1965 Mercer Cobra

[oldman ohio]

No perky butt on this car.

jack

[Woodz428]

I always enjoyed Virgil Exner's exercises during the 50s and 60s ( he probably goes back further than that), although I never thought this car improved on the Cobra. I think it wasn't too long after this that he presented a car of similar lines to Motor Trend, as a car he intended to produce for the exclusive market. I remember it had 2 unique "flyswatter" type spoilers on the rear.They were at opposite sides and were activated when the car went over a certain speed and also worked in conjunction with the steering, similar to flaps on a plane. They were an open "waffle" pattern, that he explained didn't become functional until the air molecules were flowing fast enough to cause it to act as a solid. I don't recall the name of the car, but it graced the Motor Trend cover in late '65/early'66. I think it may have had disc brakes similar in construction to aircraft ones as well, lots of neat stuff on it. I don't ever recall seeing the prototype, so it may have never gotten off the drawing board. Very interesting person.