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Glow Gauges
Chrysler Turbine Cars were automobiles powered by gas turbine engines which the Chrysler Corporation assembled in a small plant in Detroit, Michigan in 1963, for use in the only consumer test of gas turbine-powered cars. more...
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It was the high point of Chrysler's decades-long project to build a practical turbine-powered car.
The fourth-generation Chrysler turbine engine, which ran at up to 45,700 rpm, would run on diesel fuel, unleaded gasoline, kerosene, JP-4 jet fuel, even vegetable oil. No adjustments were needed to switch from one to another. Its power turbine was connected, without a torque converter, through a gear reduction unit to an otherwise ordinary TorqueFlite automatic transmission. (The fluid coupling between the combustion gases and the power turbine provided exactly the same functionality as a torque converter but without using a conventional liquid medium.) Twin rotating heat exchangers, called regenerators, transferred exhaust heat to the inlet air, greatly improving fuel consumption. Varying stator blades prevented excessive top end speeds, and provided engine braking on deceleration. Throttle lag, poor low-end torque and high fuel consumption and exhaust gas temperatures at idle plagued early models; Chrysler was able to remedy or mitigate most of these drawbacks and deficiencies. Furthermore, the car sounded like a vacuum cleaner, which was not satisfying to consumers who were more comfortable with the sound of a large American V8.
The bodies and interiors were crafted by Ghia in Italy. As each body was finished and shipped to Detroit, Chrysler employees installed gas turbine engines, transmissions and electrical components to prepare the cars for use by the 203 average motorists who were chosen to test them.
The Turbine Car was a two-door hardtop coupe with four individual bucket seats, power steering, power brakes and power windows. Its most prominent design features were two large horizontal taillights and nozzles (back-up lights) mounted inside a very heavy chrome sculptured bumper. Up front, the single headlamps were mounted in chrome nacelles with a turbine styling theme, creating a striking appearance. This theme was carried through to the center console and the hubcaps. Even the tires were specially made with small turbine vanes molded into the white sidewalls. It was finished in "Frostfire Metallic", later called "Turbine Bronze" and available on production automobiles. The roof was covered in black vinyl, and the interior featured bronze-colored "English calfskin" leather upholstery with plush-cut pile bronze-colored carpet.
The dashboard was lighted with electroluminescent panels in the gauge pods and on a call-out strip across the dash. This system did not use bulbs; instead, an inverter and transformer raised the battery voltage to over 100 volts AC and passed that high voltage through special plastic layers, causing the gauges to glow with a blue-green light.
Read more at Wikipedia.org
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