K
Kit Sullivan
Guest
It strikes me a little odd that as technology improves in our lives in dramatic leaps and bounds every day, that the design and user-interface of some things won't sell well to the general public unless it reflects some romantic notion of what we liked years ago.
Of course, not everything is like this: Cell phones advance so much with each generation that there is typically nothing about the previous gen's design that is familiar withen even a single year.
My cell phone that I had just a year ago, compared to my current one seems somehow 10 years out of date already!
But with cars, its a little different: In particular, I am referring to hood scoops specifically.
Back when scoops became the "rage" amongst performance cars (50s-60s), the function was elegant yet simple: A big hole in the hood with a scoopt that fed cold, outside air directly into the carb(s) underneath the hole. The scoops didn't get there because they looked good: They got there because it was the most expediaent way to get the cold air into the engine. Function trumped style, as it always should...but it doesn't sem that way today.
Today's "muscle cars" are festooned with as many scoops as the designers can legitimately put on them, but what it takes to make them work is ridiculous in some cases.
Because of modern fuel injection, a simple hood scoop in the middle of the hood is actually a pretty inconvenient place to get cold air from, but the manufacturers will ise a lot of creative plumbing to get them to work.
Clearly, air from the grille-area is the most convenient for today's cars and most standard cars get all thier from there or under the bumper.
But performance geeks (like us!) like the old-style "look" of performance so they make the old style somehow fit with new tech.
No point to be made, really. Just an observation.
Of course, not everything is like this: Cell phones advance so much with each generation that there is typically nothing about the previous gen's design that is familiar withen even a single year.
My cell phone that I had just a year ago, compared to my current one seems somehow 10 years out of date already!
But with cars, its a little different: In particular, I am referring to hood scoops specifically.
Back when scoops became the "rage" amongst performance cars (50s-60s), the function was elegant yet simple: A big hole in the hood with a scoopt that fed cold, outside air directly into the carb(s) underneath the hole. The scoops didn't get there because they looked good: They got there because it was the most expediaent way to get the cold air into the engine. Function trumped style, as it always should...but it doesn't sem that way today.
Today's "muscle cars" are festooned with as many scoops as the designers can legitimately put on them, but what it takes to make them work is ridiculous in some cases.
Because of modern fuel injection, a simple hood scoop in the middle of the hood is actually a pretty inconvenient place to get cold air from, but the manufacturers will ise a lot of creative plumbing to get them to work.
Clearly, air from the grille-area is the most convenient for today's cars and most standard cars get all thier from there or under the bumper.
But performance geeks (like us!) like the old-style "look" of performance so they make the old style somehow fit with new tech.
No point to be made, really. Just an observation.
