Yep, it sure does. For single plane intakes only I imagine. I've seen these "Boattails" used in header collectors too. The concept is to rid the gas coulmn of the vacuum that forms behind a square, flat area. Think of a truck (Like my Ramcharger) doing 75 down the highway. A vacuum forms behind the truck and tries not only to pull the truck back (Aerodynamic Drag) but tries to suck exhaust gases in. This is really apparent when driving in a rain storm and all the water gets sucked back on to the rear window. The boattail is an attempt to merge the air flow from around the flat area under the carb or in a header collector and reduce drag. If you look at the HVH, it has the wedge shape under all the flats under the carb. BTW, I really need to get my tailgate and rear hatch weather strip back on, lol. The fumes are killing me.
Just an observation and food for thought.
Edit: I wonder how fast in MPH (velocity) that the air/fuel mixture in an intake manifold or exhaust gases in a header at high rpm are running? I would imagine it would be pretty darn fast.
