Tribute to the 1962-1964 Chrysler Turbine Powered Coupe

A tribute to Chrysler's revolutionary 1962-1964 turbine powered coupe which was distributed and test-driven during the Studebaker Avanti production period. View Turbine Car

FYI, it's a 1963 Chrysler Turbine, not a "62-64".

A tribute to Chrysler's revolutionary 1962-1964 turbine powered coupe which was distributed and test-driven during the Studebaker Avanti production period. View Turbine Car

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Yes, they are correctly referred to as 1963s, but Wikipedia refers to them as the "Chrysler Turbine cars that Chrysler Corporation made between 1962 and 1964 and I used this to make a connection in my "Avanti Time Capsule" to the Studebaker Avanti years."

I was heading up the I-5 in Burbank, CA a few years ago and saw Jay Leno driving his turbine.

I had gotten two sales promo models, and I still have them to this day from the 64-65 Worlds Fair. I was up at The Henry Ford Museum there is one there and I know the Chrysler Museum had one when they were open

I made a deliberate effort to associate the turbine car production period with the Studebaker Avanti production

Interesting point.

Avanti is a great car,

The Turbine might have been as well

A tribute to Chrysler's revolutionary 1962-1964 turbine powered coupe which was distributed and test-driven during the Studebaker Avanti production period. View Turbine Car

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Thanks Mr. Gallatin.

I had to clean up this thread guys.

Thanks Mr. Gallatin.

I had to clean up this thread guys.

Thank you. I just joined today and was wondering if I had made a mistake.

I realized that. Some of these fellows take a little getting used to, but we're all here for the fun.

Take care,

Wayne

Thank you. I just joined today and was wondering if I had made a mistake.

on my iPhone the joining date and post numbers don't show....

I'm sure no ill will was intended...

Welcome to AACA forum !!

Here are three I saw in Michigan in June. Gillmore Museum, Henry Ford Museum and the Chrysler museum....

When I was a tyke this car was the end of the world for me -- and it still pushes my buttons.

I remember a car show 1975 at the Alabama fairgrounds in Birmingham , one of the Chrysler turbine cars was in the show.

It was big deal for a kid to see that car

My next door neighbor was a Chrysler engineer when I was a kid. He was one of the 50 families who got to test the cars. I would get up every morning at 6:00 a.m. to hear him start up that jet engine-sounding vehicle. It is one car that impressed me the most in my childhood.

What year did the turbine car run at Indy or am I disremembering?

I don't have too many memories from that part of my life but the Chrysler Turbine at The Worlds Fair and getting to meet Mikey Mantle and Paul Horning at Sheafer Beer Pavilion at the "Circle of Sports" thinking about it now that is about the only two things I remember from that time in my life, it had left that much of an impact.

I also remember seeing some real bad Elvis type movie where the Turbine was used in as some sort of secret super experamental race car, maybe I am wrong about it but I am pretty sure I saw it

What year did the turbine car run at Indy or am I disremembering?

1967 & 1968.

The then sanctioning body, USAC, basically banned the turbine powered cars by restricting the size of the air intake to the point of making it non-competitive. Today Indy car racing is purely a 'spec-car' series, one chassis - two engines. Innovation, the very thing that drove Indy racing to the pinnacle all racing is just a fond memory to those of us that remember the excitement it brought to us.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STP-Paxton_Turbocar

I don't have too many memories from that part of my life but the Chrysler Turbine at The Worlds Fair and getting to meet Mikey Mantle and Paul Horning at Sheafer Beer Pavilion at the "Circle of Sports" thinking about it now that is about the only two things I remember from that time in my life, it had left that much of an impact.

I also remember seeing some real bad Elvis type movie where the Turbine was used in as some sort of secret super experamental race car, maybe I am wrong about it but I am pretty sure I saw it

Yes! "The Lively Set" with Elvis has a white Turbine car.

The "Lively Set" does have a white turbine car, but not Elvis. It stars James Darren.

The "Lively Set" does have a white turbine car, but not Elvis. It stars James Darren.

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Oh yeah....not Elvis. Oops!

In 1963 I saw one of these Chrysler Turbine cars at a mall in San Diego. At age 13, I was totally enamored by the car! But the thing that I've never forgotten is that the man who was talking about the engine and how smooth it was, balanced a nickel on edge on the engine while it was running! The nickel just stayed put!

Here's a sampling of the technical manual I have for the 1963 Chrysler Turbine car. I got it from my neighbor's daughter when he drove the car. Printed April 5th, 1963 and contains darn near everything you ever want to know about the cars in the 41 pages....

WOW!!! neat stuff, can't be many of those book around! Seems well engineered until I saw 7.50 X 14 tires on 5" rims, you think they would have went to at least a 8.00 X 14 on a 6 " rim

WOW!!! neat stuff, can't be many of those book around! Seems well engineered until I saw 7.50 X 14 tires on 5" rims, you think they would have went to at least a 8.00 X 14 on a 6 " rim

I think it is a mid-sized car (called mid-size in that era), so 14" tires were fairly common on mid-sized cars.

My high-school physics teacher got to drive one but only because it was someone he knew that had the car. I need to try to remember what he had told to me about his driving impressions.

I first saw one of these cars "in the light of day" at Mopar Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park in the 1990s. That particular car still had the original Goodyears on it . . . although I don't recall the size, they were narrow-treaded whitewalls and most probably 14" wheels. The car was designed to be more T-bird size than Avanti size, by observation. Seems that this particular car had been in a museum in prior times, so it was a big deal for it to be at a premier Chrysler-oriented event. The same people had it at the next few Mopar Nats, too, as I recall.

It was a very luxurious car for the time! A nice-sized 4-place leather interior and a large luggage compartment. Plenty of room, in a time when size = luxury.

Somewhere, I have a brochure on the Chrysler Turbine Engine. That it'll run on anything from diesel, to jet fuel, to expensive French perfume. Pretty dang neat!

The first experimental Chrysler Turbines began in 1954, or thereabouts. Some were in Plymouths, some in Dodges, and ending with the model-specific '63 Chrysler Turbine Car. All usually had some unique styling feature to subtly set them apart from normal production vehicles of those times.

GM also had a short foray into turbine-powered vehicles. For them, it was the Titan90 show truck, a tractor-trailer type truck, circa 1970. Seems like Ford also had a few turbine-powered concept cars back then, too?

Just some rememberences,

NTX5467

I think it is a mid-sized car (called mid-size in that era), so 14" tires were fairly common on mid-sized cars.

I am aware of that, but I would have thought they would have went with a wider 14" tire

The Chrysler turbine eventually found a production vehicle for the turbine;

The M-1 Abrams tank

The St. Louis Museum of Transportation has a Chrysler turbine car.