Coke bottle styling
Automotive body design with a narrow center surrounded by flaring fenders / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coke bottle styling is an automotive body design with a narrow center surrounded by flaring fenders.[1][2] This design element bears a general resemblance to a Coca-Cola classic glass contour bottle design.[3] Industrial designer Raymond Loewy introduced it on the radical 1962 Studebaker Avanti gran turismo.[4]
The design was pioneered in fighter jets to significantly reduce the sharp drag rise at transonic speed and supersonic speeds. Using this design often results in a pinch-waisted fuselage shape that National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) labeled the design principle 'area rule' and variously identified as a coke bottle, wasp waist, or Marilyn Monroe shape.[5][6] The area rule design technique is most effective between Mach 0.75 and 1.2, or at speeds over 575 mph (925 km/h). The design technique on automobiles provides a visual attraction, but negligible performance improvement.[citation needed]