Coke bottle styling

Coke bottle styling is an automotive body design with a narrow center surrounded by flaring fenders.[1][2] This design element bears a general resemblance to a Coca-Cola classic glass contour bottle design,[3] and was inspired by the tapering middle fuselage of contemporary fighter jets. Industrial designer Raymond Loewy, who in 1955 had re-designed the actual Coke bottle as well,[4] introduced it on the radical 1962 Studebaker Avanti gran turismo.

Origin

The design was pioneered in fighter jets to significantly reduce the sharp drag rise at transonic speed and supersonic speeds. Using this design often results in a pinch-waisted fuselage shape that National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) labeled the design principle the "area rule" and variously identified as a coke bottle, wasp waist, or Marilyn Monroe shape (i.e. an hourglass figure).[5][6] The area rule design technique is most effective between Mach 0.75 and 1.2, or at speeds over 575 mph. The design technique on automobiles provides a visual attraction, but negligible performance improvement.

Development

The exotic shapes of early supersonic fighter jets dramatically influenced automobile stylists. First, the tailfin fad, appeared in the mid-1950s and was on the decline by the early 1960s, then the "Coke bottle" look of severely wasp-waisted high-performance jet fighters, such as the Northrop F-5.[7][2] The initial result was luxury performance automobiles, such as the 1962 Studebaker Avanti and 1963 Buick Riviera, earned this term "by having more rounded body panels with arcs over the wheelwells, making them resemble bottles of Coca-Cola laid on their sides."[8]

Examples

• AMC Ambassador (1967-1969) [21][22]
• AMC Javelin (1968-1974) [2][23]
• Buick Riviera (1963-1965) [8]
• Chevrolet Camaro (1967-1969) [24]

See also

• Influence of the Space Age on culture
• Jet Age