MG Brown Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 (edited) It was nice to see one of the surviving Chrysler Turbine Cars at this show over the weekend... Edited June 18, 2013 by MG Brown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High octane Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Yes, it's a beautiful car as I've seen it at the Chrysler Museum back in '02. I just picked up some of that bronze color paint last week as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 An all-time classic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrObsessive Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Still a gorgeous design after 50 years!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blazefox Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Is it turbine powered I mean is it just a show car with a small v8 or is there really a gas turbine in the engine compartment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Handley Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 Is it turbine powered I mean is it just a show car with a small v8 or is there really a gas turbine in the engine compartment Those actually had a gas turbine engine designed for automotive use and they did something similar with those like GM did With the EV-1 by putting them in customer's hands for real world testing. Sadly, they went the same way of the EV-1 and most were crushed, then of the surviving few, most were disabled so they were no longer actually driveable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Nasty Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 Actually there were only 50 of these made. The bodies were designed & built by Ghia in Italy. I had the opportunity to get a ride in one of these when I was a kid. My grandfather was CFO (they called them head bookkeepers at the time) of a Chrysler dealership in Milwaukee that was chosen by the factory to loan it out to people for evaluation. Being a little car nut, my Gramps surprised me one Saturday morning by pulling in the driveway in this beautiful copper machine from the future. I was the envy of the neighborhood. I remember the strange whooshing sound it made when you accelerated. It was quite a thrill. Unfortunately, the company deliberately destroyed all but a few of them because of some strange import tax thing they had going on. To my knowledge, there are only 2 in existence that still run. One is at the Chrysler museum in Michigan & the other is owned by Jay Leno. I just thought I would throw in a little info about this amazing car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Handley Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 IIRC, that import tax thing was that Chrysler had a certain length if time before they had to pay the import taxes on those bodies since they were made out of country or destroy them before that date. I honestly don't know why they didn't have to pay those taxes up front, the turbine project was partially funded by the Department of Energy pretty much from the time it started after the end of WW2 until they went bankrupt in the late 70's or right before that. I don't know what ended up happening with that tech, but they also had ties to the development of the Abrams Tank, so I've been wondering if their turbine design found it's way into that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 (edited) ........... I don't know what ended up happening with that tech, but they also had ties to the development of the Abrams Tank, so I've been wondering if their turbine design found it's way into that. The 130hp engines in the run of consumer-test Chrysler turbine cars were relatively primitive, somewhat underpowered and extremely fuel thirsty. The technology has been superseded by a wide margin, and today's turbines suitable for surface vehicles are far far more powerful for their weight, and vastly more efficient. A lot of the improvements have to do with advances in ceramic materials for turbine blades, and a much more complete understanding of the combustion dynamics and heat flow in turbines. The biggest problem with turbine engines in cars is that by nature, turbines are much more efficient operating at a constant speed, as in aircraft, and not at all happy when called upon to accelerate / decelerate as road-vehicles have to do. That is why the most successful road-going turbine installations promise to be hybrids, allowing a small multi-fuel turbine to run at a steady speed to constantly recharge a small battery pack (as in the Jaguar CX-75) One thing the 1500hp Abrams tank engine has in common with the unit in the test cars is very high fuel consumption for the amount of power it produces. In 2006, an upgrade program was started to lengthen the interval between overhauls on the Abrams engines. A diesel retrofit program has been briefly considered, but dropped as the obstacles outweigh the advantages. Edited June 20, 2013 by Ace-Garageguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtx6970 Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 (edited) To this day one of my personal all time favorite cars , by any maker. I have a couple of the kits unbuilt, an original dealer promotional and a Turbine car AM radio I had one come up behind me at the Mopar Nats a few years back. And until it was right up on you, you really couldn't hear it run. But once it was close it sounds like a hair dryer on steriods . I'm going off of memory but I think there were 10 saved and sent to various museums around the country. The rest were sent thru the crusher . Best I remember there are only 3 or 4 that run today http://www.turbinecar.com/ is a pretty neat site to look around for info if you want to learn more. Edited June 20, 2013 by gtx6970 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToyLvr Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 For the *REAL* story of the Turbine car, see the recent book "Chrysler's Turbine Car: The Rise and Fall of Detroit's Coolest Creation" by Steve Lehto (with foreword by Jay Leno). The book not only gives the behind-the-scenes story of Chrysler's turbine car, but gives a good explanation of turbine engine technology in general. The book also helps dispell some myths about the Chrysler car, including the reason for the destruction of the majority of the test cars. I, too, think it was one of the most beautiful cars ever built. While I understand that the turbine engine wasn't practical for mass production back in the day (read "no profit"), and thus it's ultimate demise, I always though it would have been neat if Chrysler had retained and used that beautiful body design and stuffed a Hemi in it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dominik Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Since i built a Turbine car and read all what i can find, i love this car. A very, very intersting story. The design is just spectacular with a lot of detailwork. man, it is awesome. If i should have the chance, to see a real one,...i think, it is hard to leave it then...i wished, i was born those days, till the ran for tests. For the *REAL* story of the Turbine car, see the recent book "Chrysler's Turbine Car: The Rise and Fall of Detroit's Coolest Creation" by Steve Lehto (with foreword by Jay Leno). The book not only gives the behind-the-scenes story of Chrysler's turbine car, but gives a good explanation of turbine engine technology in general. The book also helps dispell some myths about the Chrysler car, including the reason for the destruction of the majority of the test cars. I, too, think it was one of the most beautiful cars ever built. While I understand that the turbine engine wasn't practical for mass production back in the day (read "no profit"), and thus it's ultimate demise, I always though it would have been neat if Chrysler had retained and used that beautiful body design and stuffed a Hemi in it.... this book, i am just reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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