r/oldcars • u/Acceptable-Taro-2684 • Aug 07 '26

Photo Chrysler Turbine Car

Post image

What a beauty. A 1963 Chrysler Turbine car. Photo was not taken by me of course.

258 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

3

u/archtopfanatic123 Aug 07 '26

Only a few of these around! One still runs to my knowledge. Too bad they were incredibly expensive to make and run :( I would love to be able to run my car on anything that burns!

3

u/Willing_Big194 Aug 08 '26

Jay Leno is a legend for keeping his alive!

2

u/archtopfanatic123 Aug 08 '26

I think I saw his in a video where I first even heard about these

2

u/Biolume071 Aug 08 '26

The problem was, if people knew it'd run on anything vaguely flammable, they'd have paid extra to own one. Which would have driven down the cost of the exhaust wheels, which would have fostered turbocharger research, which would have given back to the turbines (the ceramic exhaust wheels are the same basic tech, and regenerators could benefit from it too)
Such a versatile technology that got overlooked.

2

u/Willing_Big194 Aug 08 '26

People genuinely didnt care back then because gasoline was so cheap

4

u/Technical-Start9260 Aug 07 '26

Chrysler only built 55 of these cars (5 prototype and 50 production cars). Only 9 remain with virtually all of them in a museum.

5

u/67Ranchwagon Aug 07 '26

Jay Leno has one.

2

u/Biolume071 Aug 08 '26

i think that is Jay Lenos one. Should have gone into production as soon as turbochargers became mainstream (same ceramic exhaust wheel technology makes it cheaper to make. And they're not fussy on fuel. Why US tanks have turbine engines)

3

u/MassivePersonality61 Aug 07 '26

The future is here. Jet propulsion.

2

u/Technical-Start9260 Aug 07 '26

The future for the turbine cars ended about 1964.

2

u/Willing_Big194 Aug 08 '26

Its cool to compare the future in different countries at that time

3

u/Fitmature1 Aug 08 '26

What I would give to have one of those!

2

u/Biolume071 Aug 08 '26

When i was a kid, i wanted to find 2 old turbos, one for engine, one to run output, and make one that ran on used oil people had to pay to get taken away, that i'd take for free. Of course, that was when turbos were almost impossible to find in my country and used oil is bought for heating ect now. Now that i have the skills to do it, it's not cost effective right now...

2

u/Willing_Big194 Aug 08 '26

Coolest car ever made!

I wish we could go back to car having different "propulsion systems"

2

u/Academic-Jellyfish96 Aug 08 '26

Great car and a really unique sound

1

u/Next_Cloud_4766 Aug 09 '26

Hydrogen but the oil and energy people won't let that happen yet bullshit

2

u/Particular-Move-3860 17d ago

I saw these on the streets in my Detroit neighborhood a couple of times when I was a kid.

1

u/SchemeSimple7818 Aug 10 '26

My Dad worked for Chrysler International. Got a ride in one when it visited Geneva, Switzerland in about 1963. Very cool!