1934 Bendix SWC Experimental Car

I first learned of the experimental 1934 Bendix SWC in the late, lamented Special-Interest Autos magazine when it was edited by Michael Lamm.  It was contemporaneous to the Chrysler and DeSoto Airflow streamliners of the same year, and looked similar in many respects -- slightly better, perhaps, due to its longer hood.  The link credits its styling to William F. Ortwig who had done work for Fisher Body.

Due to Bendix's South Bend Indiana heritage, the car was eventually donated to the Studebaker National Museum in the same city, where it currently can be seen positioned next to the 1956 Packard Predictor concept car..

The color photos below were taken by me in September 2019.  Click on images to enlarge.

Gallery

This is a 1934 Chrysler CU Airflow sedan.

And here is an outdoors photo of the 1934 Bendix SWC (I don't have the photo's source).

I do not know if the SWC body form was wind tunnel tested.  The Airflow design was, and as mentioned, their shapes are similar.

Frontal view.  It seems that the right rear wheel opening lacks a spat, though the left rear opening has one.  When displayed at the Portland Oregon art museum a few years ago, the spat was present.  The link above notes that the grille came from the 1934 DeSoto Airflow due to time pressure preventing an original design.  I suspect that the original grille concept was not much different,  provided that little new front end metal shaping was done to accommodate the DeSoto grille.

The SWC featured a smoother, more graceful fastback than four-door Airflows.

Showing the metal sculpting around the windshield.