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I can still remember the day I saw a Chrysler Turbine car coming my way. It looked like it might have been a Chrysler product, yet the front end was unfamiliar to me. Soon, it was passing me, heard the whine of the turbine engine, and saw those faux rocket nozzles in my side view mirror. Wow! I had just come face-to-face with a Chrysler Turbine car!
In 1962, Chrysler’s turbine project had progressed to the point that they decided to put 50 to 75 vehicles into the hands of a carefully selected segment of the general public, to test them across a wide spectrum of different drivers, climate, and road conditions. Chrysler ended up putting five into the hands of company people and fifty went to carefully selected participants across a wide spectrum of American society. Test results were mixed. Far from being a Whoopee! experience, most drivers felt that the car reacted sluggishly when compared to a piston-powered vehicle. I suspect that all this was Chrysler’s point—they wanted to see how the public would deal with the different technology. What Chrysler didn’t tell its test drivers was that a turbine works best when it’s allowed to develop peak power. Hold the brake, spool it up to—say, 52,000 rpms—release the brake, and it will tear off the line like a dragster. (That’s why Andy Granatelli’s turbine Indy racecars worked so well. During the race, they ran flat out all the time—perfect conditions for a turbine engine.) Another difference is that a turbine provides little to nothing in the way of engine braking, unlike a piston engine. In addition to complaints of sluggishness, the turbine cars weren’t as fuel efficient as their conventional counterparts. That was offset somewhat by the fact that less expensive fuels—like diesel and kerosene—could be used. In fact, the lead tetraethyl in the gasoline of the day would eventually prove lethal to the engine’s turbine blades. Of course, further research would rectify fuel efficiency problems and achieve successful emissions standards as well—another problem faced by the test cars. By the time Chrysler’s turbine program ended in 1966, however, the general consensus was positive—with most of the testers saying they would buy a turbine car if one was available. Today, many automotive companies have turbine research projects in the works.
My acquisition of the Chrysler Turbine Car in 1:18 scale is part of my “why wait for the 1:24 precision mints to do them?” personal collecting program. Having recently gotten several—and having been suitably impressed with the overall quality-versus-lower-price-point—I've decided I’ll continue to add interesting and beautiful 1:18-scale images to the mix. Yat Ming has done a nice job on this $20 image of a seminal car in the history of automotive development. With this “Metallic Orange” release, they seemed to have worked out the problems cited by a couple of collectors regarding the wheel covers and width of the white wall tires. The battery location, however, remains in the front, under the hood. But, I’m not sure the engine color is now “Turbine Bronze.” It looks to me to be more of a charcoal gray color. The fit of the doors, hood, and trunk panels is superb. At first, I thought the hood didn’t open, so close were the gaps. The metallic paint job is flawlessly glossy and there are lots of separate, chromed parts, including separate wipers. The simulated vinyl roof is also nicely textured. The interior detail is decent, and the seats, done in hard plastic, tilt. No attempt was made to simulate carpeting, however. Undercarriage detailing is quite good, but there is no suspension system. Under-the-hood details are a bit simplistic, but they do provide somewhat of an idea of what the turbine engine looked like. Unfortunately, all opening panels are on large doglegs. Overall, this is another nicely done image by Yat Ming. I’ve definitely become a fan of their products.
Today, nine examples of Chrysler’s famous turbine cars remain. All but one have had their engines removed. Far from being gone and forgotten—relics of the Sixties—the turbine test cars—in the hands of people who would have driven them every day—proved Chrysler's point: turbine engines—used so successfully today in aircraft, boats, and power generators—could be used as power plants in automobiles as well. [Note: Much of the above information was culled from Mark E. Olson’s website, www.turbinecar.com and two Special Interest Autos articles. You really should check Mark’s site out—it has tons of cool information on this remarkable car!]
(10/19/2005)
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