Ford manufactured Boeing’s turbine-powered Thunderbirds in 1955.

The Ford Thunderbird was launched in the 1955 model and had fairly conventional engine options, but the Blue Oval also did a completely unusual experiment. The company once packed a gas turbine engine into the 1955 Thunderbird.

Ford archivist Ted Ryan posted a photo and test notes of a turbine-powered Thunderbird. On twitter on tuesday. These are artifacts from an era when automakers considered turbines as a possible alternative to traditional piston engines.

The project started in August 1955 and the car was ready for testing in March 1956. According to the test notes, the goal of the project was “to gain experience in packaging and operating gas turbine engines.” Ford also sought to learn “special benefits and problems associated with this type of power plant.”

To that end, Ford has invested $ 188,000 ($ 1955) in a turbine-powered Thunderbird prototype. The turbines supplied by the aircraft manufacturer Boeing were installed where traditional engines would normally be used, but had a large exhaust just behind the front wheels.

1955 Ford Thunderbird Gas Turbine Prototype

The results were mixed. The good points included good medium speed acceleration, good power-to-weight ratio, lack of vibration, and low maintenance requirements. However, the note also mentioned “serious acceleration delays at start-up,” front-mounted exhaust problems, and “many other characteristics that represent problem areas.”

Needless to say, Ford has never put a turbine-powered Thunderbird into production, but it wasn’t the only Detroit carmaker experimenting with turbine power.The Chrysler turbine car Introduced in 1962, Chrysler distributed 50 cars to customers for actual evaluation.

However, Chrysler was far less advanced than Ford, and most turbine cars were scrapped after the loan ended. Today, nine people survive, mainly in museums. Two are With personal hands, Jay Leno’s collection..

Thunderbirds, on the other hand, have continued in many ways for decades, but without turbine engines. Production of the last retro-style T-Bird ended after Ford’s 2005 model year. Keeping the trademark up to date Maintain control of the iconic nameplate.

https://ift.tt/7puG48j Ford manufactured Boeing’s turbine-powered Thunderbirds in 1955.

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