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Chrysler Turbine Car pics thread

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Evilfalcon1961, May 2, 2008.

  1. Evilfalcon1961
    Joined: Dec 22, 2007
    Posts: 434

    Evilfalcon1961
    Member
    from Ma

    found some on google but does anyone have others

    thanks Brett

    [​IMG]
     
  2. chryslerfan55 likes this.
  3. 4ever4
    Joined: Nov 8, 2007
    Posts: 11

    4ever4
    Member
    from Texas

    I don't have any digital pictures but I do have quite a few regular photos of Frank Kleptz's car from Terre Haute. His car is the only operable Chrysler turbine car in existance that is in private hands. There is a very wild history on how Frank happened to be in the right place at the right time on two seperate occasions and was able to buy the car (with a decommisioned engine) and a 2nd time when an display engine was available. His car and display engine came from Harrah's when the IRS came in and ordered everything auctioned. The deal Chrylser had was that only 501C3 museums or foundations could ever own these. Needless to say, the IRS had more authority over what was to be auctioned than Chrylser did.

    Frankie had the Chrysler turbine running and on display at Hershey a few years ago. All original, never restored, and it is a super neat car.
     
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  4. I've got the brochure at home, I can scan a few pages...
     

  5. Evilfalcon1961
    Joined: Dec 22, 2007
    Posts: 434

    Evilfalcon1961
    Member
    from Ma

  6. Swifster
    Joined: Dec 16, 2006
    Posts: 1,455

    Swifster
    Member

    There is no way I could watch that. I'd cry too. As a lover of all things Mopar, I'd kill for one of those with a running engine.
     
  7. WQ59B
    Joined: Dec 14, 2005
    Posts: 2,618

    WQ59B
    Member

  8. I just realized that I've taken pictures of four of the reamining nine Turbine cars in museums. I just saw one last week!

    St. Louis:
    [​IMG]

    Chrysler Museum (Detroit):
    [​IMG]

    Ford Museum (Detroit):
    [​IMG]

    Petersen Museum (Los Angeles):
    [​IMG]

    No biggie--I just thought it was kind of neat. :rolleyes:
     
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  9. philo426
    Joined: Sep 20, 2007
    Posts: 2,097

    philo426
    Member

  10. 1954 rocket 98
    Joined: Apr 18, 2011
    Posts: 225

    1954 rocket 98
    Member

    here is a few pics from a show it was at in my neck of the woods. really cool car. sounds like a vacuum cleaner running when he was driving it around the show field.
     

    Attached Files:

    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  11. barney rubble
    Joined: Sep 3, 2008
    Posts: 340

    barney rubble
    Member


    Thats probably the same one we seen at the Mopar Nationals in Columbus Oh in the late 90's. Sure does sound wierd running.
     
  12. flatcrazy
    Joined: Apr 12, 2007
    Posts: 80

    flatcrazy
    Member

    I came home from school one day and found one of these parked in the driveway. An old Navy buddy of my Dad's was test driving the car around the country. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
     
  13. I tryed to get the DR. in So. Pasadena Ca that was one of the lucky test drivers of one, to race my Triumph Bonnville in 1959 but he use the "I have a Gold Fish bowl on the passenger seat" line. we both laughed .
     
  14. When is was going to school, Cat gave the Mechanical Engineering Department a gas turbine. Yes, it was painted yellow. The whole assembly was smaller than a 350 Chevy.
    It was about 2'x1.5'x1.5'. It developed 300hp with one rotating shaft. The turbine actually developed 900 hp but the compressor and accessories used 600hp. I thought it was pretty cool.
    I visited the ME department a few years ago and found it over in a corner kind of covered up with junk. Some of the students did not know what it was.
     
  15. 40FordGuy
    Joined: Mar 24, 2008
    Posts: 2,907

    40FordGuy
    Member

    I saw 2 of those,...One in Buffalo NY, in 1964, and the other in Sumter So. Carolina, in 1965. The "owner" was telling us they had a green light on the dash, to indicate the engine was running, because it was so quiet. When he started it to leave, you really had to listen, to hear it. I recall Popular Science magazines of the 50's having a lot of automotive coverage,...printing items about Chrysler experimenting with turbine cars as early as 1954; They put those powerplants in Plymouth 4 door sedans, and road tested them on the streets. Anyone know just when Chrysler began the turbine experiments ?
    Those turbine coupes were beautiful !!!

    4TTRUK
     
    Last edited: Apr 21, 2012
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  16. 40FordGuy
    Joined: Mar 24, 2008
    Posts: 2,907

    40FordGuy
    Member

    Anyone know why they dropped the program ?

    4TTRUK
     
  17. VespaJay
    Joined: Jul 27, 2001
    Posts: 346

    VespaJay
    Member


    Basically, the engine components were very expensive and time consuming to manufacture. They couldn't mass produce the engines in enough quantities or fast enough to make production feasible or profitable. It was cheaper to just keep building internal combustion engines.

    There's a very good book about the whole program that tells the entire story from start to finish, well worth reading:

    http://www.amazon.com/Chryslers-Tur...5499/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335028159&sr=8-1

    [​IMG]
     
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  18. mart3406
    Joined: May 31, 2009
    Posts: 3,055

    mart3406
    Member
    from Canada

    Fuel mileage and cost and no
    appreciable performance advantage
    over conventional piston-engined
    cars of the day. Essentially the
    same reasons we're not driving
    turbine-powered cars today.

    Mart3406
    ==========
     
  19. The37Kid
    Joined: Apr 30, 2004
    Posts: 30,627

    The37Kid
    Member

    Saw one at the New York Auto Show when it was new, still have a brochure around somewere. Bob
     
  20. They tried gas turbines in locomotives for a while. Union Pacific had a bunch of them. They parked a running one under a bridge and it melted all of a asphalt on the bridge and the locomotive was covered with melted asphalt. I saw the picture in a model RR magazine. Gas turbine are not fuel efficient. Power companies use them for generating electricity but usually they run the exhaust to a heat recovery unit and generate steam which then turns a steam turbine. This is called a combined cycle unit and it is pretty efficient way of generating electricity.
     
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  21. mart3406
    Joined: May 31, 2009
    Posts: 3,055

    mart3406
    Member
    from Canada

    A painful and sick video to watch.
    Because the bodies were made by
    Ghia in Italy and Chrysler had
    imported them on a temporary U.S.
    Customs bond, when the cars finished
    their U.S. show and test-drive tours,
    Chrysler would have had to either pay
    a Customs duty of about 60,00 dollars
    each, based on the appraised Customs
    value of the cars, or, ship them back to
    Italy, or destroy them. Except for a
    handful that Chrysler paid the duty
    on and saved for historical purposes,
    Chrysler chose to crush most of them
    - which they then filmed to show U.S.
    Customs and prove compliance.

    Mart3406
    -----------------------
    YouTube Video - "Chrysler Turbine
    Cars Being Destroyed
    "
    http://youtu.be/WKumqcKuv1g

    Original Chrysler film footage of
    the Turbine Cars being destroyed
    after testing.

    http://youtu.be/WKumqcKuv1g
    <iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WKumqcKuv1g" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="720" width="960"></iframe>
    ====================
     
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  22. When I was a kid I always thought it looked like Chrysler started the project with a Thunderbird...Now as an old guy I still think it!!
     
  23. mart3406
    Joined: May 31, 2009
    Posts: 3,055

    mart3406
    Member
    from Canada

    ---------------
    'Back in the day' (Aug. 1964?) I
    saw one on display as part of the
    Chrysler exhibit in the Automotive
    Building at the Canadian National
    Exhibition in Toronto. I remember
    as kid, besides the exotic styling
    and the turbine engine, being
    particularly enamored with the
    'glass-smooth' and 'mile-deep'
    candy-metalic orange paint job.

    Mart3406
    ==========
     
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  24. mart3406
    Joined: May 31, 2009
    Posts: 3,055

    mart3406
    Member
    from Canada

    The resemblance to a '61 through '63
    T-bird was more than just coincidental.
    I don't remember the designer's name
    off hand, but the stylist Chrysler used
    to design the body for the Turbine cars
    had previously worked at Ford where
    he had designed - or helped to design
    - the '61 Thunderbird.

    Mart3406
    ==========
     
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  25. Jagman
    Joined: Mar 25, 2010
    Posts: 345

    Jagman
    Member

    Doesn't Leno have one too? seems I remember a vid of him driving his...

    They completey captured my imagination back then too - I loved this car!
     
  26. noboD
    Joined: Jan 29, 2004
    Posts: 8,456

    noboD
    Member

    I saw and touched it. It was when the showfield was on the west side of the stadium. I still have an unbuilt 1/25 model.
     
  27. mammyjammer
    Joined: May 23, 2009
    Posts: 512

    mammyjammer
    Member
    from Area 51

    IRS did not auction Harrah's collection.Bill Harrah sold his hotels and the collection to Holiday Inns. They auctioned the cars.
     
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  28. dmikulec
    Joined: Nov 8, 2009
    Posts: 590

    dmikulec
    Member

    Yes, he owns one of the two that are in private hands, according to Leno's video.
     
  29. Deuces
    Joined: Nov 3, 2009
    Posts: 23,752

    Deuces

    Go to bangshift.com and watch "the bitter end" video....:(:mad::(
     
  30. Deuces
    Joined: Nov 3, 2009
    Posts: 23,752

    Deuces

    Bump....^^^^^
     

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