On The Fifth Anniversary Of This Picture...A Discussion On Coke Bottle Styling and Sin.

When I was a kid, we attended a fundamentalist church led by a Baptist preacher from Georgia, named Pastor Fuller. Fuller was an old school evangelist type who was similar to Reverend Paul Ford (the death-comes-unexpectedly pastor from Polyana) in both appearance and demeanor. Fuller would pound on the pulpit and proclaim that everything "worldly" was of the devil and one can only find salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Rock N' Roll music? That was of the devil; Science class? That was of the devil, too; Interracial marriage? Well, that was necessarily of the devil, but it wasn't exactly blessed by God. Another ridiculous idea that he ever had was that sports cars are of the devil because their shape is purposely designed to mimic a woman's shape, which will causes you to have impure thoughts.

He was completely wrong in that sports cars are indeed intentionally designed to have what has become known as "coke bottle styling," but that is because that shape is more resistant to drag, which makes for higher top speed. An interesting fact: while coke bottle styling was first used in designing the earliest fighter jets, its first use for automotive design was on the attractive 1962 Studebaker Avanti! How appropriate! (wink)

In addition to the Avanti, the Buick Riviera, the 1963 Corvette, the Lamborghini Mirua, the Dodge Charger, the Toyota GT 2000, and many other 1960s sports cars would go on to have more rounded body panels with arcs over the wheel wells, thus giving them that coke bottle styling. And to think, we have the great state of Indiana to thank for all this booty, er, I mean, beauty.

#cokebottle #cars #sportscars #avanti #corvette