The idea seems interesting, but why does the application include sketches of an F430?
Ladies and gentlemen, we present you with a conundrum. Picture it: you’re preparing to climb into a vintage Ferrari 308 GTS. It’s your first-ever Ferrari experience, and after watching reruns of Magnum, PI for years you are completely ready to enjoy the drive. The targa roof comes off and you hit the road, only to be mercilessly buffeted by wind swirling in the car. Oh the humanity.
These proposed patents are also interesting:
To answer that terrible dilemma, Ferrari has filed a patent application for what amounts to a series of vents designed to keep your hair in place while zipping down the Autostrada. The idea seems fairly simple – for cars with removable targa tops, vents installed into the rear parcel shelf in the cockpit can shuffle airflow away from the passengers to presumably anywhere Ferrari wants to take it. That way, airflow over the roof won’t be deflected forward to the dismay of hair stylists everywhere, though to be honest, it’s never been much of an issue for us when behind the wheel of an open-roof Ferrari.
It should be noted that Ferrari does specifically align this patent application to targa-top vehicles and not convertibles, where errant wind in the cockpit is easily handled by a deflector behind the seats. Furthermore, the specific design and placement of this vent system can vary depending on numerous factors, not the least of which we assume is the size of the car. The patent application is of course filled with wonderful legal speak to cover all aspects of the idea, but you get this gist of what Ferrari is trying to do here.
What we actually find a bit more interesting is what this could mean for future Ferraris. Cars like the 308 and 328 were targa-top favorites, but the automaker has all but abandoned the design in recent years. The ultra-exclusive 488-based J50 technically fits into that category, but it’s far from being something produced en masse from Maranello. Additionally, the fact that drawing in the application features a 10-year old F430 suggests something could be afoot at Ferrari. Does this mean we’ll be seeing more Prancing Horse targa tops in the future?
We sure hope so.
Source: US Patent and Trademark Office
