Early V-Windshields on Closed-Body Cars

The 1930s was the decade when automobile design changed most profoundly.  Bodies became more integral, where formerly discrete elements such as headlights and fenders were merged, step-by-step, into the main car body shape.  Related was the fashion of streamlining, whereby car bodies became more aerodynamically efficient than before.

In many respects, the "streamlining" was more notional than actual, though some details changes did make for a modest improvement.

Today's subject is the V-shape, two-glass-pane windshield.  These had appeared by 1930 on some roadsters and other models with retractable/removable fabric tops.  But it wasn't until the 1934 model year that V'd windshields were on volume-production cars with closed (fixed-top) bodies.

It took several years before such windshields became the dominant type in the USA; brands such as Dodge and Plymouth didn't have them until they were given a major facelift for 1939.  Europe was even less receptive.  As best I can tell without digging very deeply, no factory-body Italian cars had them in the 1930s.  The only French brands mass-producing V'd windshields were Peugeot and Matford.  I found only one English example so far.  Germany had several brands with them on some models by the late '30s: Adler, BMW, Horch, Opel and Wanderer.

I am no expert regarding aerodynamics, so what follows is conjectural.

Windshields with slight V-ing and little slant are not much more efficient than flat, vertical windshields.  Even sharper V-angles do comparatively little if the slope is slight.  So slope matters more than V-ing.  Windshields that combine strong slope and some V might be more aerodynamically efficient than slope without the V, though I suspect the difference is small, and dependent on the overall shaping of the front of the passenger compartment greenhouse.

All that said, let's take a look.  Below are examples of the earliest adapters in the USA, France, UK and Germany.

Gallery

1934 Chrysler Airflow CU Coupe - Barrett-Jackson Auctions photo
The famous Chrysler Airflow design was wind-tunnel tested.  Windshield slope appears to be around 45 degrees.  The amount of V is not large, but the result, back in those flat window glass days, was a quasi-rounded forward plan-view shape of the greenhouse.

1935 Oldsmobile Eight 2-door sedan - for-sale-car photo
General Motors redesigned a body used on Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and some Chevrolet models.  Windshield slope was slight, and so was V-ing, so what we find has more to do with styling fashions than actual streamlining.  LaSalle's also got V'd windshields.

1935 Renault Vivastella Grand Sport - photo by Robert Doisneau for Renault
This Renault has similar windshield characteristics to those of the Airflow.  There also was a Nervastella version.  Interestingly, the V'd windshield was abandoned for 1936 and beyond.

Peugeot 402 - factory photo
The 402 line was introduced in the October 1935 Paris automobile show and remained in production until 1942.  Above is a '38 "Légere" model.  Windshield slope is perhaps 30 degrees from the vertical.

1937 BMW-Frazer-Nash 4-door saloon - for-sale-car
This design first appeared for the 1936 model year.  Frazer-Nash imported right-hand drive BMWs to the UK.  Not much V, and the slope is about 30 degrees, as best I can tell.

1937 Humber Snipe Imperial Limousine - Brightwells Auctions photo
This design also first appeared for the 1936 model year.  Very slight V, and the slope seems less than 30 degrees.