Car Design: the Flying Buttress

When you are subscribed to big, automotive magazines such as Road & Track and Car and Driver, you sometimes encounter weird and unknown words. For me, one these word was the flying buttress, a word which left me wondering about its meaning. A long time ago, I did a bit of digging and I found it was a piece of design usually found on the middle of the car. We’ll comeback later on. The flying buttress’ etymology comes from a certain shape that can be normally found on religious buildings such as church (though not all churches has them). However, the shape found on the religious building is quite similar to the one on cars. Basically, the flying buttress is a continuation of the bodywork. Not only being beautiful, it also serves aerodynamic fonctions. A true form and fonction combined.

We can all agree it looks fantastic. Even though every car layout as seen a car with this design element, it is more commonly found on mid engine cars. It is not always “open” like the one in the picture displayed above. Simpler design of the flying buttress can be found on the gorgeous Ferrari Dino 246 GTS. My favorite piece of the design might be located on the Ferrari 599 GTO.

Whenever you see that flowing design line on a car, take a look if it sports the flying buttresses. However, I wouldn’t advise putting your hand through it; the owner might not be happy.