Around 1970, there appeared some concept cars that were extremely low and featured wedge-shape fronts. Aside perhaps for racing purposes, those configurations had little practicality in the real motoring world. I consider those designs being explorations of extreme cases -- something worth testing. And for the sponsors and builders, those concept cars generated a lot a welcomed publicity.
Today's subject is the 1970 Ferrari 512S Modulo (brief Wikipedia entry
here). It was built by
Pininfarina and styled by the firm's
Paolo Martin.
Most of the images below appear to be via Pininfarina and/or Ferrari, though a few might be from other sources, as the Modulo was eventually sold by Pininfarina.
Gallery
The Modulo was painted black for the 1970 Geneva auto show.
Shortly later, colors were reversed. The car appears to be highly streamlined, though I wonder if the design was thoroughly tested in a wind tunnel. That's because the front lacks an air dam and seems like it might be subject to lift.
The engine is placed between the passenger compartment and the rear axle line. Note the partly exposed upper part of the rear tire, this in part due to rear wheels being larger than the front wheels.
This frontal view indicates wedging was also applied to the car's sides as well as the front.
All-open view.
Publicity photo: the car seems to be painted silver here.
All-open again. A publicity photo showing a woman at the wheel.
Same tall lady, here providing a sense of scale to the extremely low Modulo. (The passenger compartment "door" is open.)
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