63 Turbine Car

[dardal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

The interesting thing with these cars is that even though they had a 
torqueflite, they did not have a torque converter.  There was a two stage 
turbine, each stage on different shafts.  The first stage was on the same shaft 
as the compressor, and its sole purpose in life was to keep the compressor and 
all accesories going.  The second stage was directly geared to the input shaft 
of the transmission with a high ratio reduction gear, so when the car was not 
moving, the turbine was not moving either (don't know how the front 
transmission pump was motivated when the car was sitting still, anyone?).  As 
you increased the throttle position trying to accelerate, the second stage 
turbine would gradually increase its pitch absorning torque from the fast 
moving combustion gasses.  

The big problem with these that sealed their fate was the huge fuel 
consumption, especially at light loads and idle, that never compensated for the 
potentially cheaper fuel.
D^2

Quoting Chris Boekhout <charger69@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:


>  One of the demonstrations they perform with the car is this nifty
> little
> trick : With the engine IDLING at 20,000 rpm, they place a nickel on top
> of
> the engine, standing on edge- the engine is so vibration free that the
> nickel does not fall over, very impressive piece of machinery.
> 
> Chris
> 
> 72 Lebaron
> 71 Lebaron,etc.etc