Chrysler's development of the turbine engine began in the depression era, with exploratory engineering surveys which established that the turbine could become a viable automotive power source. But development was impeded by the high cost of materials and the lack of advancement in turbine design at the time.

In the post-war boom, Chrysler began new turbine studies, but the turbine's characteristic gas-guzzling and searingly high exhaust temperatures seemed likely to prevent it from ever rivaling the piston engine.

Chrysler would overcome the turbine's two major shortcomings and put their company at the forefront of the race to create a new car with as much promise and excitement as the jet age itself.

In 1963, Chrysler built 55 protoypes of this revolutionary car and loaned them out to the public-at-large to test them under varied conditions and to gauge the public's reaction to turbine power.

Although the recommended fuel was diesel, the Turbine Car would run on ANY flammable liquid. At one point or another, Turbine Cars were run, without adjustments, on unleaded gas, kerosene, jet fuel, home heating oil, peanut oil, tequila and even Chanel No. 5.

Public reaction to the car was very favorable, but the EPA's ever-tightening restrictions on the emissions of piston engines would cause Chrysler to forsake development of the turbine engine in favor of getting the piston engine up to par. Almost all of the gorgeous Turbine Cars were crushed or melted to avoid paying import tariffs on their Italian-built bodies. The new Turbine Car design they were planning for 1966 got a conventional piston engine and became the 1966 Charger Fastback. That's right, the Charger was originally designed as a turbine-powered car!

Get the whole story of the 1963 Chrysler Turbine Car in the print edition of Barracuda #4. It's a 7 page feature with great photos and info on the advancement of the automotive turbine in the post-war era.

"We in Detroit's automobile industry may feel that the automobile is the most important sociological and economic factor in our lives today. But, since the automobile is also a business for us, we are accustomed to appraising it from quite an objective standpoint. So, when we find that people in the other parts of the country magnify our enthusiasm for something new, we are sometimes surprised. The story of the Chrysler automotive gas turbine embodied in our consumer evaluation 50-car program has been, to many industry people, one of those sunrises."

-- George Huebner,
father of the automotive turbine