I’m not an EV hater by any stretch, though I readily acknowledge that the lack of exhaust sound and engine rumble are big bummers for battery power (and no, I will not be satisfied by imitations of those things, because the concept is patently silly – sorry, Dodge). Also missing from the electric equation is any real need for prominent air intakes, as there’s no heavy-breathing engine to account for, and that’s another big bummer for me.
I do love a nice intake, be it a scoop, slot, NACA duct, or some other wind-admitting opening. I don’t even find phony ones objectionable so long as they’re on a fuel-burning car, because the spirit of the need is there so long as there’s some kind of engine under the hood. Outside of a joke installation, I cannot abide the idea of prominent fake scoops on a car with no need to consume airflow in order to produce power. (Though I could get behind an EV with a giant drag-style hood scoop feeding air directly into the dash vents for a proper windows-down blasting with no need to lower the glass).
So let’s celebrate our favorite air-grabbers, shall we?
Though much maligned, I’m strangely attracted to the stacked nostrils of the Trans Am WS6. They’re outlandish, which is to say “they’re Pontiac,” and the tall hood tunnels they feed suggest a tumescence befitting this most phallic of F-bodies. So yeah, I’m into this bonermobile, what about it? Own it, I say.
Could any discussion of scoops and strakes not include the F12 Testarossas? Those magnificent egg slicers transform each side of the car into a massive air-delivery device for the V12 behind the seats and positively scream out engine in the back – ain’t nobody mistaking those for brake coolers.
I know, I know, I’m supposed to hate this “Countach,” but I like it. Those big side triangles do it for me. See you in the comments!
You like pop-up headlights? How about a pop-up air scoop?
Plymouth’s optional Air Grabber hood scoop deployed on command via a dash-mounted lever that, depending on the year and model, yanked the scoop open via a cable or used engine vacuum to do the trick. Imagine lining up against a guy at a red light in your Roadrunner, and as you’re revving your steeds, he sees your hood scoop lift out of the sheetmetal. That’s gotta be a potent psyche-out.
Your turn: What Are Your Favorite Slots, Strakes, Scoops, And Intakes?
Top graphic image: depositphotos.com
Just good old-fashioned Homer-applied speed holes for me, please.
I like the event horizon on the Shelby Daytona hood
I have an irrational love of the pop-up shutter scoops on the 3rd gen Camaros with Cross Fire injection.
Yeah, I know the Cross Fire was crap. I put way too many new injectors through mine. But when it was healthy it sure was fun to have those shutters pop open in response to WOT.
The Ford RS200 EVO Hoonigan Snorkels. They give the car a great cat ear profile from the front.
Or the side intakes on the Gumpert Apollo
Pretty sure all RS200 Evo’s had those, no?
I thought they made is more pronouced for Ken Block but either way it was nice.
Stick with the classics.
For side strakes, the Testarossa is the standard by which all others are measured. I’d be willing to bet that it is the image that pops into most petrolheads’ minds when the phrase is uttered.
I don’t know if it really counts as a “scoop” or not, but the cowl induction on the 77-81 Firebird Trans Am is what comes to my mind as the quintessential production hood scoop. Prominent without being gaudy, suggestive of performance without shouting LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME! It’s hard to think of one more tastefully done to such great effect. That 77 wouldn’t have looked quite as good, Burt Reynolds driving or no, without it.
Having said that about sticking with classics, I do loves me some big ol’ LP5000qv shoulder scoops.
I LOVE the old asymmetrical scoop from the Turbo Trans Ams of the early 80s.
I have always been a fan of the 1970-1976 Firebird Formula hood scoops and the GM Cowl Induction hoods.
Alternate path, but — Yamaha Vmax.
Oh yeah!
Testarossa side strakes.
Totaly radical, man!
I like the 4th gen WS6 scoops as well, but then again I am a big fan of the scoops on the Olds 442 W30.
On the extreme end of scoops and ducts, I love the Aventador, though I will admit that the SVJ may be a bit too extreme.
I never miss an opportunity to extoll the Mondial (but just the first three; the designers defanged themselves on the T). Note that Pininfarina deployed the Big Vent look on the Mondial 8, four years before the Testarossa!
Chevrolet stinger hood scoop.
The original Countach’s scoops are definitely a defining feature, but I really like the way the Diablo integrated these far more gracefully into the design.
Also, love the offset intake of the SVO Mustang. It’s just soooo gloriously 80’s.
Good call on the Diablo, I think most see it as just “the 90s one that was derivative of the Countach” and it deserves more credit for refining the shape. I always loved the way the scoops transitioned the (relatively) upright side windows into the impossibly wide and flat rear haunches.
993 GT2 with the intakes built into the ends of the wing.
Both sets of scoops on the 67- 68 Shelby.
Teardrop hoodscoops on Thunderbolts and the like, also very much NACA ducts. I share your fascination with WS6 frontends. Overwrought I think nowadays, but as my introduction to overwroughting, an expletive landmark and well-done one.
Also those front fender vents/extractors/whatever on Superbirds and Daytonas.
Murcielago and the active air intakes that raise up.
YES. One went by me going up the grapevine ages ago and it left an impression.
CLK GTR roof scoop. So much racecar.
We ever going to be able to post photos?
Probably not for a while at least. That would require more moderation.
The Commodore 64 can only handle so much. At least they upgraded from a TRS-80!
And from the Timex Sinclair before that.
I like the thin vent on the front of the 2012 (or same generation) Camaro SS. It’s small but does so much for the design.
I mean, just because I had the posters as a kid, I have to say the obnoxious square intakes on the countach are top of mind.
And, although biased, and also not intakes, rather out-goes, I love a good heat extractor on a hood.
196 Hurst/Olds scoop did much scooping. It was the scoopiest of scoops.
Gimme old fashioned punched steel air slots.
I really like the tiny off-center duct on the Celica GT-Fours hood
The hood scoop on the A12 Dodge Superbee and Plymouth Roadrunner were probably the most epic of the muscle car era. Giant middle finger to sensibility.
Second place is probably Plymouth’s shaker hood.