Re:Turbine

Those gas turbine engines both sucked and blew! Chrysler had them in the early sixties in Dodge Dart bodies all painted a copper bronze color, and I believe there were only 50 cars built. Their problems were; very expensive to build, slow acceleration, and no back pressure or compression to slow them down thus they were hard on brakes, also.

Dodge Turbine Car Commercial Promo Film... This may be of educational interest ,,. A neighbor who was a dandy of a mechanic saw these cars and the Girls in Exhibition up north back in the mid 60's , while I was still in grade school ,. He has gone on to meet his maker in heaven to make repairs for GOD's fleet ..... But ,He Was excited ,and admitted there were some problems to be overcome ,, I remember that the turbine would run on anything that would burn , Including perfume or nail polish remover with no engine adjustments required... Alot fewer parts , one spark plug , no antifreeze ,never needs an oil change , will start and run equally well in all weather ,,. TRue , the best milage is obtained by cross country long range driving , the 1960's technology made stop and go city driving at lights very impractical. Certainly would not be the power choice for a tractor trailer rig unless it was totally dedicated to long range over the road , and the turbine was allowed tobe king of the road with no stops between destinations . But All the same here is the film to see on You -TUBE . It is interesting , those with critical minds could possibly find a proper solution if they apply themselves ... It is far easier to say an idea will not work , than to rack ones mind to find a perfect solution , bottom line is , by giving up and saying it won't work , We go back to square one , and being hostage to the current fueling methods... When there is a WILL there is a WAY !... Stubborn minded Folks usually do solve problems ...

Serveral comments made on You -TUBE suggest that the turbine should power electric motors ? ,perhaps a hybrid ? electric for stop and go city traffic ,,, Out on the open road , seem to me ,turbines are more efficient than any transmission /internal combustion engine.. Can't help but wonder if Locomotives have tried Turbines , and What was the Result? and WHEN ? ,.

not to mention the side effects on tailgators...Chrsler had one at the worlds fair in Montreal back in '67...it was a beaut.

Union Pacific has some turbine powered locomotives in the late 50s or early 60s.

It's cheaper in parts and labour. To have the typical mechanic maintain a turbo diesel. Rather than a gas turbine built to aviation specs and prices.

The Navy had a Turbine powered Launch (boat) back in the early 60s I saw one in San Diego back then.
Walt

Last year Jay Leno bought one of the few surviving Chrysler turbine cars from the Chrysler museum.
Leno buys turbine car

I got to see a Chrysler turbine in the summer of 1965 as it drove through downtown, metropolitan Mound City, Illinois on RT37 headed north. About the size of a then late model T-bird and a dark burnt orange color. I'd bet that although very durable and few moving parts, gas turbines are very fuel thirsty, have response lag and would have severe emission compliance issues. IH had an experimental Farmall gas turbine tractor as did Ford with their Typhoon. Check out Marvin Baumann's gas turbine powered 8N Ford @ http://www.marvinbaumann.com/typoon2.html

JH:

Railroad locomotives using both steam and gas turbines have been built and tested but both were considered unsatisfactory.

Gas turbines move huge amounts of air which must exhaust to the atmosphere. One of the unacceptable issues with the UP turbine locomotives was damate (and potential liability) caused by the high velocity and high volume of hot exhaust gasses.

Experiments with steam turbines were performed in the late 1940s through the late 1950s by the PRR, N&W and C&O in conjunction with GE and Westinghouse. Reliability was an issue at that time but modern technology should easily deal with such issues. Of course, it is highly unlikely that this technology will be again considered for rail traction because steam generation requires lots of water and the railroads removed all watering infrastructure decades ago.

Dean

Chrysler ran turbine cars in 56 and 57 in NASCAR. These were powered by turbine engines coupled to a drive train, not exhust propulsion.

I got to see one of the remaining Chryslers run when the Mopar Nationas were at Indy, about 20 years ago now. NOISY?? Sounds like a Kirby

Looked like a T bird alright. Someone put a lot of art work into the body, going with the "modern", "jet engine" motif.

According to the Mopar mags, Chrysler figured they were within ten years of having a viable turbine car, but congress decided NASA could do a better job of developing them. Yet another thing government got their hands too deep into and messed up.

I think the bodies for the show cars were built by Carman-Ghia.

One thing about a turbine, like a hydraulic, steam, or electric motor, max torque is accomplished at 0 rpm.

Believe it or not. I saw a cub cadet pulling tractor, with a turbine engine off of a standby generator from some kind of aircraft. Very impressive. It was at Argyle lake Illinois gas engine show. Bernie Steffen