Gee folks, I just want to apologize for taking an awful long
time to get this week’s Freaky Friday post up and running. A good way to look
at it, though, is that now, most of you should be home from work now and
actually have time to surf the net and read this post. =D
Anyway, I hope you like our selection for the week.
Ever hear of the 1963 Chrysler Turbine? Not many people
have. That’s because it’s production ended in 1979 and a majority of the fleet
was rounded up and destroyed.
That's because "Destroying the cars was the only realistic solution, for a number of reasons. First of all, selling the cars to the public was totally out of the question. Maintenance and support infrastructure would have been nonexistent. It took a team of five specially trained mechanics, dedicated full-time, to keep the brand-new Turbine Cars running during the public trials.
Not surprisingly, the bronze beauties were far from trouble-free. Expensive materials to contain the initial (not final) 500 degree exhaust and certain performance aspects unique to the turbine were also considerations. The Turbine Cars had to be fed kerosene or diesel, neither of which was all that convenient to buy. Leaded gas left problematic deposits on the turbine blades."
Now, Chrysler did their very best to preserve their fleet of Turbine, but "In 1963, there certainly weren't 55 car museums willing and able to adopt and care for these cars. The nine that were saved and allocated to museum[s] seems about right for the times. Super-rich private collectors, like Jay Leno, were not common in those days of high incremental tax rates. The Turbine Car program had fulfilled its purpose of gaining potential customer feedback, and it was time to wrap it up."
(To read more from this article, go here: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2009/11/the-truth-about-why-chrysler-destroyed-the-turbine-cars/ )
So, sadly, we had to see it go. It's a shame, because if you think about the concept of a turbine engine, it really is something spectacular! It certainly would be something to pick back up today, don't you think?
Anyway, the reason we wanted to give you a bit of info about the '63 Turbine was because of our Freaky Friday photo that we chose:
It's not entirely "Freaky" at all, but the whole idea of the concept of a Turbine-powered car not having wheels, giving it the ILLUSION of being a sort of early-concept HOVERCAR, that's what we like about this photo.
We hope that you like it, too, and learned some interesting facts today! Please, let us know. Leave a comment below! =D
That's because "Destroying the cars was the only realistic solution, for a number of reasons. First of all, selling the cars to the public was totally out of the question. Maintenance and support infrastructure would have been nonexistent. It took a team of five specially trained mechanics, dedicated full-time, to keep the brand-new Turbine Cars running during the public trials.
Not surprisingly, the bronze beauties were far from trouble-free. Expensive materials to contain the initial (not final) 500 degree exhaust and certain performance aspects unique to the turbine were also considerations. The Turbine Cars had to be fed kerosene or diesel, neither of which was all that convenient to buy. Leaded gas left problematic deposits on the turbine blades."
Now, Chrysler did their very best to preserve their fleet of Turbine, but "In 1963, there certainly weren't 55 car museums willing and able to adopt and care for these cars. The nine that were saved and allocated to museum[s] seems about right for the times. Super-rich private collectors, like Jay Leno, were not common in those days of high incremental tax rates. The Turbine Car program had fulfilled its purpose of gaining potential customer feedback, and it was time to wrap it up."
(To read more from this article, go here: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2009/11/the-truth-about-why-chrysler-destroyed-the-turbine-cars/ )
So, sadly, we had to see it go. It's a shame, because if you think about the concept of a turbine engine, it really is something spectacular! It certainly would be something to pick back up today, don't you think?
Anyway, the reason we wanted to give you a bit of info about the '63 Turbine was because of our Freaky Friday photo that we chose:
We hope that you like it, too, and learned some interesting facts today! Please, let us know. Leave a comment below! =D
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