We’ve been talking about gas turbine-powered cars quite a lot recently, including producing a film of our own, but this week’s Weekend Playlist features a number of clips from turbine-powered cars of years past—starting with the incredible Jet Age General Motors Firebird I.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKOdux6Gjno
General Motors’ Firebird line of cars were all powered by turbines, and all designed to prove to the world that General Motors made the world’s most stylish and technologically-advanced cars. Whether a “test tube” car as described in the first film or a continent-crushing coupe as the Firebird III was, we wish a bit more of 2015 borrowed from GM’s vision for the future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAgLSy371us
The Howmet TX is an incredible sports racing car from 1968, and we recently took it to the track—not to mention had some helicopter support—to give a small taste of how mesmerising a gas turbine race car can be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2A5ijU3Ivs
Jay Leno’s Garage is a show we always enjoy watching, for his incredible knowledge and contagious enthusiasm for vehicles of all sorts. And as the owner of more than two gas turbine-powered vehicles, he’s the ideal place to start if you want to learn more about these engineering marvels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpkvvsnv7Xk
We’re not sure where this promotional video from 1965 came from, but it appears to be a Rover documentary detailing the Rover-BRM gas turbine Le Mans car. It’s also nearly seven minutes of exciting period race footage—just think of the field in the 1965 race!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf--eHZuUtw
Finally, a glimpse of a Jaguar that never was, the Williams F1-engineered C-X75. On the left is a video of the concept, a car that was envisioned initially as an XJ13 tribute redefined as a gas turbine-electric hybrid. On the right, a clip of Autocar hooning one of the prototypes built—but with a punchy turbocharged and supercharged 4-cylinder fitted instead of a futuristic turbine. Fast? Absolutely—but not a turbine in sight.
