7 Wedge Car Definitions A simple, dictionary, definition of a wedge is a shape that is thick at one end and pointed at the other. Expanding the notion to automotive design, consensus starts to consolidate around cars that, are sharp at the front and thick at the rear. Moreover, the median vector line that defines the car design as a complete entity, needs to be lower at the front than the rear. Technically and biomorphically, from nose to tail of a vehicle, the “ascending median line” must be obvious to the human viewing the car. On the facing page are four cars that start to test the vector line definition of a wedge car. • First, the 1965 NSU Autonova GT has wedge elements and a case can be made that the car has meets the technical criteria of an ascending median vector line. • Second, the 1970 Ferrari 512S Modulo has strong wedge elements, but the domed center deters designers from concurring that the Modulo is a pure wedge car • Third, Gandini’s 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo is a car that meets design consensus as a wedge car, and for many the has served as an icon of the era wedge car design • The 1966 Cannara, both technically and visually, meets the technical definition of a wedge car, but also like the Carabo, is obvious to the lay public as a wedge-shaped car In writing our review, we believe that the cars that strongly embody a complete wedge car, versus a car with wedge elements, have to have aligned agreement between technical design criteria and the lay publics human eye. That means that to understand what a wedge car is—technical criteria alone would not suffice. A wedge car has to “look” and “feel” like a wedge car for the public to accept it as a wedge car.
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