Chrysler Turbine Car

[MechAg94]

Chrysler Turbine Car Fire Up and Drive!
https://youtu.be/BYV5igR00bQ

Watch as the Chrysler Turbine Car fires up and drives. This car was in the news recently - acquired by Stahls Automotive Collection in Michigan. This is one of nine surviving Turbine Cars and one of five that actually runs.

Sounds pretty cool.  They do not make them like they used to. 

[charby]

They do not make them like they used to.

With that car, there probably is a reason why it never went to real production.

[RocketMan]

With that car, there probably is a reason why it never went to real production.

The real reason it didn't go into production was the turbine engines alone would have cost $10,000 a pop.  That was in 1965.

[charby]

The real reason it didn't go into production was the turbine engines alone would have cost $10,000 a pop.  That was in 1965.

And turbine engines are designed to operate at a constant load, not a variable load how our vehicles are operated.

[RocketMan]

And turbine engines are designed to operate at a constant load, not a variable load how our vehicles are operated.

In the case of these cars, the turbines performed quite well.  Fifty or so of the cars were released to the public on a random drawing basis, the cars being loaned to the drivers for a two month period.  The cars had a seventh generation engine and performed very well while they were in the field.

Lehto has another video on the subject that covers it quite well.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuGvx3WYg1k

As a side note, my father was working for Chrysler at this time as a district manager in the Pacific Northwest.  He was well aware of this particular version of the turbine car program, being quite enthusiastic about it.  I remember one of the loaner cars driving through our neighborhood when I was in the fifth grade.  Pretty cool stuff at the time for a kid my age.