Rise & Fall:The Chrysler Jet/Turbine Car -Project Description (1/2) No Radiator, No Carburetor!

This turbine powered car would run on unleaded gasoline, kerosene, JP-4 jet fuel, vegetable oil,. peanut oil, French perfume, brandy and even tequila!! And: No transmission, no radiator, no antifreeze, no carburetor, no pistons, no smog, and only one spark plug. The US Government bailed out Chrysler in 1980, and a condition of the bailout was the termination of the Turbine Car program. Chrysler Turbine Cars were automobiles powered by gas turbine engines that the Chrysler Corporation assembled in a small plant in Detroit, Michigan, USA in 1963, for use in the only consumer test of gas turbine-powered cars. Of the total 55 units built (5 prototypes and 50 "production" cars), most were scrapped at the end of a trial period, with only a handful remaining in museums and private collections. It was the high point of Chrysler's decades-long project to build a practical turbine-powered car. The fourth-generation Chrysler turbine engine ran at up to 44,500 revolutions per minute, according to the owner's manual, and could operate using diesel fuel, unleaded gasoline, kerosene, JP-4 jet fuel, and even vegetable oil. The engine would run on virtually anything with combustible properties and the President of Mexico tested this theory by running one of the first cars—successfully—on tequila. Air/fuel adjustments were required to switch from one fuel type to another and the only evidence of which fuel was used was the odor of the exhaust. The engine had just 1/5th of the moving parts of a traditional piston-based internal combustion engine (60 rather than 300). The turbine spun on a simple sleeve bearings for vibration-free running. Its simplicity offered the potential for long life, and because no combustion contaminants enter engine oil, no oil changes were considered necessary. The 1963 Turbine's engine generated 130 brake horsepower (97 kW) and an instant 425 pound-feet (576 N·m) of torque at stall speed, making it good for 0-60 mph in 12 seconds at an ambient temperature of 85 °F (29 °C)—it would sprint quicker if the air was cooler and denser. The absence of a distributor and points, the solitary start-up spark plug and the lack of liquid coolant eased maintenance, while the exhaust did not contain carbon monoxide, unburned carbon, or raw hydrocarbons. Nevertheless, the turbine generated nitrogen oxides and the challenge of limiting them proved an ongoing problem throughout development. The power turbine was connected, without a torque converter, through a gear reduction unit to an otherwise ordinary TorqueFlite automatic transmission. The flow of the combustion gases between the gas generator and free power turbine provided the same functionality as a torque converter but without using a conventional liquid medium. Twin rotating recuperators transferred exhaust heat to the inlet air, greatly improving fuel economy. Varying stator blades prevented excessive top end speeds, and provided engine braking on deceleration. Throttle lag and exhaust gas temperatures at idle plagued early models; Chrysler was able to remedy or mitigate these. The Turbine Car also featured a fully stainless steel exhaust system, the exits of which were flat in cross section. This was intended to spread the exhaust gases thinly and thus cool them further, in order to allow the vehicle to stand in traffic without risking damage to following traffic. The combustor, or burner, was somewhat primitive by the standards of modern turbojet engines. A single reverse-flow canister featuring a more-or-less standard spark plug for ignition was employed. Had the engine been further developed, annular combustion chambers along with a second power turbine might have improved power and economy even more. The transmission had idle instead of neutral. More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Turbine_Car Discount digital codes for the hottest games http://www.cdkeys.com/?mw_aref=gamediscount

Added 12 Aug 2026