HOT LAP: The Turbine Cars

Here's the mid-century modern story of the cars with a jet engine... like we were promised in all those magazines and movies.

The Rover JET-1, the GM Firebirds, and the Chrysler Turbine Car were supposed to be the future. But it was a future that didn't happen.

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Show Notes

The gas turbine engine revolutionized aviation. Frank Whittle, the father of Great Britain's jet propulsion development, was working on theory and design in the 1920s. Whittle was at first dismissed by some of his peers as well as the Air Ministry, but was vindicated by the late Thirties... and the Gloster E.28/39 first flew in May 1941.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloster_E.28/39

The Rover Company had worked with Whittle's company, Power Jets Ltd. on their first gas turbine engines. In 1945, Rover began investigating gas turbines for use in automobiles and by 1950 they had an operational experimental open two-seater, the JET1. While it excited the public, JET1 was plagued by extreme exhaust gas temperatures and terrible fuel economy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Jets
https://revivaler.com/rover-gas-turbine-cars/

Chrysler Corporation's George Huebner was an early believer the the potential of the gas turbine and sold the company on a development program. They built several test-bed cars in the 1950s and solved the exhaust heat problem by essentially pumping the heat back into the combustion phase. This also improved fuel economy and by the early Sixties Chrysler was ready to do a small production run of a clean sheet turbine car design. Fifty cars were distributed to the public and driven over a million mile in three years.

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a35205253/1963-chrysler-turbine-car-drive-revisted/

But the cost of mass-producing turbine engines and the coming need to comply with emissions regulations, as well as the company's emerging financial difficulties,  ultimately shelved the idea of the Chrysler Turbine Car.  However, it's a fascinating example of pushing innovation and the optimism of postwar America in the days of the Space Race.



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MUSIC CREDITS:

"Americana" by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3361-americana
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

"Feather Duster" by Shane Ivers
https://www.silvermansound.com

"Rollin At 5" by Kevin MacLeod
https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5000-rollin-at-5
https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

"Opening Move" by Shane Ivers
https://www.silvermansound.com

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