Covington Tiburon Shark 1961

Covington Tiburon Shark 1961 by Autocult

Shark on Wheels  

At the beginning of the 1960s, Henry Covington, an industrial designer from North Carolina, built himself a light; designed after the principles of fluid dynamics; streamlined car, which was able to reach the same driving performance as the then-common heavy and powerful US cars with a comparatively weak motorization.   In the shaping Covington got his inspiration from the animal world, because the visual shape of his car resembled the body of a shark. Matching to its shape the car was christened “El Tiburon”, Spanish for “The Shark”. However, many times the US press just used the English designation “Shark” within their reporting. With an overall height of only 107 centimeters the car was extremely flat. During the construction of the car this extremely low height required a lot of technical cleverness of its creator. To emphasize this feature the car was often exhibited next to common cars. The chassis of the “Shark” based on numerous parts of a 1950 Renault 4 CV. Also the engine originated in France. Initially the engine also originated from the Renault 4 CV, but due to its relatively weak performance of only 19 hp it was soon replaced by the powerplant of a 1959 Renault Dauphine. The new engine displaced 845 cc and had a performance of 32 hp. According to his own statements, Covington spent 4,000 US$ on the realization of his dreamcar.   Due to the great and positive response, he probably thought about a small series production, but, ultimately, only six cars were completed as Henry Covington died at the age of only 38 in 1962.