Very Rare Opportunity: 1963 Chrysler Turbine Car
In 1963, we had just barely begun to orbit the earth, and landing on the moon was still a dream several years off in the distance. Still, most people, and companies, were looking towards the future and wondering what it might be like. A car like this rarely-if-ever-for-sale 1963 Chrysler Turbine Car was one company’s vision, albeit a short-lived one and one with a somewhat bitter end. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity can be found listed here on Hemmings or here on Hyman, LTD., a famous dealer in St. Louis, Missouri. There is no asking price listed and being basically the only one for sale on the entire planet, it won’t be cheap.
There are reportedly only two Chrysler Turbine Cars in private hands anywhere, the one in Jay Leno’s garage and this one for sale at Hyman, LTD in St. Louis. That’s it. There are five of them in museums and Chrysler reportedly kept two of them, but most of the 55 cars that were built were crushed, believe it or not. I haven’t been able to watch this video shown here on YouTube. It’s like those commercials showing shivering puppies in cages and then some voiceover actor asks for money to save them. Seriously, I haven’t seen more than a few seconds of the video, it’s too painful. If you can stomach watching the whole thing, let us know your thoughts.
The Chrysler Turbine Car story has been told numerous times on dozens if not hundreds of websites and in a similar number of magazines and books. Five prototype cars were produced in 1962 but between the fall of 1963 and the fall of 1964, 50 fully-functioning turbine cars were made. This was the only body style and they only came in this color, “Turbine Bronze”. You may notice a strong resemblance to the third-generation Thunderbird, that’s no coincidence as the designer of the Turbine Car was none other than Elwood Engle who was previously a designer at Ford.
Italian company Ghia handbuilt 50 cars and they were shipped back to Chrysler to have the complicated drivetrains installed. They’re absolutely gorgeous and stunning cars to see in person. Chrysler had a program where around 200 drivers in approximately 130 cities around the US would use the cars to test them in real-world conditions. They found that they weren’t very easy to use as daily drivers – they were complicated to start and they ran best on diesel or kerosene fuel which wasn’t available at every gas station. The unique outlets by the taillights aren’t the exhaust outlets but they sure look like they should be.
They also found that the Chrysler designed and built A-831 turbine engines were eerily smooth, you could balance a coin on its edge on the engine while it was idling. The turbine engine ran best on almost any petroleum or alcohol-based substance other than leaded gas which was used in most vehicles at that time, so that wasn’t ideal. You could literally run this engine on perfume or dip into your furnace oil tank and use that. Very cool.
The concept car look continues on the inside with so many custom touches that it would be fun to just sit in one for a few hours to soak it all in. The interior details are fantastic, from the turbine tunnel console running from front-to-back to the switchgear, sleek stainless trim, the orange or “bronze” seats, and carpet. Yes, there are back seats but I can’t imagine they have ever been used.
This car luckily ended up in the Harrah collection until that collection was sold and then Domino’s Pizza owner and car collector – who wouldn’t be a car collector if you were a billionaire – Tom Monaghan ended up with it. It then went to another collector Frank Kleptz who had it restored to running condition with the help of GE engineers about two decades ago. It’s one of the few running examples left today and as mentioned, only two are in private hands.
The “engine” is a 410-pound, fourth-generation Chrysler A-831 turbine that didn’t require a radiator or even a cooling system with antifreeze. It had just one lone spark plug and reportedly has 80% fewer internal components than a normal automobile piston engine has. It’s been described as sounding like a vacuum cleaner while under operation and yes, they will run on booze. Are any of you major players or car collectors? If so, even rarer than finding a Tucker 48 for sale, this may be your only chance of ever buying a Chrysler Turbine Car.
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Comments
This is one of my favorite cars of all time.
I bought the model kit from AutoWorld back in
the ’60’s.
I saw this one at the Chrysler Musuem
in Michigan in 2003.
How did you download the picture ? I have a couple pics of one in Gilmore Car Museum Richland, Michigan ! I’m sure it is private owned. These are some sharp cars !
The car at Gilmore belongs to the Detroit Historical Collection and is on loan
https://youtu.be/PWev6JTI6S0
Here is a great fact filled video on these cars !
A better shot.
Don’t forget the extra engine!
https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/chrysler/unspecified/2469150.html
Regarding the sound… As with any turbine powered vehicle (helicopter or plane, mostly) the whirr starts low, and increases in pitch, until humans can’t really hear it much. Probably would give dogs and some other animals a fit though…
I was fortunate enough to be in Jay’s Big Dog Garage several years ago, and he started his up for the people there. Smelled very quickly like an airport taxiway….
Where is the real exhaust on this car? And does it flame?
Here’s the episode on My Classic Car with Dennis Gage in Jay Leno’s garage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSpxAHuei9E
I saw one run at a car show once, and the exhaust was 2 flat ducts exiting the car under back bumper. As I recall it felt pretty warm but not overly hot. They spooled it up to fairly high rpm, and it was about like the volume of air put out by a leaf blower or furnace blower
Scotty adds a special touch to this site, 1st, a Chrysler turbine car, and 2nd the “shivering puppy” commercials. Let me say this about that, I know Scotty and like 6 other people like dogs, I’m not one of them, but don’t be suckered by these “bleeding heart” actors, it’s all about maximum effectiveness, and puppies, aw, send your dollars today,,,when in fact, these outfits get rich on your kindness, like this “Wounded Warrior” fiasco a while back. Hit the people in their most tender heartstrings, and the guy embezzled millions,,,anyway, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, the Chrysler turbine car.
The early 60’s were all about, what’s the future going to be like? The jet airplane was a huge influence in everything, cars being the most natural one for styling. You see the headlights mimic a jet. Everybody was wowed when the turbine car came out. We built thousands of plastic models, not because we knew what it was, but nothing so swoopy had ever been seen. I watched the video, and I’d say a bigger concern was not the destruction of some car,( just another busy day at the wrecking yard, ” Hey Joe, what are those, Turbine cars”? “Who cares, here comes some more”,,) but the environmental hazards, what, at 5:32, is that guy just draining jet fuel ( kerosene) on the ground? As swoopy and modern as it was, the car itself had many flaws. Mostly, they were destroyed to keep the public from getting them, and to avoid tariffs on the bodies made in Italy. You’ll notice all the motors are removed, they were noisy, and not from exhaust, but the air intake was deafening, had a special baffle, they got dismal mileage,10 mpg, and they had a serious throttle lag, almost considered dangerous today, turbines run best at over 40,000 rpms, making them good for highway, but not for stop and go, and they create a huge amount of heat, and couldn’t pass emissions. Semi trucks dabbled with turbines in the 60’s as an option, but too costly and diesel won out. Got to be the rarest find ever.
IMO, the Chrysler Turbine car was one beautifully styled car. It followed in the 50’s “Jet Age” tradition of using aircraft inspired design motifs, only this time substituting turbine instead. As stated, Chrysler installed turbine engines in a number of cars with the program finally ending in the early 1980’s. Three Dodge Aspens and a Mirada were the last cars to be so powered. Most of the problems had been eliminated, but Chrysler hit overwhelming financial difficulties and the project was terminated.
https://bangshift.com/general-news/ended-final-days-chrysler-turbine-program/
When I was 4, my Grandfather was one of the owners of a hotel here in Omaha. 5 of these came through town in a PR stint and attracted quite a crowd. I was a devoted car nut even then, and could rattle off make, model & year of most anything on the road. Grandpa told my Dad to bring me down there to see the Turbines, which he did. I was awe-struck and couldn’t believe how futuristic they looked! When cleaning out the house after Mom passed, my sister found a color snapshot of me in the front seat of the Turbine at the hotel. It’s a cherished memory so clear in my recollections, it feels like yesterday!
I would love to see that photo posted here! 🧃
For many of us this is our dream car, but for almost all of us, it will remain a dream. Almost worth buying a Powerball for.
It is going to take a very large wheelbarrow full of BitCoin to purchase this incredible automobile.
If I had Jay Leno’s money, it would be absolutely necessary to have two of these
Shhh, don’t tell Leno!
Did I see one in an Elvis movie?
Perhaps blue/grey in color…
Likely, my memory is fading.
It was white with blue stripes! Forget which movie
(Viva Las Vegas?) The movie came out about 1966 or so.
I remember that movie, it wasn’t an Elvis flick though-
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058296/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Actually I don’t remember much about the movie, just that it centered around the turbine car being in a race, and there was a scene where it went off a cliff, but it turned out it was just the driver having a nightmare the night before the big race, or something like that.
Spoiler alert!
I believe you are referring to THE LIVELY SET, 1964, starring James Darren, Doug McClure, and Pamela Tiffin.
I think you’re thinking of Ann-Margret. :)
This is the closest we got to a Jetson’s car.
Hardly.
If you disregard the rear end & don’t start the car, any young person today would think this was just an old car from the ’60s.
Not so with the INSANELY WILD firebird II & III turbine cars – & the even wilder firebird IV & Ford fx atmos(tho the latter 2 were pushmobiles).
FB III was actually driven on the streets of Detroit!! – with a police escort. Imagine seeing this – back in the day! …
http://www.turbinefirebird.com/oldnews.php
Presumably not the car used in The Lively Set ?
Not the same car but one of the turbine cars. Check out the trailer, a fun romp back in time with an appearance by Micky Thompson! Yee-Haw! https://bit.ly/3l1TpEt
I was dazzled by these cars when they appeared in car magazines and just like a kid back then might have dreamed of being a pilot, I dreamed (incredible long shot) of my father being selected as 1 of the test drivers.
Nowadays, having spent some years in the Navy working on aircraft of several types…turboprop and jet powered, I am intrigued by this engine but the styling, at least the front end, is a big meh. I can almost see that very plain front end on the front of a car with a Plymouth badge.
The interior? Love it. But I think in the end I would rather own this car’s ” inspiration ” the ” bullet bird “.
Gotta love those turbine styled headlights
It was the mid-60s and I was walking home from grade school. I walked by the Testors plant (they made model glue and paints) and one of these was parked outside in the lot next to the building. I remember that color and those strange taillights vividly. There was a Chrysler plant nearby, maybe that had something to do with it, don’t know for sure but it was obviously driven at that time. It sure stayed with me.
Where was the restoration plant? My aunt worked at one in Rockford.
Excellent write-up as usual, Scotty. When I first saw the photo of the front/side of this car I briefly imagined it was my ’64 Dodge Dart convertible. One of many I should have kept. Could have swapped the slant 6 225 for a turbine.
My dad told me they were also distributed to consummer in Canada for testing.
Very cool and beautifull car.
There were no consumer test drivers in Canada although the cars were displayed in various provinces
A guy I know father had a gas station in Andover Ohio when these came out and someone around there got one to drive. His dad drove it and said it was a dog. He had kerosene and the driver stopped for fuel all the time. He was a die-hard Dodge man, he must have had a dozen or more of them all the time, mostly early Valiants and such. He gave me a aluminum slant six that I wish I had kept
There is a silent video clip floating on the web when Chrysler gathered the cars up and took them to the Detroit airport. It shows a guy setting fire to the interior. The rest sat there waiting on their fate. Some in the background. Doors opened and hubcaps missing. Paint shining like new. Treated with total disrespect. Pretty sad.
Chrysler the always glorified company spent millions to develop and build. Created a sensation only to destroy them. Pretty sure had a movie been made about it such as ‘Who killed the electric Car” about GMs crushing the EV1 people would still be soured with Cryco. Such a legacy it would have been to have them around today. Safe to say now the turbine project was a bust.
Had they went a different direction with making quality engineered vehicles than big barges and Aspens that rusted about as quick as a Chevy Vega wouldn’t have had a government bailout in the late 1970’s
The seller is only fishing for interest here and or promoting the car. No firesale.
The cars were not taken to the Detroit airport – they were destroyed at the Chrysler Proving Grounds in Chelsea, Michigan
No asking price. Inquire. I’m out!
Beautiful car and a bucket list ride!
I lived in St. Louis back in the 70’s and went to their Transportation Museum one time. Happened they had one of these on display and it was an incredible site. Funny thing was, I didn’t even know they had one there when I went to the museum. Never saw one other than in a static display, I can only imagine how it drove and drive.
Theirs has been restored to driving condition. Rumor is that the engine was a non-running shell, but that they also found that they had a new engine in a crate.
https://tnmot.org/the-collection/?auto
The first time I saw one was at the 1964 N Y Worlds Fair. I believe they started it up a couple times a day for the crowd. I too bought the 1/24 scale model kit when I got home from that trip
I had the privilege of riding in one at the 1964 world fair. Sounded like a very noisy vacuum cleaner inside.
Remember the Typhoon at the fair?
http://turbinecar.com/Typhoon.htm
I wonder if it still exists!!
I lived in St. Louis back in the 70’s and went to their Transportation Museum one time. Happened they had one of these on display and it was an incredible site. Funny thing was, I didn’t even know they had one there when I went to the museum. Never saw one other than in a static display, I can only imagine how it drove and ride.
I saw one of these when they were on promotional tour. Brunswick Hotel, in Moncton, New Brunswick.
I went to an SAE meeting in Detroit about 1956. The subject of the meeting was about alternative power plants. The three that were talked about were the Wankel, a free piston turbine and the fan turbine. The Chrysler engineer had a turbine powered car that he showed after the meeting. The exhaust on that car went all the total width of the car under the back bumper. The exhaust did not flame but it was at idle.
Thanks Parker
Too bad they couldn’t have saved a couple more and dropped a Hemi in them.
Yeah, and while they’re at it, put a Hemi in a K car, The Daytona’s Little GTO, Bonnie and Clyde’s death car, President Kennedy’s Lincoln limo, Fred Flintstone’s car, Jame Dean’s Porsche, Wayne’s World’s Pacer, Scooby-Do’s van, and the list goes on and on! LOL
That was one of the many reasons the cars were destroyed – to prevent someone from dropping in a Hemi (or any other V8 power) then getting in an accident resulting in a law suit against Chrysler. Liability was one of the major reasons the cars were destroyed. The duty on the Italian built bodies (after they were so old, the duty was zero) was a good story to tell explaining the cars destruction but liability was priority…..
Unlike firebird II & III, can i assume none of these ’63’s had a/c?
Doesn’t seem to be any room under the hood for a/c equip.
If 1 of the power window motors breaks, what can one do?!
Best to leave the windows down, I would think.
Along the same line was Andy Granatelli’s STP Indy Turbine car. Aircraft turbine engine and all wheel drive. Parnelli Jones was winning the 1967 race when he lost a transmission bearing with 8 miles left.
Parnelli commented that the STP Turbine had a throttle lag of up to three seconds. It also had a bit less power on warm days.
I wonder if it’d run on a double IPA? I bet you there’s some of them it would actually run on the way to brew some of those things nowadays! Now that would be a cool bar trick.
151 Proof is the minimum alcohol that will burn. Last I checked most IPA’s were hovering around 10 proof…
I will never forget driving on I-40 towards Knoxville when one of these cars overtook me like I was standing still. I never caught up to it.
If this car was part of the fleet that was loaned out to civilians, then I guarantee the rear seat was used many, many times.
I saw this car at Wheaton Plaza on display They started it up and balanced a Nickle on engine
Richard,
I was there too, I remember it well! At that time Wheaton Plaza was a bit of a futuristic place, it was [as you probably know well] the first large shopping mall with a central plaza, anchored at each end with department stores.
I worked as the night manager at the Montgomery Wards Auto store in 1973-74, and again as the Mall Santa Claus in the mid 1980s! Being Santa is the best job in the world: Where else can you mess with little kid’s minds and no one says anything!
I’ve seen the specimen that resides in the Henry Ford Museum, and it’s even more striking in person. It’s a real shame that development on this project never got to the point of production.
Loved the story. My dad had many Chryslers and was on the list to get a Turbine car to drive for 6 mts.Sadly he didn’t get to do it. we lived in Milwaukee & on fridays we would go to the same restaurant & the guy that had the car to test was there.Sure wished dad would have the chance.
I was driving one evening on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway coming back from Coney Island. Had the windows open and all of a sudden a spaceship passed us. It was one of the turbine cars, sounds like a jet plane. Incredible sight.
I grew up in the Detroit area and my Uncle was a friend of Lee Iacocca. He was a guest at my Uncle’s home one year when I was very young and, being an enthusiastic model builder and Go-kart racer, my Uncle introduced me as such. Lee took me out to his car and gave me a (destined to be) dealer’s 1/24 model of the car as a present. I had it into my teens but it eventually became BB gun fodder. Boy, wish I had that one back.
Oh, to have the models and toys we destroyed back then …..what were we thinking ??? I remember my steel Texaco gas pump sat outside rusting to oblivion, the Tonka Pumper and Ladder Truck in the garage on the bottom shelf : The cat pee’d on the Ladder part of the Ladder truck and I had the sense to “Get it outta there!” and the Tonka’s survive packed away in my parents attic all wrapped up in boxes.
My family owned a Chrysler/Plymouth dealer in Canton ,Ohio and my farther and I went for a ride in one of these. I was 8 years old then and still have the Promo car they gave me for going on the ride.I really thought I was in a jet without the wings riding in that car.The next time I saw one was at the Peterson Museum in 2008.
I was 13 when my friend’s Dad got the use of one of these. He was a gas station owner. I was so intrigued by this. I later became a mechanic, bought his garage, but never got a turbo. There was a forward cab Jeep, though.
My neighbor (Columbus, Ohio) drove one for a few months and I saw it parked, start-up, or driven almost every day. It sounded different but wasn’t objectionable. All the neighborhood kids agreed, it was a cool car!
I remember when Chrysler was promoting these. They were going to select 50 people (not sure if it was local northwest Indiana or nationwide) to drive the Turbine Car for one week and provide their evaluation. A kid down the street named Bill Touche told me his aunt was selected as one of the 50. Was that a tall tale or not? I remember this kid was a straight-shooter and not prone to telling stories.
203 people got to drive the car, each for a 90 day period. A lot of enthusiast magazines stated 50 cars were built – but there were 55 built. Chrysler kept 5 for testing and 50 were designated for the consumer testing program although ultimately only 46 were used – other cars were used for various promotions and one – the white car – was used in the movie “The Lively Set”.
I watched the video – does anyone know when was this filmed? It seems almost bizarre someone would film the cars being crushed. All I can say is, to go to the effort of making something that beautiful, and then just crushing all of them seems like such a pitiful waste. You’d think they could have done something better with them, like install a standard engine or something and sell them. They all just went “into the fire”. But that is what ultimately happens to every car all of us own – unless somehow we choose to prevent that fateful ending.
I saw two, one at the Hynes Auditorium, in November, 1963, when I was nine.The guy showing the car told me you could balance a nickel on the cover, while running the equivalent of 120 mph, and it wouldn’t fall over. The second was in 2006, where they had one at The Patterson Automobile Museum. It may still be there. You could see the Thunderbird influence, as they were penned by the same designer.
Imagine tho if the crowded world today was full of turbine cars. It would be like living at an airport with planes idling/taxiing all the time.
I would think the sound would be almost deafening, or at the very least quite annoying after a while. & it might be very difficult to sleep in urban areas, say if you lived near a heavily traveled highway.
I got to ride in one several times at the New York Worlds Fair in 1964-65. The Chrysler Pavilion was across the street from where I worked and on slow afternoons there wasn’t usually a long line for a ride. I was 18 at the time, was a neat car as I remember.
Several times I saw one on HWY 41 between Milwaukee and Oshkosh WI. I was too young to drive, but knew every car on the road. My dad and I traveled that route alot and I remember approx 3 sightings of the Turbine car. Such a unique car it was hard to miss.
In the early 1960’s I was at the bus stop a couple blocks from my house in Bridgeport, CT and heard a high pitched engine sound, looked down the street and saw a Turbine car pull up to the stop sign. This did not look like anything else on the street in ~1963/64 and I did not see many other drivers wave with a big smile on his face. That sound is still accessible in my memory banks. My next “miss” was years ago here in NorCal when I almost made the cut for a GM EV-1, ended up in the number 2 tier. Opposite audio experience, like my i3 today.
Wow, so many sightings for a car that they built a total of maybe 66! May be a few more out there than this or the one in Leno’s garage. It is sortof like the ’67 GT500 Supersnake (427 ford, hydraulic lyfters), supposedly only three made total.
55 built – all destroyed except 9, all documented and accounted for.
I went to Eliot Jr. High School in Altadena 1963-65. One of my classmates (Wendy) would get picked up after school by her dad in one of these. I remember standing there in total awe as this car whooshed Wendy away with the aroma of jet fuel in the air. Adolescent dreams are made of this stuff!
Nicely said. You are muy worthy. BTW, old men dreams are made of this stuff, too (we’re YOUNGER, not old men watching cute young things driving off in cars from the future). :)
How about the Turbine American LaFrance Fire Engine ? San Francisco still has theirs, minus the motor …still has the stack though …. did not do so well .
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2010/09/17/turbine-powered-oddities-no-467-american-lafrance
Painful to look at the video…forks going through the glass, the funeral pyre, that’ as far as I could go on the video.
Chrysler had to destroy 50 cars, they were only allowed to save 5 cars that went to museums as non-running vehicles. The 5 museum cars still had to have a sizeable import tax paid to the US Government, the amount based on [per car] what Chrysler spent to create the cars. The government included the R & D costs as well, leading to the huge import tax and fees demanded by the Feds.
In the video are at least 2 employees of the US Government there to oversee the total destruction of EVERY piece on the cars. The 5 museums were not even allowed to keep extra spare parts like windshields, trim pieces, etc. The cars were torn apart, burned, then crushed. All because the US Government insisted on payment of huge import fees.
This info was related to me years ago, by my long time friend Z. Taylor Vincent [RIP], who was head of the US Department of Transportation’s legal office in Washington, DC.
Freakin bureaucrats. Where common sense goes to die!. I’d like to know if the video was made by some Transpo bureaucrat to prove they were destroyed.
I too saw ir at NY Worlds Fair when I was 12…..if I recall correctly among my souvenirs was a Turbine post card. All of it along with my comic collection AND baseball cards with you can imagine who.were unceremoniously tossed out by the mother unit when I was away at college.
I could have used the proceeeds about now :)
Since I wrote the above info, I’ve been advised that the real reason Chrysler destroyed the cars was a liability situation, not import taxes, as those would have only been about $500 per car, for the value of the coachbuilt bodywork, as Chrysler finished the cars here in the USA.
Chrysler offered these cars, in a non-running condition, to any accredited museum who wanted one, however only 9 took the company up on the offer. As they were not offered with a running turbine engine, Chrysler was concerned people would modify the cars with different engines, and therefore they decided to just go ahead & crush the remaining cars, BECAUSE AT THAT TIME, NO ONE WANTED THEM!
https://youtu.be/PWev6JTI6S0
Here is a great fact filled video on these cars !
That video of those cars being demolished was as sad as someone drowning a bag full of puppies 😥
As a 12-yr-old obsessed with cars one of the highlights of the NYC Worlds Fair in 1964 was getting a ride in one of these. Later in life I worked on a trucking magazine. My office mate had written up a test drive of a turbine truck from Chrysler unveiled at the same time. He was generally impressed.
Ford had a turbine truck too around the same time. Never came to fruition. The issue was reduction gears and wear. Going from 20,000 RPM to a few hundred is tough on gears.
Any guess on price?
i’ll hafta f/u with all the links to C how the engine wrks…but
Here’s Y we need to encourage designers, R&D, even ‘stylists’. The financial support needs to be there or these things (more later) do not happen. Well, may B when the economy is booming. But what abt when not (like right now). THIS nation falls behind the others on the world stage. We need more investment thru the colleges, corp investment, the fed gov…
More: I hope I’m not alone in seeing all the spin-offs this ‘stylist’ had w/this one car (or did he/they get it frm the other companies of the time?). Every style clue I see in other cars (ford, chevy too) – the head lghts, trunk area, dash bd, even engine bay (wish I saw more there (can’t say the broad core support got replicated in other makes/models/years).
I’ll be the odd man out. The Chrysler version didn’t appeal to me as much as the ’55 Plymouth turbine car did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsmWMOsi7xY&t=67s
And as far as the Indy cars go, I would have loved to see the Lear Vapordyne compete.
I actually rode in one of these in the early sixties. There was some kind of a contest where the winner or winners would get this car to drive for six months or a year and my neighbor where I lived in Miami won the contest and gave me and my friend a ride around the block. I was 9 or 10 at the time.
I still remember that ride.
Gotta love the sound of a turbine engine.
Here’s”My Way” Aug. 4, 2017 — Bill Tomlinson’s 50-foot Mystic Cat ‘My Way’ is powered by twin 3000 horsepower Lycoming Turbine T-55 engines. Having once clocked in at 224 mph .
I’ve seen her many times in the 1000 Islands.
The biggest problem they had was with the propellers , kept throwing off blades as the welds would break.
Solution, carve the prop out of a solid block of stainless steel.
https://youtu.be/PNY_3jGJ88I
Got to ride in one of these. My friends family was chosen to drive and evaluate the Turbine Car. We went for a ride late at night here in the Bay Area where we got the thing really going. It is really interesting that one show’s up for sale, Chrysler has their rules and stated the car must be returned to them after the trials. there were rumors that they were taken apart and salvaged!
I was 9 years old and was visiting her friend in our home town of Milford, PA. It was a hot Sunday in July. The woman’s father was a prominent attorney from Ardsley, NY. He drove up in a Chrysler Turbine. As a car crazy kid, I was nuts about that bronze paint and matching leather. He took us for a ride. I will never forget it. I spoke to Steve Lehto, who wrote a book about the Turbine car. He said the car I rode in was probably loaned to mom’s friend’s father. That was against Chrysler policy when the cars were loaned out. I would kill to own this car.
I do not see it on Hemmings.
A link Please…
Kelly~
I remember sitting on a friend’s front porch in Whitehall, NY when a couple of these drove by. Being car people at a young age, we were thrilled to see them.
I grew up in a Detroit suburb in the 1960’s. There was a Chrysler Turbine in my neighborhood for years. Not months, but years. I suppose the owner was one of the main people involved in the car’s development.
There is a sixth car. And it will be shown on the 100th anniversary.
Scotty’s link “here on Hemmings”
Does not work, it is a general Chrysler’s for sale page.
Where is the car sale link?.
A link Please…
Kelly~
T.Mann, apparently it’s been sold!!
https://hymanltd.com/vehicles/6865-1963-chrysler-turbine-car/
If you lived in the area where these turbine cars were loaned out, i bet you would be more likely to see 1 of these than a ’68 caprice coupe with HIDDEN HEADLITES! Or believe it or not, a ’69 camaro RS with the “250” chrome emblem (indicating the motor under the hood) on the front side of both fenders! lol
My mother won the use of this car in 1965.I was 16 at that time. It was a thrilling experience. We took it from Kentucky to Florida and when ever we would stop to get something to eat, there would be a huge crowd. Wish I could have that experience again!
Must be “Odd Ball Car” week here at B.F.’s. Yesterday, it was the “Outer Limits” car. Half the comments were “Pro” the other, “Con. This car has PERFECT symmetry. Like an aircraft. If an airplane does not, it will wander in airspace. The same concept is with autos. It’s physics boys…plain and simple.
A person in my hometown was one of the lucky people to have been chosen to test drive it. During the time it was there I saw it twice. Both times my heart skipped a beat. Astonishing car.
Update: this car has been sold!
https://hymanltd.com/vehicles/6865-1963-chrysler-turbine-car/
Which one of you bought it? Come on, fess up…
I ain’t sayin’ nuffin.
Scotty, thank you for the update.
Will it go off-shore?
T, I assumed that the seller was drumming up interest and would then run it through one of the big auctions this summer. I would have to believe that no matter what someone offers – unless it’s a crazy Jeff-Bezos-like amount – it would sell for more at an auction. I wonder if we’ll see it for sale again in the next few months.
Just as a side note in case any of you want to look up some of the history; Chrysler actually experimented a good bit with the turbine engine and had it running around all over the place in normal looking cars in the 50’s!
Mountainwoodie,
I feel your pain from losing your things thanks to a parental cleaning!
I was in Europe for the US Army in the mid ’70s. My parent’s decided to do some re-organizing of various items I owned. One of those was a large pre-WW2 Phillips “Wire Recorder” in a roll-around mahogany case. This was before Mylar tape, and used very fine piano wire on long spools to electronically record audio.
One of the wire spools contained [and was clearly marked on the box] an original recording, with all the commercials, of Orson Wells’ War of the Worlds from 1939. To this day, no other complete recorded version of the original broadcast is known to exist. The wire recorder and the various spools were taken to the dump by my father.
In 1972 I had turned down $500 for the recorder and the War of the Worlds wire spool. The Smithsonian had asked me about donating it as well. I never let my parents forget what they did. They never touched my stuff ever again!
Wow, that’s a rare public OMG issued there, Bill! That’s too bad, and thanks for your service, by the way.
Sadly there is so much mis-information being posted here. I strongly suggest you all visit Mark Olson’s Turbinecar.com website for tons of factual information – much of it from the very people that worked on the turbine car program. Mark’s father was one of the evaluators that had a turbine car for the 90-day test period and Mark has made a life-long commitment to preserving information about the turbine cars. Mark and I collaborated on doing a book about the turbine cars before Lehtho came out with his but we dropped the idea after his publication came out. Check out his website….
So much of this. 109 comments and maybe 3 are based in facts, lots of rumors, myths and misinformation. I got to sit in the Turbine at the Gilmore Museum a few years ago and since then I’ve learned a lot about these cars and the program. Johan Models made both the glue model and snap kits. The glue together kit was as innovative to the model kit industry as the real car was.
Gee, Ron, only THREE are based in facts? None of these people (except 3) heard or saw these cars? pretty negative, dude. Delete me, and delete Ron Swanson’s comment too.
Which three Ron? Just curious.
Off Topic!
Well, I got to sit in the cab of Freightliner’s doubles tractor that had the Boeing T-60 turboshaft gas turbine engine in 1970. Sorry, can’t post pics.
I also sat in the Turbine at the Gilmore Museum a few years ago,
Was there taking the one day Model-T driving class.
OR did I sit in it when I was a kid, strapped in a baby seat…
Danger Will Robinson, Danger…
Brilliant write-up, Scotty, and glorious subject matter. These cars are in a class by themselves, the ultimate expression of the Space Age in car form. Weren’t we all supposed to have flying cars by now? Great job as usual.
Jay sat in one;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2A5ijU3Ivs
MY LIFETIME DREAM CAR. 1964 New York World’s Fair. My Dad was a bigshot at General Electric, we saw the “Carousel of Progress” from backstage and I got to sit in the seat that the robotic dog barked at! The Mustang was introduced and engineless mules ran on a track inside the FORD Pavillion, with kids behind the wheel. Yet of all the memories, one stands out…THE CHRYSLER TURBINE CAR! (I built 2 models of it, purchased with my own money and the STP Turbine Indy car.)
RIDE OF A LIFETIME: Somehow (I am certain I begged) we got to go for a ride on the test track…it was the future. My Dad was also a pilot and an engineer, so we went deep on the tech. Although I was 8 years old, time froze for me. I knew someday, somehow, that car would be mine! Who cares about the practicality, the lag, etc. In that car, I was living in the future! (I do live in Silicon Valley, advise innovative companies, and have a self-driving car, so the 8-year-old is happy!)
AMAZING AUTOMOBILES: I’ve been fortunate enough to ride in everything from a 1932 Duesenberg SJ Dual-Cowl Phaeton to a McLaren f1 to one of the actual James Bond Aston Martin DB5 movie cars, have personally owned from Ferrari to Cord to Rolls Royce and nothing compares to that 8-year-old riding in the Turbine Car…WOW!
THIS I WOULD CLEAN OUT EVERYTHING FOR. I am irrational, this car is one of a kind.
Carousel of Progress is the current name of the attaction at Disney. It was actually called GE Progressland at the ’64-65 fair & back then there was also an upstairs show afterwards on nuclear FUSION. That & the colorful “moving” lights on the roof of the pavillion were scrapped when it was moved to DisneyLAND & later moved to/now in Orlando Magic Kingdom. Most of the fair’s buildings were not built as permanent structures, so this pic below should be less difficult to stomach than the video of the Turbine cars being crushed …
http://www.disneyhistoryinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/anderson-ge-demo.jpg
I’m more upset that probably someone younger later in charge at GM in the ’80s ordered the destruction of ALL THREE one of a kind GM futurama mockup cars from the fair. Who would not want 1 of these to preserve in their garage or living room?! –>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkBc4kX9n18
Also on youtube, fans would want to see these 4 videos …
To the Fair (1964)
’64-65 NY World’s Fair FUTURAMA Ride Video
1964-65 NY Worlds Fair – 2015 New Year’s Montage
The 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair Remembered
https://www.ebay.com/itm/124777945405?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3D7b303310cf6e4f6481b2dbda66e1ccd5%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D332586003825%26itm%3D124777945405%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3Aeb8a10de-4319-11ec-bc15-e2856936285e%7Cparentrq%3A102cd9ed17d0a4d760afefcdfff39f0c%7Ciid%3A1