Corvette Turbine by Testors

[torinobradley]

I've seen a few turbine cars popping up on the forum lately and it brought to mind a kit I purchased a while back. I found it at a discount store and it was the Testors '80 Corvette kit but this one had what appeared to be a turbine under the hood. Anyone know about the history of this kit and if it is based on a real car? I know Grenatelli tested the turbine for his racing car in a Corvette. I bought it because it was different and for the off chance it was a reissue of that one.

Anybody???

Edited November 23, 2011 by torinobradley

[Joe Handley]

Never seen it, sounds cool though.

[ismaelg]

Hi,

IIRC, Granatelli's car was a '79 Corvette. It was done over a decade after the Indy race car so it was not really a test car, but an "oddity" of a custom car. I've never seen the kit in my hands, but I've seen pictures of the box. It seems to be a very crude representation of a turbine engine. Just a cylinder with a square vent on top. If you do a search on eBay for Testors corvette it may pop one or two. The kit itself is... well, nothing to write home about. It was related to Lindberg and USAirfix.

Thanks!

[torinobradley]

I did some research and found out about Granatelli's Vette. Still think it's funny that "normal" city driving was only done with the brakes.

This kit is pretty simplistic in what it is. I got it because of the unique power plant. Though, aside from the box-top, I have never seen a built one... Would be fun to do a detail job on it, I would think.

Thanks for the replies!

[sjordan2]

A little background on the Turbo Vette.

Experimental Turbo Vette:

http://www.corvettes.nl/gm_prototypes/turbo80/index.html

Granatelli's turbine car:

http://www.corvetteblogger.com/2009/12/9/Corvette-Oddball-Andy-Granatellis-TurbinePowered-C3-Corvette/

[sjordan2]

PS - you can get more info in the April 1980 issue of Road & Track.

http://www.jimsmegam...oducts_id=14195

Complete article here (unlike what is stated in the links I posted above, R&T says the engine is a V8, not a V6). One fuzzy engine shot, plus a look at the interior. You'll note that the kit wheels are different from the turbine-style wheels on the 1:1, and the 1:1 has functional hood louvers. Plus, the 1:1 has body color T-top panels, not black or tinted glass:

http://www.ebay.com/...6922256&vxp=mtr

Edited November 28, 2011 by sjordan2

[Chuck Most]

I bought the kit a few years back and wasn't too impressed with it- the turbine engine in particular is pretty crude. If you could get one for cheap it might be worth it, but I guess it's just not my thing.

[torinobradley]

I did get it for cheap. It was at a Big Lots and if I remember correctly, I only paid about $5. this was also several years ago. They had several but this one was the only one I picked up and did so because of the turbine. Maybe someday it will cross the bench and get a few details. I was just curious to know if it was based on a real car or custom or just a figment in styrene.

Thanks for the responses guys. I had never seen anything about a turbo V6 vette. Interesting.

[ismaelg]

Just to be clear, do not confuse a turbocharged engine with a turbine engine. Those are two completely different things. A turbine engine is a gas turbine that drives the shaft i.e. a helicopter or an air compressor (jet) A turbocharger feeds compressed air to a regular reciprocating engine.

Automotive turbocharging has been around for decades, while turbine engines have never been more than experiments.

The only "production" turbine engine powered land vehicle that I know of is the Y2K motorcycle, powered by a Rolls Royce helicopter turbine.

Thanks,

[Aaronw]

American LaFrance built 2 fire engines and a ladder truck powered by a Boeing gas turbine in 1960-62. Only 3 built so not sure I'd call them production or not, but they were in regular service in San Francisco, CA, Seattle, WA and Mt Vernon, VA. Not a success though, all had the turbines replaced with gas engines after a few years of use.

ALF tried again in 1972, this time using a Detroit Diesel Allison gas turbine. After an extensive publicity tour it was converted to diesel power and sold since there were no buyers interested in a turbine.

There were some attempts at marketing gas turbines in semis too, but I'm not as familiar with those and don't know if they got past the show and tell phase or not.

[Joe Handley]

I think Ford had a few in service with their company owned fleet of rigs, in fact, there was a video on YouTube about it too! IIRC Chrysler did build some to with their early turbine prototypes that were prior go the Ghia cars. Not sure if it would be on Allpar, but there was an article in Mopar Action where a heavy truck was mentioned and was one of the early prototypes too.

Edited November 29, 2011 by Joe Handley