The GM Whirlfire engines were gas turbines that the research division of General Motors developed in the 1950s and fitted to concept vehicles, among them the Firebird concept cars, the Turbo-Cruiser buses and the Turbo-Titan trucks of the 1960s. They are free-turbine turboshaft machines with two shafts on a common axis, one carrying the compressor and gasifier turbine and the other the power turbine. The first engine, the GT-300 of 1953, had no regenerator, and adding thermal wheel regenerators to the second-generation GT-304 cut fuel consumption by about half. From the third generation GT-305 the Allison Engine division took over commercialising the technology and built about one hundred of the final GT-404 design with ceramic parts. Cost and fuel consumption stayed worse than piston engines, so General Motors ended gas turbine development in the early 1980s.
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Source GM Whirlfire engine (Wikipedia)
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Source GM Whirlfire engine (Wikipedia)
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Source GM Whirlfire engine (Wikipedia)Lead, research division of General Motors CorporationQuote, Lead, research division of General Motors Corporation
The GM Whirlfire gas turbine engines were developed in the 1950s by the research division of General Motors Corporation and fitted to concept vehicles, including the Firebird concept cars, Turbo-Cruiser buses, and Turbo-Titan trucks through the 1960s.
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1. GM Whirlfire engine (Wikipedia)
Models, GT-300
The first engine, carrying an internal designation of GT-300 (1953), did not have a regenerator.
Lead, research division of General Motors Corporation
The GM Whirlfire gas turbine engines were developed in the 1950s by the research division of General Motors Corporation and fitted to concept vehicles, including the Firebird concept cars, Turbo-Cruiser buses, and Turbo-Titan trucks through the 1960s.
Of Make: General Motors, Lead, maker
The GM Whirlfire gas turbine engines were developed in the 1950s by the research division of General Motors Corporation and fitted to concept vehicles, including the Firebird concept cars, Turbo-Cruiser buses, and Turbo-Titan trucks through the 1960s.
Exemplifies: Road Transport, Lead, road engine
The GM Whirlfire gas turbine engines were developed in the 1950s by the research division of General Motors Corporation and fitted to concept vehicles, including the Firebird concept cars, Turbo-Cruiser buses, and Turbo-Titan trucks through the 1960s.
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