Of course Jay Leno has one! (Turbine Chrysler)

[p1l0t]

via Road and Track

In 1963, Chrysler built a fleet of Turbine Cars and lent them to the public as part of a huge publicity stunt. The cars were amazing and, for a couple of years, seemingly everywhere. The cars were driven by average Americans across the country and the program logged over a million miles.

The press loved the story and often featured the cars and their "test" drivers in newspaper and magazine articles. And then, Chrysler rounded the cars up and destroyed most of them.

It's a sad ending to a story that began with such promise. But nine of the cars remain. I wrote a book about the program and have made it a point to see as many of the survivors as I can. Jay Leno let me drive his (he has one of the two that are in private hands) and recently, I got to drive one of the two Chrysler kept when the program ended.

Mark Lieberman of Nostalgic Motoring and I met with Brandt Rosenbusch who oversees the archives at FCA. Brandt was kind enough to bring the car outside for us and let us climb all over it for this video. And, he let us drive it.

Anything you would ever want to know about the Chrysler Turbine car is contained here.

I mean when it comes to airplanes I certainly enjoy flying turbine engines way over pistons!



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[bfrank1972]

Amazing cars, and as a bonus they remind me of Fallout 4

[wbradley]

How's the throttle tip-in?

[p1l0t]

Originally Posted by wbradley

How's the throttle tip-in?

Little laggy maybe... (in the turboprops I fly we have a "flight idle" option that takes care of that though...)

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[p1l0t]

Originally Posted by bfrank1972

Amazing cars, and as a bonus they remind me of Fallout 4

Actually that would be even better!

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[wbradley]

Originally Posted by p1l0t

Little laggy maybe... (in the turboprops I fly we have a "flight idle" option that takes care of that though...)

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I am *guessing* that means the engine runs at a mostly constant speed and there is a power turbine that can be engaged/disengaged to transfer power to the props with minimal delay....?

Kinda stuff I dreamed of as a young lad building models and stuff.

[Leonardo]

Of course Jay Leno has one! (Insert name of cool or rare car here)

[p1l0t]

Originally Posted by wbradley

I am *guessing* that means the engine runs at a mostly constant speed and there is a power turbine that can be engaged/disengaged to transfer power to the props with minimal delay....?

Kinda stuff I dreamed of as a young lad building models and stuff.

Yeah exactly. When the condition lever is in 'flight idle' as oppsed to 'ground idle' the engine is running at like more than 70 NG which means more than 70% of it's rpm range. So the engine is still spinning at like 26,000rpms. The props have a reduction gear box so they always spin at 1701 rpms. Long story short is even with the PCL (Power Control Lever fancy name for throttle) full aft (excluding beta/reverse) you are way past the laggy part of the spool up. It would be like having a turbocharged car and setting the idle to be at 2600rpms so you are always in the boost even at a stop light. We don't have the option of wait for the engine to spool up in case we have to go-around or something.

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[wbradley]

Originally Posted by p1l0t

Yeah exactly. When the condition lever is in 'flight idle' as oppsed to 'ground idle' the engine is running at like more than 70 NG which means more than 70% of it's rpm range. So the engine is still spinning at like 26,000rpms. The props have a reduction gear box so they always spin at 1701 rpms. Long story short is even with the PCL (Power Control Lever fancy name for throttle) full aft (excluding beta/reverse) you are way past the laggy part of the spool up. It would be like having a turbocharged car and setting the idle to be at 2600rpms so you are always in the boost even at a stop light. We don't have the option of wait for the engine to spool up in case we have to go-around or something.

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So what you're saying is that your aircraft and this 1965 Chrysler share similar engine tech? Except the Chrysler ducted some pre-heated exhaust gas to the intake. Joking really, especially the part regarding the single almost conventional spark plug ignition (Whittle jet engine tech?).

Thanks for the cool turbine story Sir!

[bfrank1972]

Originally Posted by Leonardo

Of course Jay Leno has one! (Insert name of cool or rare car here)

Love Jay Leno's garage and his incredible collection. Only annoying thing to me is how completely nonplussed he looks when driving. He could be flooring a 900hp monster without even cracking a grin!

[p1l0t]

Originally Posted by wbradley

So what you're saying is that your aircraft and this 1965 Chrysler share similar engine tech? Except the Chrysler ducted some pre-heated exhaust gas to the intake. Joking really, especially the part regarding the single almost conventional spark plug ignition (Whittle jet engine tech?).

Thanks for the cool turbine story Sir!

Yeah I mean a turbine is a turbine the Nazis were making them in the 40s. I'm sure the reliability is a bit better today though.

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[p1l0t]

Originally Posted by bfrank1972

Love Jay Leno's garage and his incredible collection. Only annoying thing to me is how completely nonplussed he looks when driving. He could be flooring a 900hp monster without even cracking a grin!

Did you ever see the video of the wreck he was in? He wasn't actually driving but he was riding with a 80yr old guy in like an old wheelie capable Chrylser called

and they roll like 5 times. He comes out cracking jokes too.

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[bfrank1972]

Originally Posted by p1l0t

Did you ever see the video of the wreck he was in? He wasn't actually driving but he was riding with a 80yr old guy in like an old wheelie capable Chrylser called

and they roll like 5 times. He comes out cracking jokes too.

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Holy crap!

I have to say though, with the exception of the quick smile at the beginning of the run, and some puckered lips/flailing arms during the roll, he looked 'relatively' nonplussed! lol Most people would have been bugging out. Man must have nads of iron.