlikely that a finned
or unfinned Imperial will show any difference in performance. Enough said!!!
Doug
58 Crown coupe
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