The Turbine Cars

[cr8crshr]

Saw this this morning so I grabbed it. I remember seeing one back in my youth. Fascinating concept...cr8crshr/Tuck

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/meet-a-turbine-car-builder-from-this-1964-photo-1691556209

 

[super-bee_ski]

Tuck,
I saw one in Cranston Rhode Island
Was it 1963?

Anyway, they even started the turbine engine up for the crowd.
I'll NEVER forget it.

 

[dieseldazzle]

66/67 chargers were rumored to have been designed for turbine engines hence the full console

 

[Darius]

This has been said before....Jay Leno brings his running turbine car to Spring Fling usually. He runs it on peanut oil!!!! Sounds way cool!

 

[Richard Cranium]

Not a turbine, but close enough.

 

[69a100]

Oh, RC! Where do you come up with this?

 

[2059]

Always great to revisit the Turbine stories! Thanks for posting!

 

[Budnicks]

I love them turbine cars, 55 concept & experimental, 62 Chrysler Turbine Dart, 63 Chrysler Ghia Fury & 66 Charger
only seen a couple in person & that was years ago
here's a few photos I got off the web a while back

enjoy

 

[69a100]

I like that Dart lookin thing!

 

[cr8crshr]

Tuck,
I saw one in Cranston Rhode Island
Was it 1963?

Anyway, they even started the turbine engine up for the crowd.
I'll NEVER forget it.

Ski...I saw one in '64 in the 4th of July parade when I lived in Columbus Ohio. The did fire it up as I remember and the whine was awesome. Man that was sweet!!! Tuck

- - - Updated - - -

Not a turbine, but close enough.

Hey RC...Can I borrow the Pic??? Tuck

 

[Richard Cranium]

Ski...I saw one in '64 in the 4th of July parade when I lived in Columbus Ohio. The did fire it up as I remember and the whine was awesome. Man that was sweet!!! Tuck

- - - Updated - - -



Hey RC...Can I borrow the Pic??? Tuck

Now that you already have, sure you can.

 

[khryslerkid]

I remember seeing this disheartening footage. The cars were too loud for the public and walking behind one might cause a little discomfort! Dennis on Classic Car show took a ride in one on a show once. Good show on them!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKumqcKuv1g

 

[b-star69]

Man you guys are lucky as hell.love the stories keep it up.

 

[Photon440]

That book mentioned in the article is a great read, chock full of technical aspects of all the turbine cars from the 50s to late 70s, not just the famous one. I got it when it came out five years ago, time to read it again.

The cars were not loud, but rather were whisper quiet. If not for the tachometer the driver often wouldn't know if it was running. And there wasn't any hot exhaust problem, the heat exchanger took care of that.

 

[patrick66]

The reason the cars were destroyed (except three running cars and three complete engine assemblies) was that Chrysler owed duty on the 50 cars, as the bodies were built by Ghia in Italy, then shipped to the US for drivetrain installation. Chrysler decided it would be better for the company to destroy those cars, versus selling them to the general public and the warranty hassles that would've entailed, among other reasons.

These cars were amazingly quiet! I've seen the St. Louis car a couple of times, and one other when they had it out in the open and running. These do NOT sound like a jet fighter in the least!

 

[Photon440]

The saddest part is that before they were destroyed, Chrysler had offered them to museums, but found no takers.

 

[satman72]

Because the museums would have had to pay the tax.

 

[Budnicks]

Not a turbine, but close enough.

I remember that guy from DC .com he was a trouble maker...LOL

 

[Photon440]

Because the museums would have had to pay the tax.

Not according to that book. "The reality was the import duties at that point would have been peanuts."

A Chrysler vice president told Look magazine, 'Our main objective is research, and we did not want turbines turning up on used car lots." They knew that with no spare parts to speak of, eventually people would have problems and Chrysler didn't want to see those cars running around with V-8s shoehorned into them.

One complaint that some people had was that the acceleration was rather leisurely, like you'd get from a 318. 0-60 times of 12 seconds or more were talked about. BUT, with no torque converter to hurt, you could do a righteous brake stand and suddenly you had a car that beat the big block Dodges into the 13 second range.

 

[bee71]

Growing up in Ann Arbor MI one of our neighbors got one on the trial program. I thought it was the coolest car ever.