Cole

Kinda slow to catch on aren't they?

17prospective buyer

Yeah, i love when people are talking about the active grill shutters on the newer ****us and this new Chevy, and i brag saying "well my 87' has these too" even though they are problematic and most 928 owners take the pushrod actuator out to disable them.

hacker-pschorr

How long before the recall notice removing them after the first engine blows up in Arizona in July when these jam shut?

James Bailey

Perhaps like the old concealed headlights...the louvers fail to the open position !

hb253

I'm pretty sure that like most things, this is ancient technology. I'd bet movable grille louvers on cars were invented is the 20's or 30's.

Hugo

the flyin' scotsman

Not sure when the louvers grills were first installed on cars but I was surprised to view Rools royce engines used in WWII spitfires........DOHC V12s

Merecedes had something similar...........were talking 1930s.

hb253

Exactly. All that is old is new again. People aren't any smarter today than they were 50,000 years ago. The engineers and designers of the early 20th century were very intelligent and creative. So much so that much of the technology we see in modern cars is an evolution and/or refinement of older ideas.

A quick search found this:
http://content.lib.washington.edu/cd...ert&CISOPTR=93

Hugo

James Bailey

Many of the early autos had no thermostats so if you wanted the engine to warm up you blocked the airflow to the radiator, that way the heater would function...the 1917 automatic louvers meant you could stay warm inside the car and not get out to unblock the radiator in freezing temperatures if the engine started getting too warm and much quicker warm up

Jim Devine

The concept has been around a long time-
Pines Winterfront grilles were an aftermarket item for 30's Fords. Manual operation. Worth a lot now.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=709460

Schocki

BMW re-invented them too in their "Efficient Design" package. Yeah right BMW

Cole

I just find humor in marketing the idea like you're the first company to think of the idea.

Toyota did this type of marketing with the solar sunroof on the Prius. When in reality it had been on at least Audis for 12-15 years already and probably others.

brealytrent

TIL Porsche 928's starting in 1987 had active radiator shutters.

While I knew this tech was far from new, I didn't know they put those on our cars!

danglerb

Don't aircooled motors have all sorts of active/passive shuttering?

hb253

My 79 911 does not, but i understand the 914 has a bellows-controlled system.

Hugo