The Rise and Fall of America's Jet-Powered Car

Pickens writes "The WSJ reports that the automobile designs of the 1950s and 1960s were inspired by the space race and the dawn of jet travel. But one car manufacturer, Chrysler, was bold enough to put a jet engine in an automobile that ran at an astounding 60,000 rpm on any flammable fluid including gasoline, diesel, kerosene, jet fuel, peanut oil, alcohol, tequila, or perfume. Visionary Chrysler designer George Huebner believed that there was plenty to recommend the turbine. People loved the car. In a publicity scheme to promote its 'jet' car, Chrysler commissioned Ghia to handcraft 50 identical car bodies and each car would be lent to a family for a few months and then passed on to another. Chrysler received more than 30,000 requests in 1962 to become test drivers and eventually 203 were chosen who logged more than one million miles (mostly trouble free) in the 50 Ghia prototypes. In the end Chrysler killed the turbine car after OPEC's 1973 oil embargo. 'How different would America be now if we all drove turbine-powered cars? It could have happened. But government interference, shortsighted regulators, and indifferent corporate leaders each played a role in the demise of a program that could have lessened US dependence on Middle East oil.'"

Comments

Re:Needed to be hybrid

[somersault]

with fuel at less than 3 USD per gallon, why bother?

Just because you've harvested your crop and have a large current supply, doesn't mean you shouldn't plant seeds for next year.

I know it's not a car analogy, but the article is already about cars, so why not a farming analogy?

Re:Retrocausality, according to Wall Street Journa

[Born2bwire]

Travelling to other countries, particularly areas of China and India, can really drive home how low the pollution is in most parts of America. There are times that I can't see more than 100 yards down the street and this is due to the air pollution from the cars and factories.

Re:Turbine

[SerpentMage]

I am going to call BS...

http://kn.theiet.org/news/sep10/tata-blaydon-jets.cfm

This car is more fuel efficient, lower emissions, faster and more powerful than anything ever produced for the commercial road.

The trick with jet engines is not to run it lower, but use the power to run an electrical engine that can be ramped up and down.

http://www.bladonjets.com/applications/automotive/

"Requiring no water-cooling system, oil or catalytic converter, it will provide vehicle weight savings of up to 15% – with a consequent reduction in fuel consumption and carbon emissions – compared to a piston engine. Further environmental benefits will be gained from its fast warm up (a few seconds, as opposed to several minutes for a conventional engine), cleaner combustion and lower manufacturing energy requirements. "