Horn grill function ?

[joetiii]

I'm curious where the horn grill came from?

What function does it provide? or is it strictly ornamental?

[911T1971]

Initial design, I think, among other things, for tunnel air to cool the wheel area.

[joetiii]

Last time I opened up the grill, I don't remeber seeing a passage to the brake area. I must be blind.

[Bobboloo]

Maybe it has something to do with the horns.

tongue placed firmly in cheek

[Zeke]

Last time I opened up the grill, I don't remeber seeing a passage to the brake area. I must be blind.

Well, not directly. I have a belief that some things are strictly a design element with no real explanation. How would the car look to you with that much more front lense? :morerolleyes:

[Milou]

So a bit for the brakes, the horn, the lights, and a lot for the Butzi's genius!

[911T1971]

So a bit for the brakes, the horn, the lights, and a lot for the Butzi's genius!

There is no doubt about formal elements of the 911 design continue to interprete early design solutions developed by Erwin Kommenda on his Porsche 356 and also the VW Beetle.

Early prototype models up to T6 by Kommenda opted for other front end solutions while Butzis T7/T8 2+2 prototype did feature again horn grills and kept so a "trademark" Porsche design detail developed about 15 years before him.

I'm aware that there is no direct space to cool the brakes, so air is just tunneled down to the wheel area. Kommenda was responsable for developing the inner metal structure of the 911 chassis, and this was maybe too a construction solution about monochoque design/tooling who would lead into an "tunnel" area around the front end and its bumpers, so it could be the result of several functional design demands and would not be there only for pure formal reasons.

Butzi, who was a graduate designer of the famous 50ies design university in Ulm, Germany, was probably interested that details had first a functional meaning, ever a minor one, and so for had a "right" to stay on a car.

Ulm university, his school, was instrumental in developing after WWII the milestone german design philosophy "die gute Form" ("the good form") which was based on strictly functional solutions for technical problems and, by applying that developing approach, would then lead into "perfect" form solutions trough function, as seen on period Braun and Siemens design objects too.
(Ideas actually first developed in the 20ies at the famous Bauhaus school by german architect Behrens and Mies van der Rohe, who later went to the US, who has promoted: "form follows function")

At that time in german design, there was probably no excuse for using ornamental reasons only (called styling) at a car's design and Butzi always stressed his idea about a strictly functional form approach in his initial design for the 901/911, 904 as on all his later design objects too.

Interesting too, Ferdinand Piech, his cousin, was first taught as an engineer at the ETH Zürich, Switzerland, one of the leading engineer school in Europe at that time and he did apply similar engineering philosophies when developing the initial 2.0l motor (together with H.Metzger) and the following race car program at Porsche.
Both Butzi and Piech came from a very similar theroretical design approach: one from form/aesthetics, the other from an engineers point of vue.

[Milou]

911T1971, what are you doing here!!! Writing a PHD on the subject?

[911T1971]

911T1971, what are you doing here!!! Writing a PHD on the subject?

sorry, about my extensive answer above but design is just a regular topic for me since I work in this field.

[joetiii]

Whether functional or not, the chrome grills were one of the main reasons I opted for a pre 73. I believe I will make mine functional by using them as a mounting spot for some chrome driving lights.