GTP Cool Wall: 1934-1937 Chrysler Airflow

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1934-1937 Chrysler Airflow

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That's why I mentioned the spoiler. Apparently, a properly sized spoiler will dam up the turbulent air that seperates at the back of the roof, turning it into a pseudo body panel. Thus actual flow seperation doesn't occurr until after the spoiler. So if the spoiler is lower that the roof and thus brings the airflow around the vehicle closer to reconvergence before flow seperation, wouldn't that have the same sort of effect as reducing frontal area? Of course that fastback cap, assuming it slopes gently enough to prevent flow seperation from occurring anywhere along its length, would do that even better, but it also makes the vehicle even more useless at truck things like hauling, as well as looking like some kind of dorky eco-mod, and I'm not sure how it would stack up against a spoiler setup as far as high-speed stability goes.
 
A spoiler isn't going to do as much as a cap. And you don't need one with the open bed.

A pick-up truck's open bed builds up a cushion of air that acts just like a canopy... pushing further air away and over from the turbulent bed area. This is why putting the tailgate down increases drag... because that turbulent bubble extends further into the slipstream. Only now you have a spoiler angled to create more lift in order to tune the bubble. And you still have that swirling mass of air behind the cockpit sapping energy out of the slipstream.

You can make an aero canopy hinged to the roof. Raise the end and voila, you have a cap to keep your cargo dry. If the cargo is taller than the cab, the canopy articulates upward to act like the aero roof on a big rig.
 

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