Encyclopedia Hoonatica: Cars with NACA Ducts
Believe it or not, developing a scoop that’s effective at scooping air in without creating ridiculous amounts of drag is phenomenally difficult. It’s actually quite easy to design a scoop looking thing that barely scoops at all. You could say it sucks…but the problem is it doesn’t.
Luckily, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (the predecessor to NASA) figured it out for us back in the 1940s. As the rocket/jet age took off (har, har…), the NACA duct was born from a need to pull air into jet engines without significantly disrupting the flow of passing air. Semi-ironically, NACA ducts can’t really pull in enough air to feed a jet engine, but they work great for lower-speed cooling applications.
While supersonic road going vehicles remain a Syd Meade-grade product of The Retro Future, the needs for air intake, cooling and aerodynamic slickness continue to increase. This was particularly true in the 70s, as cars went from matching artists’ conceptions of what a rocket car should be to meeting engineers’ design requirements for top speed and fuel economy. Hence, a preponderance of NACA ducts in the ’70s and ’80s.
For today’s Encyclopedia Hoonatica, simply pulling up every JC Whitney-ized Civic you can find on Google image search won’t cut it. It’s gotta be the submerged, curvy beauty that is the NACA duct, and it’s gotta be from the factory.
Just to eliminate another bit of low-hanging fruit, here’s an Espada, which The Missus refers to as “her Lambo”, as she has plans to kill me with six Italian carburetors feeding twelve cylinders sport one as a semi-practical mom-mobile some day.
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Image Source: Wikipedia
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![http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Isdera_imperator.jpg"](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Isdera_imperator.jpg"){kind=link}
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Shelby Mustangs
<img src="http://www.seriouswheels.com/pics-1960-1969/1969-Shelby-Mustang-GT-350-fa-lr.jpg" width=500>
How about fake NACA duct from the factory?
<img src="http://www.mach1registry.com/history/photos/p63622_image_large.jpg">
280 ZX
<img src="http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/280zx.JPG">
Damn – I knew there was a Z with a NACA, but I thought for sure it was a late 80's 300zx, not early 80's 280….missed the search by *that* much…
We've seen a lot of this little fella recently:
<img src="http://www.motorimania.it/manifestazioni/auto_storiche/images_alfa_romeo_montreal/alfa_romeo_montreal_25.jpg" />
Although, it is remarkable how frequently Isdera Imperator is the correct answer.
<img src="http://leroux.andre.free.fr/simi34i1.jpg" />
Would the 1999 Isdera Commendatore 112i count?
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Isderacom.jpg" width ="500">
I don't think any of those are NACA ducts, but I am no expert on ducts.
Yeah, probably not NACA ducts. But I just wanted to post the photo. Such an incredible car.
Yes, yes it is.
"Name a car with a periscope"
"Name a car with gullwings and MB power"
"Name a car from a manufacturer with an inscrutable website"
"Name a car that non-car-nerds will have never EVER heard of"
Countach
<img src="http://www.lamborghiniblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/lamborghini-countach-lp500-s.jpg">
In chronological order:
1970 Porsche 917
<img src="http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt237/jskitter/hooniverse/Porsche917.jpg" width="600">
1974 Lamborghini Countach (hat tip to tonyola)
<img src="http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt237/jskitter/hooniverse/1978_Countach_LP400S.jpg" width="600">
1987 Ruf CTR "Yellowbird"
<img src="http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt237/jskitter/hooniverse/ruf_ctr-2a.jpg" width="600">
1990 Mercedes Sauber C11
<img src="http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt237/jskitter/hooniverse/NACADuctMercedesSauber.jpg" width="600">
Continued:
1997 Dodge Viper
<img src="http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt237/jskitter/hooniverse/DodgeViperGTS.jpg" width="600">
1998 TVR Speed 12
<img src="http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt237/jskitter/hooniverse/TVRSpeed12.jpg" width="600">
2004 Porsche Carrera GT
<img src="http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt237/jskitter/hooniverse/PorscheCarreraGTD.jpg" width="600">
2005 Ferrar FXX
<img src="http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt237/jskitter/hooniverse/FerrariFXX.jpg" width="600">
Porsche 924 turbo
<img src="http://ploader.net/files/cd5e1de4bd3009e80f33b06b77e87bf2.jpg">
R34 Skyline GT-R V-Spec II
<img src="http://www.performancecar.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/nissan-skyline-gt-r-r34-vspec-nur-fqh.jpg" width="670" height="308" />
New GTR, as well.
<img src="http://www.vivagoal.com/images/wallpapers/Nissan_GT-R-5.jpg"width=500>
Image from: <a href="http://www.vivagoal.com/2009/06/nissan-gtr-wallpaper-5/” target=”_blank”>http://www.vivagoal.com/2009/06/nissan-gtr-wallpaper-5/
<img src="http://www.seriouswheels.com/pics-2008/ghij/2008-GeigerCars-Ford-GT-Front-Angle-1-1024×768.jpg">
If this don't count, I will have sads.
NACA not found.
[sad trombone]
Hey, you cannot win all of them all.
I would rather have Mad_Science prove me wrong than jlklulz420 tell me I am a moran for being stoopid.
Heh…I'm making trouble elsewhere today.
I'll give you partial credit, since the GT40 had them:
<img src="http://www.sportscardigest.com/wp-content/uploads/1968-ford-gt40-mk-ii-chassis-1076-main-2.jpg">
<a href="http://www.sportscardigest.com/wp-content/uploads/1968-ford-gt40-mk-ii-chassis-1076-main-2.jpg” target=”_blank”>http://www.sportscardigest.com/wp-content/uploads/1968-ford-gt40-mk-ii-chassis-1076-main-2.jpg
Courtesy of Jonny Lieberman.
<img src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs052.ash2/35939_460604580119_725095119_6856211_7721493_n.jpg">
I was all excited to throw up pictures of a Peugeot 206 GTI and a Lancia Delta Integrale. Although they both have hood venting/intakes, neither of them have NACA ducts.
It's gotta be from the factory? Well, this one should have been, does that count?
<img src=http://www.revlimiter.net/mods/pix/scoop1.jpg>
Love it. I really wonder what happens when you press the headlight button…
Ah, don't worry about that part!
Er, gotta keep that left headlight cool?
Actually the intake is directly behind the left headlamp.
<img src=http://image.modified.com/f/26977255+w750+st0/modp_0912_05_o+1994_mazda_miata_r_package+engine_bay.jpg>
<img src="http://hooniverse.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/mecum_35mm.jpg"width=500>
Does the TVR from the Mecum gallery count?
Image from: http://hooniverse.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/…
Nope. Not NACA.
Ferrari 288 GTO Evolouzione, the F-40s Daddy
<img src="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ferrari_288_GTO.jpg" width="600/"> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ferrari_288_GTO.jpg” target=”_blank”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ferrari_288_GTO.jpg
Did you mean this? Sexy sexy.
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Ferrari_288_GTO.jpg" width="600/">
Image from: <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Ferrari_288_GTO.jpg” target=”_blank”>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Ferrari_288_GTO.jpg
What happened to its face!!!???
yep, for some reason it wasn't working for me today.
You had the page url linked, not the image url.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ferrari_288_GTO… vs. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f…
The Pantera is straight out of the NACA Duct Golden Age, in dire need of better cooling, but ironically devoid of The Blessed Duct.
The Devil, of course:
<img src="http://www.supercars.net/carpics/951/1990_Lamborghini_Diablo2.jpg" width="600">
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/73-GTO-Wiki-01.JPG">
The answer is always "GTO."
Not exactly NACA ducts but still..
<img src="http://www.sybarites.org/wp-content/spyker.jpg">
Not a car but yes it has NACA ducts
<img src="http://www.bikeshop-online.be/images/cbr1100xx.jpg">
Autech Stelvio:
<img src="http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/resources/2008/04/Autech_Stelvio_Top.jpg">
<a href="http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/resources/2008/04/Autech_Stelvio_Top.jpg” target=”_blank”>http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/resources/2008/04/Autech_Stelvio_Top.jpg
Holy crap. We clearly have a winner. Best/worst use of NACA ducts ever.
Whoa…that took me a second to notice.
…actually on a lot of these I've been like "no….OHWAIT, now I see it!"
I want to -1 you for putting this up, but I didn't.
Are those wheels on the wrong side of the car or are they designed to cool the brakes in reverse?
As far as I can tell, these would neither force air inward nor aid with extracting air to the outside.
And they are symetrically opposite across the car.
Isuzu Impulse Turbo RS
<img src="http://nozama.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2009/01/05/257490497_57ec19ff17_o.jpg" width="600">
Weird, the demi-duct.
AAR 'cuda
<img src="http://images03.olx.com/ui/1/42/52/2044052_1.jpg">
2nd generation Z28
<img src="http://connectseward.org/shs/students/students10/andrewkoranda/My%20Website/Full%20Sized%20Pics/Camero_79_z28.jpg">
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