1963 The TurbineCar by Chrysler Amateur Film

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Here is a short history of the Chrysler Turbine Car.
Chrysler's chief engineer of research and development, George Hubner, started the Turbine Cars Project in 1954.
These experimental engines have been mounted on dream cars and on normal bodies, for long term driving tests, and the evolution of the research proceeded constantly for nearly ten years.
In 1963 the Chrysler Corporation built over 50 gas turbine-powered cars. Incredibly, they then lent them (free of charge) to normal citizens to drive for three months each, with comments and feedback encouraged at the end of the period.
So, almost 45 years ago, a number of people in the US were literally driving jet cars around on public roads - taking them to the supermarket, commuting to work, and probably parking them at drive-ins! And these weren't just 'pretend' jet cars, they were the real thing. Engines revving at speeds of up to 48,000 rpm and with exhaust gas temperatures of 2800 degrees Celsius. They were certainly the only cars on the road that had tachos going to 60,000 rpm.
Released to the press in New York on May 14, 1963, the Chrysler Turbine Car used a body produced by Ghia with mechanicals made by Chrysler. Except for the revolutionary driveline, the rest of the car aped typical US contemporary car practice. But that jet-like exhaust note (said by some to have been deliberately left loud) was like no other family car on the block...
The Fed. government allowed the bodies (hand built in Italy by Ghia) into the country on a VISA for five or six years. Chrysler would not pay the duty if they destroyed them before the VISA expired. They could have shipped them back to Italy but as this video taken for the Federals shows,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io9gInXrA1A
most ended up as blast furnace food between 1967 and 1969.
In this rarely seen amateur movie we see one of the lucky American families choosen by Chrysler to test the TurbineCar for the 3 months time period.
Music score (Demo Only) by Linn Productions Media added in 2008 by ROMANO-ARCHIVES.

Editing by ROMANO-ARCHIVES.

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Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Car-Culture
• US-Cars
• Automobile-History
• Chrysler
• Chrysler-TurbineCar