Chrysler Turbine Car

The Chrysler Turbine Car was an experimental two-door hardtop coupe powered by a turbine engine, manufactured by Chrysler in 1963 and 1964. The Italian design studio Carrozzeria Ghia built the bodywork and Chrysler completed final assembly in Detroit. Fifty-five cars were made, five prototypes and fifty for a public user program, all painted a metallic shade called turbine bronze. From October 1963 to January 1966 a total of 203 drivers in 133 American cities drove the cars more than a million miles. The program exposed difficult starting, modest acceleration, poor fuel economy and noise, but also showed the engines were durable and smooth. Chrysler destroyed all but nine of the cars, and its turbine program ended in 1979.