From the Ottawa Citizen - Oct 2 2009 Dick Dean/George Barris "Turbosonic" News Article http://www.ottawacitizen.com/cars/Turbosonic+Turbonique+engine+blew/2057241/story.html The day my Turbosonic's Turbonique engine blew up By David Grainger, Canwest News Service October 2, 2009 <script type="text/javascript"> showTab("text/html"); </script> <script type="text/javascript"> function resizeImage() { var imgBox = document.getElementById('imageBox'); var photo = document.getElementById('storyphoto'); if (imgBox != null && photo != null) { if(photo.width >= 460) { imgBox.className = 'imagesize460'; } else { if(photo.width >= 300) { imgBox.className = 'imagesize310'; } else { imgBox.className = 'imageboxpadding'; } imgBox.style.width = photo.width + 'px'; } } } function getStoryFontSize() { var storyfontsize = getCookie('storyfontsize'); var storyfontimage = getCookie('storyfontimage'); // use cookied value, if present if (storyfontsize != null) { setClass('story_content',storyfontsize); if (storyfontimage != null) { setClass('fontsizecontainer',storyfontimage); } } else // default it to para14 if no cookie { setClass('story_content','para14'); setClass('fontsizecontainer','size02'); } } function setStoryFontSize(storyfontsize,storyfontimage) { setClass('story_content',storyfontsize); setClass('fontsizecontainer',storyfontimage); setCookie('storyfontsize', storyfontsize, '365', '/', '', ''); setCookie('storyfontimage', storyfontimage, '365', '/', '', ''); } function setCookie( name, value, expires, path, domain, secure ) { // set time var today = new Date(); today.setTime( today.getTime() ); if ( expires ) { expires = expires * 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24; //days } var expires_date = new Date( today.getTime() + (expires) ); document.cookie = name + "=" + escape( value ) + ( ( expires ) ? ";expires=" + expires_date.toGMTString() : "" ) + ( ( path ) ? ";path=" + path : "" ) + ( ( domain ) ? ";domain=" + domain : "" ) + ( ( secure ) ? ";secure" : "" ); } function getCookie( check_name ) { // split this cookie up into name/value pairs var a_all_cookies = document.cookie.split( ';' ); var a_temp_cookie = ''; var cookie_name = ''; var cookie_value = ''; var b_cookie_found = false; // set boolean t/f default f for ( i = 0; i < a_all_cookies.length; i++ ) { // split apart each name=value pair a_temp_cookie = a_all_cookies.split( '=' ); // and trim left/right whitespace while we're at it cookie_name = a_temp_cookie[0].replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, ''); // if the extracted name matches passed check_name if ( cookie_name == check_name ) { b_cookie_found = true; // we need to handle case where cookie has no value but exists (no = sign, that is): if ( a_temp_cookie.length > 1 ) { cookie_value = unescape( a_temp_cookie[1].replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '') ); } // note that in cases where cookie is initialized but no value, null is returned return cookie_value; break; } a_temp_cookie = null; cookie_name = ''; } if ( !b_cookie_found ) { return null; } } </script> I noticed a fellow standing in my showroom last week who was awestruck by one particular car on display. As I passed, he turned to me and said, "Oh my God, this is a lost George Barris creation. This is spectacular." Well, I don't know how lost it is -- I've had it since I picked it up in California 15 years ago or so, but point taken. Perhaps I haven't promoted it as much as I could have. The car in question -- really not a car at all -- is called the Turbosonic and it came from a period in California customizing during the 1960s that spawned some truly outrageous and largely unusable customs. In an attempt to jostle other customizers out of the limelight, designers such as Ed Roth, Dean Jeffries, Daryl Starbird, Dick Dean, and, of course, George Barris created ever more radical show cars. Some were really cool and some were downright silly, such as the coach built for the musical group Paul Revere and the Raiders. The coach was drawn by a forward tractor powered by two Pontiac GTO motors. It was driven from the front of the coach in a fashion similar to a horse-drawn coach. The Turbosonic sprang forth from those same crazy times and it was Barris's attempt to draw a crowd by creating a drag car that looked like a jet aircraft. The vehicle was accompanied by all the usual hype and there were claims that it was the recipient of advanced aerodynamic design and was equipped with any number of high-tech innovations. Along with its eccentric styling, it contained a tiny gas turbine engine called a Turbonique, designed and sold by a Florida company. The tiny turbine was advertised for $199 and claimed 1,000 h.p. A few found their way into go-karts and light drag cars. That Turbonique was to be the Turbosonic's undoing when it blew up on the car's first appearance at a drag strip. It seems no one took the time to read the manual and the combustion chamber was not drained of fuel after its first run-up. On second ignition, the fuel pooled in the chamber exploded and the Turbosonic moved no more. I have talked to Barris about it several times and he has always claimed the car did 290 km/h, but I put that down to showmanship on his part. The late Dick Dean, who actually did the build and whose name is still visible on the original paint, told me the car never moved an inch that day and scared them so thoroughly that no one tried it again. The Turbosonic did have a fairly illustrious show career and appeared quite regularly for a while, even gracing Hot Rod magazine's show stand. All the hype aside, my investigation of the Turbosonic revealed some interesting things, but none of them very high-tech. I have always thought it was a great piece of luck that the engine blew up as it probably saved the driver's life. First, the aerodynamic shape would have likely sent the car airborne briefly as there was very little that was aerodynamically sensible about its fake air intakes and rounded bottom surfaces, which would have created enough lift to cause a crash. If that had not occurred and the driver survived his run, slowing down would have been a problem as the motorcycle-style brake caliper was not large enough to stop a heavy vehicle (and it is pretty heavy). The caliper's reservoir rubbed the inside of the wheels so badly they would have been holed in less than a quarter-mile, leaving the speeding vehicle brakeless. Supposedly, the Turbosonic was equipped "with a four-stage solenoid electrical system for safety." I don't even know what that means, but it did not stop the car from blowing up. I did find a couple of silly plastic switches mounted on a little box with nothing inside. That was probably the solenoid system. I have a similar high-tech solar-powered array on the Supervan, another Barris creation under my care. That was supposed to power the vehicle, but it was pretty much a pretend conglomeration of bits with a couple of primitive solar cells glued to it that, even had it worked, could probably not have powered a penlight. So, do any of these truths make the Turbosonic any less cool? No way. It is a product of its day and the hype was nothing extraordinary. Kids and teens ate it up and believed in the customizer's claims devoutly. It was all in good fun and, while few custom cars even came close to living up to their claims, they were in no way diminished. Today, the Turbosonic re-sides with a couple of other eccentric customs in my showroom and I am still torn as to whether to restore it. It seems a shame to strip off the original "30 coats of pearl" (another exaggeration). The one thing I am set on is the search for a Turbonique engine to replace the one that blew up on the drag strip so many years ago. ==========================
Interesting story. Gotta love those '60s show cars! The link doesn't show any pix, can you post some up?
The story says: "Today, the Turbosonic re-sides with a couple of other eccentric customs in my showroom and I am still torn as to whether to restore it." Anyone knows what other cars this guy has? It's strange that they made this story without any photos??
Built in the early 60s, the Turbo-Sonic was designed as the 25th century three-wheel racing car to develop speeds of 300 mph in a quarter mile racing strip powered by a 50 pound fuel burning turbine engine that can reach 1,000 horsepower. This car was engineered in a combination of monacoque and crossframe construction using alloy tube frame plus a lunamite sheet stock also fiberglass fireproof light weight wings. Controls are operated on a four stage solenoid electrical system for safety, with inner-cockpit fuel mixture switches, and can be operated with a remote control unit for testing stages 50 feet away from the automobile. Driver sits in a complete safety fireproof cockpit and encased in a unitized cross tube frame roll bar. Two-way radio will be used to transmit dial readings and car controlling effects between driver and pit crew. Total weight of the car dry is 850 pounds with a wing span of 7 feet 9 inches and a v-shaped length of 17 feet encased in a spear-headed delta v-shaped aero-dynamic design fuselage and streamlined wing tip wheel covered pads. Engine operates through a v-drive gear reduction unit and directly into a reversed ring and pinion rear end which drives each wheel independently turning 92,000 revolutions per minute and reduced 16 to 1 developing 8,000 revolutions per minute at the wheels. For stopping the vehicle, a combination of an offset blown parachute plus four stabilizer wing flaps are used, and for low speed stopping are Airheart spot disc brakes. To finish off this ultra sonic design, the color is 40 coats of transformation in a turbine fire effect flame of pearl and fire frost flakes from a white pearl nose into a translucent yellow into an after-burning orange finishing off into fire red. Designed and built by Barris Kustom City, co-owned by Mr. R. E. Barrett. Engineering and styling contributions are by Mr. Les Tompkins, Mr. Dick Dean and Mr. Tom Daniels. Test driver was Mr. S. P. Torgeson.
I always assumed it was a dummy Barris showcar since I never saw any coverage of it actually running. Pretty cool looking, though.
It was tested on blocks. The wheels spun and the turbo howled. Scared everyone from what i have read, but as reported above... It never made a real run. I have see the pics of the test where it blew up and left parts on the blacktop.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/George-Barr...126?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ad4e64ace Turbo Sonic item on Ebay
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