1.2.7 Industrial surge
Once more, the force for the development of the automotive industry was the war, more precisely, the military, who started thinking about where and how vehicles could be used. This is how multi-axle trucks were invented. Engines, gearboxes and other units of the vehicle were improved, the reliability of vehicles increased.
Many inventions were transferred and are still being transferred to the automotive industry from aviation. In this “winged” industry all kinds of air blowers began to be installed, aerodynamic calculations were applied for the first time. It was after the Second World War that an industrial surge occurred: ingenious and inherently revolutionary developments began to appear. However, many inventions that appeared then, remained in the form of developments until better times, since it was technologically impossible to implement them. Some design methods were transferred from the aviation industry to the automotive industry. Thus, Saab Company was the first in the world to use a wind tunnel for optimizing the body shape of its models.
This was followed by the invention of spoilers in motorsport thanks to the great Colin Chapman. The first drive compressors, turbochargers, centrifugal compressors - all this and much more took root and remains until now in the automotive industry.
Production engineering improved over time and this bore fruit. For example, in 1954, the legendary Mercedes-Benz SL “Gull Wing” appeared at an automobile exhibition - a light body, an engine with direct fuel injection into the cylinder (albeit mechanical) and fascinating doors that opened upwards (hence the name).
Figure 1.6 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing, 1954 year of production.
Or let’s take, for example, the BMW 507, which was manufactured in 1956: the all-aluminum engine was a miracle for that time, and the body was also made out of light metal. Yes, the car turned out to be very expensive. Yes, only 252 copies were manufactured, but it was ahead of its time and became the forerunner of the introduction of the latest technologies. After all, Audi Company started mass-producing a car with an all-aluminum body only in 1994, presenting the world with a new model - A8.
Figure 1.7 BMW 507, 1956 year of production.
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