Called "one of the greatest publicity stunts in automotive history," the
Chrysler Turbine car program certainly also ranks as one of the most
unique automotive experiments, and its story continues to captivate
today, 50 years later.
By the spring of 1963, Chrysler's experiments with turbine-powered cars
were rather well known, not the least bit because Chrysler had over the
prior decade fitted some of its products with turbine engines and driven
them across the country. Of course, Chrysler wasn't the only automaker
looking into the technology - GM, Ford, Fiat, Kenworth,
and many others all investigated turbines, and the press of the day
frequently heralded the coming of the turbine car and subsequent death
of the reciprocating-piston engine - but Chrysler was the only automaker
to take the next logical step and start to develop a turbine-powered
car that it would make available to the public. So in May of 1963,
Chrysler not only introduced the Turbine car, it also announced that it
would make 50 of the cars available for three-month-long test drive.
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