or were they meant more for looks? I always thought the the challenger T/A abd Cuda rear spoilers were more function than looks...

They are adjustable, so the can generate down force.

That being said, aero is so inherently bad on the cars of the era, any down force they might generate is negligible.

Furthermore, with the front end lift these cars have, the last thing you probably would want is more down force at the rear.

Just an FYI , 70 only for the Go wing , 71 only for the Gull wing .


They were more for looks over function.

I have a generic "Go Wing" on my 'Cuda, mostly because I like the looks. IMO the rear looks a little incomplete without either a wing or a spoiler. As for function, the shape is correct [ flat on top, curved on the bottom ] and it is adjustable for rake. On the other hand it isn't very wide and it also sits rather close to the deck lid. Higher in the airstream would probably be better. The best I can say is that I don't think it creates much turbulance. I noticed that when driving in the rain the water droplets run straight back, no swirls or eddys. As noted previously the overall areo drag is pretty bad.

Of COURSE they were functional!!! They LOOK great!

how about the challenger and cuda ductails? were they functional or more for looks? The look similar to what the nascars use..

I have ran my 74 challenger at bonneville in Utah with all 3 configurations.

I think only by seat of the pants that the TA spoiler provides more downforce than the gullwing and definetly more than no rear wing at all.
That said I like the 71 gull wing for looks the most.

I had a extra deck lid years ago so got the TA spoiler for it just to mix up the look of the car(74). I didn't drill my original 74 hood either.

Then bought the gull wing for my 71 but could never bring myself to drill my perfect 71 deck lid with cutouts for both spoilers, just couldn't drill the holes.

So I got a repo hood and drilled holes in it stuck it on my 74 a few years ago.

At the same time I bolted on the front spoilers on my 74. I have had the car to 120 mph for like 4-5 miles at time and there was minumun front end lift that I noticed, on the salt and the pavement.
Salt on the car in Wendover Nv at the Rainbow casino. I drive the local roads and on the salt at bonneville while my wife gambles in the casino. I gamble some and she wins us dinner at the buffays. Sound like fun?




Some of the salt was washed off before I left bonneville, just so the car didn't look so bad on the road.

This configuration has been tested at high altitudes, like at the top of Pikes Peak 14110' high!! drove it to the top twice!! Try it some time.

What happens with rear "ducktail" spoilers (AAR, T/A, etc) is they move air pressure forward against the back glass & trunklid. The air hitting the spoiler backs up, so to speak. There's a trade-off size between lower drag (smoother airflow off the car) & actual downforce (air pressure against glass & lid).
TransAm racecars usually ran whatever factory rear spoiler they could get homologated, but as noted ran large ft spoilers, which were barely/not regulated. By '67-'68, many ran tunnels for the exhaust to get the cars lower, and most cars ran a few degrees nose-down.
Venting the air from underhood was shown decades ago to reduce front lift, as was limiting the amount of air getting through the front openings; 1/6 the area of the radiator was one figure I remember. Venting the hood wasn't done to a meaningful extent on production cars, mostly likely due to control of rain water. I've found an improvement in MPG & underhood temps even on street vehicles when I've vented the hood.

Some great info here guys! thanks for posting the article Steve.
Which had the bigger rear spoiler - the cuda or challenger? were they the same height?(I had never owned a ebody)
The Amx rear spoilers look double the size of either one - I wonder how their rear spoiler stacked up...

You guys ever look in the rear veiw mirror at speed? The 71 wing looks like a guitar string back there. It's doing something back there but I bet it has nothing to do with downforce, maybe it's playing a tune?