Chrysler Once Made a Car That Ran On Perfume and Tequila (The Future of Drinking Videos)

[@off_on_one]

It never caught on (unfortunately) because at the time all of the fuel was leaded... and the Chrysler couldn't run on leaded petrol

[@ottovonbiscuit132]

Also it brought another minor disadvantage. Due to it being a Turbofan type Turbine, at idle the Turbine ran at around 60% Load, as most turbines do, in order to spin the Compressor fast enough and feed enough air into the Combustion Chamber, to avoid Compressor Stall.

[@honeyham6788]

@@ottovonbiscuit132 could the technology used in Hybrid cars solve this problem?

[@ottovonbiscuit132]

@@honeyham6788 theoretically yes. Turbines are their most efficient and only economical really when running at peak load, for extended periods of time. A Gas Turbine isn't suited to the hill and valley power demands of daily driving. So using a Capacitor Bank or Batteries and Electrical Motors as Traction, having the Turbine drive a Generator is an option. Still Gas Turbines Actually are very sensitive engines and require a massive filter to clean the air before they can use it. In addition to that, they aren't the most responsive type of engine, taking several seconds to respond to throttle input, and even more time to start and warm up. While they are cool for sure, you would be better off with a Conventional Hybrid, a Fuel Cell Car, where the fuel cell basically represents the Turbine and Generator, or maybe, if you're set on improving the Power to Weight Ratio and responsiveness (batteries suck for that, as their energy density is quite low) you might try a Wankel Rotary Engine, which is lighter, has only a few moving parts and is very responsive. Mazda in fact has said they plan to use a rotary, in the future as a range extender in an electric vehicle.

[@honeyham6788]

@@ottovonbiscuit132 I was mostly interested in getting an engine that can run on anything and seeing how to improve that aspect of it. I live in the country so long distance driving with few stops is very likely a situation. I just don't like giving money to gas companies so if its possible to make an engine that runs on Vodka (or even Fry oil, I remember hearing all about cars that run on French Fry Oil from McDonalds in my youth) or whatever, that'd be great

[@k.k.poptart7469]

@@ottovonbiscuit132& Sebastian Ferguson Please continue this conversation! XD

[@jasminevasquez5842]

Ah yes, a car that runs on the same thing as college sorority girls...

[@mateopesic2062]

Now I've seen everything Car fucking for fuel I'm out goodbye thanks for making me have this image in my head

[@jasonbenjamin401]

Jasmine Vasquez ...What their entitlement and Daddy's money?

[@simonhorak]

And europeans

[@kingcampbell98]

Jasmine Vasquez 500 like I am 500

[@shinmalphur2734]

You said that and I imagined someone putting sorority girls in a wood chipper and funnelling them into the fuel tank

[@TheMightySpoon]

The Jäger mobile, never felt such a strong desire to own something until now

[@leedesrosiers3382]

r/casualalcoholism

[@tawattwaffle0420]

Or how about the Jäguar series?

[@genieooofuzzy4181]

that would be a literal irish car bomb

[@tinfoilhat38]

It’s worth mentioning that the destruction of prototypes was and still is standard practice in the auto industry. Also Chrysler kept on developing the turbine engine until their 1979 bankruptcy. Fuel efficiency was a major problem for these engines and they just couldn’t cope with the emissions laws of the 70’s.

[@Hawk013]

A friend of mine got his hands on a diesel powered Mercedes (ML350 I think) prototype, perfect condition, and had to crush the whole thing. Couldn't even get me the badge.

[@sandervanderkammen9230]

The major problem was cost

[@RoonMian]

It reminds me of the "Old Emma", the MAN 630 five ton truck the German army used decades ago. It had a multi-fuel-engine that had a spherical cavity inside the cylinders and didn't inject the fuel into the cylinder as an aerosol but painted it on the cylinder walls. Those things could run on anything, gas, diesel, leaded, unleaded, kerosene, ethanol... In an emergency you even could have used frying fat or salad oil though that must have smelled like the deepest pit of hell and you'd probably have been faster to just carry the cargo yourself.

[@syjiang]

Fuel economy is a big disadvantage with turbine engines seen in other common application, but for them the trade off is worth it. Automobile might not be the right use. Many modern naval ship has a CODOG layout to use diesel for efficient cruise and turbine for high speed dash. Core problem with something like a car is that even at idle output, the turbine needs to operate at a decent speed to stay operational and that guzzle fuel. Sure you can use a wide variety of fuel but that does nothing to help with fuel economy. Turbines engine also has a more complex starting process and wait time to get the turbine spun up to speed, presumably not very consumer friendly in that sense. Don't get me wrong, the car sounds amazing, but some engine are just not suited for the purpose. Its great for helicopters....highly reliable and at no point do you want it to shutdown during flight ahahaha.

[@nicholaskarras2759]

@@Hawk013 why did he need to crush it?

[@Gingergiant4004]

Fuel companies would have loved this car. Gas would still be the cheapest thing to run the engine on and if it took off, it would have driven up gas sales because, as the engineers said, it had low fuel efficiency.

[@alexzanderroberts995]

I wonder if diesel fuel would work with it?

[@cirrustate8674]

@@alexzanderroberts995 Did you not watch the video? It would run on ANYTHING combustible, and that does include diesel.

[@alexzanderroberts995]

@@cirrustate8674 yah, I kinda asked the question before I watched, I thought I deleted this comment. Sorry about that.

[@cirrustate8674]

@@alexzanderroberts995 Ahh. Yeah, that happens.

[@PlainBlueFolders]

Regarding the fuel stuff, it probably does actually check out. Thing is, all combustion reactions produce CO2 and water, and the energy to run the car comes from the creation of the CO2, so the more energy you can get from that reaction, the better. My theory is that there was no way to adjust the temperature of ignition, and therefore you would create too much unnecessary heat as a waste product which would produce extra emissions and decrease fuel efficiency. Also, emissions would be really hard to regulate if there are no fuel specifications. Additionally, a gallon of oil costs about $4, so it wouldn't be that much more economical even if it is possible. (I'm a ChemE and know a bit about cars.

[@PlainBlueFolders]

@Poly Bun Oh alright! Thank you for the explanation! I didn't know that that was the case and I appreciate the clarification. :)

[@Devtrek]

Now is actually the time to bring this car back. It was massively fuel inefficient - mostly with city driving because since it was a turbine it couldn't really idle at low fuel consumption. I think it'd make the most amazing hybrid, though, going all electric for city driving and then spinning up the turbine for long trips and extended range.

[@BinarySounds]

Basically a turboshaft engine, same as some helicopters and ships. Massively fuel inefficient as all turbine engines are and that's what killed it.

[@leerman22]

They put a weird rotating heat recouperator in it to increase efficiency, still I can''t imagine how much fuel is needed just to idle. Probably best to look back at for extended range electric cars and hearing the whizzing of the turbine on the freeway.

[@dalton5160]

@Nogilthazaa a hybrid vehicle with the turbine engine and better power cells could revolutionize the automobile industry. You could have a car that can run on anything in a pinch and the battery would help extend range by a tonne.

[@dalton5160]

@Nogilthazaa I have one counter argument. Tesla motors

[@alysonwhitener4253]

"I can see the confusion in your eyes." -Karl Brad has eyes, confirmed.

[@catgirlgrunge]

Reminds me of that one scene in Back To The Future 2 when Doc Brown is shoving things into the DeLorean.

[@sloff2911]

Mmmm I do love me the turbine. The rear light/turbine part on the rear of the car is to die for.... So sad Chrysler had to destroy most of them

[@ottovonbiscuit132]

Common Practice in the industry. You spend millions on R&D, it doesn't work out, you destroy it. Prevent competition from using your research and gaining an edge.

[@tonymay6344]

Why did they have to do that?

[@RotaAbyssian]

To this day, chrysler is my favorite car company I ran the 94 chrysler concorde(a car one year my younger) into the fucking ground. I could drive a straight week on empty without fueling it up just fine.

[@donutchan8114]

WHAT!? NOOOOOO I was about to look up this car to buy it, I've been had. I dont have the money to buy uber rare booze cars.

[@jaredbaker5447]

Actually saw one of these at a car show about a month ago, was really cool to see. And there's a couple reasons it never caught on. For one the fuel economy wasn't that great, even for the time, and when combined with the fact it couldn't run on standard fuel (which was leaded) meant that fueling it up was probably a hassle. However the main issue was that it failed to meet emission regulations, and that was back in the 60s, they've only gotten tighter since. And the reason they had to be destroyed was that it was a prerequisite of the government loan they received.

[@williamoneswhannell1060]

James may car of the people was the show and Jay Leno owns one. (I knew Dave would come in handy one day)

[@raphaelzepeda980]

See cause they knew this car would be a threat to big oil company's in the future so they said kill it!

[@callumdonington2227]

@@raphaelzepeda980 Why would a car that runs on petroleum fuel at half the economy of a normal car be a threat to oil companies? They'd love it.

[@raphaelzepeda980]

@Poly Bun but I'm pretty sure the technology could have been worked on and advanced but concept was trashed , also why would the outside help tell the government to get rid of it if it didn't feel threatened

[@FastForwardPlans]

@@callumdonington2227 Well while it runs better then half, I can think of one reason it could be a threat. There is a balancing act that goes on with oil companies, one that is the reason why they are mostly fine with cars getting gradually more fuel efficient. Everyone needs to drive or take a gas powered vehicle regardless in most countries because there is always a few things too far to walk to, however if it cost too much to drive, people will travel less, only driving when they absolutely have to. If they only travel as much as they have to, they will buy gas less. If they are buying gas less, then regardless of the price of that fuel they will make less money. Ergo, they don't want cars to suck too much. Just sorta suck.

[@trickerxw1355]

Someone tag Chrysler and mention this car and see how they respond

[@SuperEvilRussian]

I believe the idea was to ask chrysler on twitter about it

[@baylee9879]

Just make some moonshine and you don’t even have to pay for gas like wtf I want a jet car

[@Quasi_Terrible]

“A bit of a ball ache” that’s a great phrase, I am going to bring that to America!

[@pyroyuy]

You had me at tequila.

[@theblackbaron4119]

Randy is a strange name for a white girl though :P

[@JakobM16]

Hell the US M1 Abrams tank has the same thing with its gas turbine engine. So the tech is still used for military applications. And the engine is known as a gas guzzler so the fuel inefficiency line from Chrysler is probably true.

[@Lintary]

Turbines are inefficient when you are not moving, but when moving they are no worse off or might even be better off. But yeah in stop and go traffic it would not be nice.

[@JakobM16]

@@Lintary Yeah, most get higher efficiency the higher the RPMs so it'd suck in city traffic. It'd be fun for cruising the countryside though.

[@ironized]

Yeah was wondering why this wasn’t mentioned.

[@Benny---]

The Original prototypes of the M1 Abrams tanks were designed by Chrysler around this same time period.

[@twistedyogert]

@@Lintary If the turbine drove a generator it could run in its most efficient region of the power band since electric motors would be doing all the work. Charge a battery off of the generator and the turbine only needs to run when the battery needs charging.

[@sydneyhobbs9817]

Nice choice! The beer belly is tough to ditch if you don’t get on it early. Best wishes!

[@strangegeuse]

Karl's knowledge of the Simpson's will never cease to amaze me.

[@kubeek]

3:15 no maintance - aeah, no. industrial engines used in prefect dirtless conditions need a complete overhaul about every 1500-2000 running hours, taking about two weeks to do. That is about 120,000km or 75k miles if you average 60km/h and I bet that you don´t. Imagine complete dismantling, new bearings etc and putting it back together. And then the noise when it is running....

[@leojensen9270]

Yeah I laughed when he said no maintenance. If it has moving parts you will need to maintain it.

[@PSOnoni]

@@leojensen9270 as a reliability engineer, you are 100% correct!

[@lukalaa1764]

Interesting fact: The M1 Abrams has a turbine engine. Mission get a booze car: Step one: steal abrams tank

[@darkfalzx]

In the late 90s I worked for an old man who was one of the 50 people chosen by Chrysler to try a turbine cars. Damn, do I wish I listened to his story more carefully, as for some reason he absolutely hated the damn thing. Mostly, I think his problem was with the car being unconventional. I remember he bitched that you had to let it run for a couple of minutes before driving, as it had to build break pressure. Finally, I think the car was irreversibly damaged when his wife filled it up with leaded gasoline.

[@Psi105]

Turbine cars also had the issue of terrible handling because they had a super fast spinning and heavy turbine causing gyroscopic effects when you tried to take a corner.

[@d0pomein]

Any regular diesel engine unmodified will run fine on any liquid cooking oil, be it vegetable, shortening, etc etc. The only real problem is most oils used in cooking are a bit acidic and and will mess up your tubing if you don't modify them.

[@Robert5hw]

That's all well and good that it would run off almost anything combustible... but most of those things cost more per gallon than regular gasoline. Right now where I live, regular gas is $2.45 and diesel about $2.75. A gallon of Walmart brand peanut oil is $12. A half gallon of bottom shelf tequila is about $13, so $26 gallon. A 3.4 oz bottle of Paris Mademoiselle Perfume (cheapest on Amazon) costs $11. 128 oz in a gallon equals 37.6 bottles. One gallon of cheap perfume would cost $413.60. I suppose you could make your own moonshine, but the initial cost for setup of a copper still is around $2,000. Then you've got the recurring cost for the corn, yeast, and sugar which end up costing about $10 a gallon to make the stuff. Sure you can sell that moonshine for at least double the production cost, but we're talking personal use in your vehicle. Backtracking to the oil, you could always try to offer fast food joints free disposal of their cooking oils, but then you've got a lot of filtering to do to so you don't end up gumming up the turbine. But if this car were to become popular, then you're going to either be fighting other people for the oil, or the fast food industry will get wise to it and start charging you for their old oils. Even if you tried to run it off actual alternative fuels, kerosene and propane cost roughly the same as regular gas. The Turbine car never took off because even though the maintenance was non-existent and it could run on anything combustible, it wasn't worth the cost of changing your motor out for something that would cost the same to run.

[@angelfanphilly22]

I just found out today that Karl writes for Today I found out!! That's awesome man! Keep doing what you're doing.

[@NDC1115]

Chrysler wasn't the only one, General motors built a few prototype semi tractors, and International Harvester put one in a farm tractor!

[@alexandersorenson8886]

I just have to watch even one of your videos to cheer me up after a bad day. Keep going strong!!!

[@TRohrich]

One of the big problems with those gas turbine engines is they aren't very efficient; especially on start up. US M1A1 tanks are run on similar engines and they are so thirsty on start up it is more fuel efficient to just keep then running around the clock rather than turning them off and back on if the tank is going to be halted for a night.

[@sp33d4l0l]

Jaguar actually tried to bring this concept back in the early 2010s with the CX-75 concept. Intended as a competitor for Porsche, McLaren and Ferrari's hybrid flagships, the original CX-75 concept used two micro gas turbine engines as generators for four electric motors, which had a combined power output of around 790 horsepower. Sadly the turbine drivetrain got scrapped and they continued development with a more traditional piston engine coupled with a 19 kWh battery pack and two electric motors, which did have a higher combined power output of around 900 horsepower. Unfortunately, after building a few prototypes, the company got into financial trouble and the whole project was cancelled. A CX-75 prototype did show up in the James Bond film Spectre though.

[@Tizzandor]

I somehow now think that if cars with that engine would be everywhere, there would be a lot of college girls cracking open fuel caps to get drunk for free

[@Tizzandor]

@@re1010 i'd say if it can burn it's fine, tequila is not pure and made no problems. The stuff that didn't ignite would just be blown out the exhaust

[@ultrainstinctshaggy2745]

Another reason they stop making them is because it was extremely loud. You think riced out Civics at 4:00 am in the morning is bad, imagine a jet doing the same thing. If you go to California and take a tour of Jay Leno Garage they will start the car up but up have to wear ear plugs.

[@satibel]

"that engine is a complete write-off if ou put the wrong fuel in" my old military truck disagrees.

[@satibel]

one of the biggest problem is that it idles at like 25k rpm an guzzles fuel like bender, also Chrysler hit some economic troubles and couldn't afford the tooling for a new engine.

[@thicczucc6752]

I love this channel it's great to be able to come home from school and always have a new video waiting for me. Thanks guys

[@flapjack279]

I've been watching this for about 2 years now and I'm always on my ass laughing or always learning something new

[@erikdavis3584]

I did enjoy the video, and I hope you have a great week too, Karl.

[@danbrit9848]

That explains the unimog power plant for military trucks of some types that I hear also run on anything

[@minecraftnerd3206]

Thanks for answering the questions. I support you in your aim to be lean.

[@Dfturcott]

One of these cars is in the museum of the Detroit historical society in Detroit. I’ve seen it and it’s cool.

[@Cyberwolfman]

The problem is service. Dealers make more money on servicing vehicles rather than sales. So, just as most dealers hate selling EVs for their lack of a need of maintenance after driving off the lot, the same thing happened with the Turbine car.

[@paytyler]

It's called E85 flex fuel cars Karl. It's here, it's real, and you'll absolutely love it.

[@scoopian1468]

Fun Fact the batmobil from the Adam West Serie was a Prototyp of the car painted Black Red

[@nickdonaldson466]

Was on the bus when this popped up in my feed, was my only thought till I got home

[@Austin-gb1cq]

100 octane Low Lead (100LL) is used in 4 stroke aviation aircraft. The lead stabilizes the high octane and prevents pre ignition.

[@smeatar]

Proud of you Karl, making healthier choices

[@SaiScribbles]

"Inexplicably" meaning they realized they wouldn't make money off repairs and would destroy the fuel industry.

[@jamesroseii]

Glad you've decided to cut back! Good luck!

[@benmckenzie234]

Another one to add to the list of extras that got rocked hard is that one staff member in the continental hotel gets riddled with a mag of bullets from 2 special ops in John Wick 3

[@jeffbrooks5580]

Yeah another Friday drinking with Brad kinda good job bro and your underlings did great yeah !!!! Brad

[@Syrasruse]

Brad & Karl pls do more car videos!

[@misschief4283]

Thing is perfume, alcohol and oil are all more expensive than petrol/diesel, so why would fuel companies care about this car?

[@uninspiringspoon9578]

Haven't watched these in a while and I come back to a drinking video? As karl once said: "YEAAAAAAAAA"

[@G0reMay]

I love your videos they light up my day when I see em

[@festivedestroyer3252]

You can put gas in a diesel engine so long as you put transmission fluid in it or more diesel

[@RileyTheLongboarder]

The fucking noise Brad makes at 0:11 had me in stitches

[@markmcgehee3864]

The question is will my teacher get mad if I use this as a source in a speech Also you made me go from having my favorite car by the Mosquito (el Camino) to this, thank you

[@narthted8200]

A couple of things to note about this from the perspective of an engineering student are: 1. Turbines are a maintenance nightmare, I know that this was addressed in the vid but how many times has durability been greatly overstated, 2. Turbines are extremely fragile compared to piston based engines. And 3. Turbines are much less efficient than piston engines. The turbine cars would have likely been like wankel rotary engines but more expensive and harder to maintain when they enviably break down.

[@grinreaperoftrolls7528]

OH MY GOD! THAT CAR IS BENDER! Bite its shiny metal ass 😂

[@MrHack4never]

FUN FACT: after they drove the car on tequila and found out it worked, they claimed that it was a waste of tequila

[@GenMav]

I'm fairly certain the engine on the Abrams tank is similar to this as it is a turbine that can take several different types of fuel.

[@heylookitsakook166]

The car never made it big because it produced Nitrogen Oxides, regulations prevented production of the cars because Chrysler couldn’t find a way around the emissions.

[@ottovonbiscuit132]

Gas turbines are not fit to the power demands in a car. You constantly modulate the throttle, increasing and deceasing engine speed, and that's not what turbines like to do. they want to run at constant speed, either producing constant thrust or running a Generator. And Spooling takes time, sometimes the better part of a Minute. And during this time they don't burn the fuel very efficiently ejecting a good bit of it out the back as black smoke. If you want an engine with few parts that is light and Responsive, also fun to drive, look for a Rotary. It combines a lot of the benefits the CGT would have brought, with the advantages of a Internal Combustion Engine. (although they feast on engine oil, and require more regular maintenance as well as slightly more fuel. Those in the know will shudder when I mention Apex Seals)

[@troylange3553]

@@ottovonbiscuit132 I wonder if you could follow the electric diesel train engine model and create a small turbine engine that runs at a consistent rate to charge the electrical systems... a turbine hybrid car.

[@ottovonbiscuit132]

@@troylange3553 that would be indeed be possible, although I doubt it would be useful, as the Turbine, accessories, generator etc, would come in heavier than a normal Small ICE

[@youngoaktree5154]

great, now I really want one of these cars just to fill it up with tennessee whiskey and say I got here on whiskey power.

[@poloBMS]

*sitting around a circle* Hyde: “so there’s this car that runs on water man“

[@cryaesthetic3603]

Finally a vid about something I already knew about!

[@Glorfand244]

Hope you have a great week too Karl... And I guess you too new editor. Ok, Brad have a nice week as well.

[@ultrainstinctshaggy2745]

They had a missile division in the 60's. They came up with a "turbo" car, with one problem it didn't have a turbo. They use jet fuel in a bottle to feed a "turbo" fan to disperse the fuel in to the engine. What killed it was it would explode or catch fire because when too much fuel go in it would start a fire.

[@garrettreily1033]

My question is, could you mix the type of fuel you put in? Like have it be 3/4 gas but 1/4 hairspray and a few spritzes of perfume, or did it have to be purely one thing?

[@normang3668]

I think mixed fuels would likely work, although the car's performance would likely vary greatly depending on what you were throwing into the tank.

[@nickthompson9697]

The Lexus LFA does that too. And you still need to check the oil.

[@JasonDitz]

While this seems to be a super cool feat of engineering, and I love the sound it makes, I question its utility outside of some sort of Fallout game where there is no gasoline. Yes it CAN run on anything, but how many combustible liquids are even close to economical to run a car on? I can get a gallon of gasoline or diesel for $3. A gallon of rubbing alcohol is going to be at least $10. Nail polish remover is about $15/gal. This is great for cleaning out the remnants of an old Home Depot during the Zombie apocalypse, but I just don't see why I'd use it under ordinary circumstances.

[@TheWolfHowling]

Because of turbines higher power-to-weight ratio, there was a thought about using them for the genset of range extended EVs. Jaguar design using duel microturbines on the C-X75 concept car. However, it wasn't to be as the turbine eventually got replaced with a forced induction piston engine before the entire program was axed

[@chiiyon]

I WATCHED JUST 1, 1 VIDEO!!! NOW I CAN'T STOP WACHING YOUR VIDEOS D:

[@thomasliptak9469]

A car like this would be one of the most useful things to exist considering what happened recently

[@athl0n]

Old diesels can run on petrol without much issue (in fact, it was recommended to add a bit of petrol to the diesel tank during frosty winter) - doesn’t work the other way around tho, and it doesn’t work with modern common rail Diesel engines.

[@Iceman-kr6df]

The m1 abrams uses a turbine as it’s power plant, so not only would you sound like a plane, but you’d also be driving the closest thing to a tank that a person who isn’t driving a tank could drive Like the turbine car it also runs on pretty much anything that is liquid and burns. Probably also works with some gases but the fuel pumps probably wouldn’t be happy

[@srtgrayfrance]

Rover made one too. The fuel economy was awful.

[@jamesglenn4151]

your were on fire with your bottle flips today dude credit where credit is due

[@omnipossum92]

I paused this video to look more into it and ended up on a video where a guy makes a turbo jet powered scooter.

[@spacemarines1371]

I want one. But does it run on water. Diesel cars also work on peanut oil

[@jupward8468]

It should be said that Jaguar fiddled with the idea of Turbine Engines back in 2010 with the CX-75 concept, this was scraped later on for a 1.6l 4 Cylinder Turbo Hybrid system that produced over 900hp. Unfortunately the car didn't make it to production.

[@ItsAaldrik]

A bit late, but most US petrol is up to 10% ethanol. About as much as a strong beer, and race engines tend to run E85 (85%). You can run your race car on moonshine, just don't drink from the tank.

[@mikagrimm8482]

This may be the earliest I've ever gotten to a video ever 😂😂

[@danielsanders4521]

Aqua Teen Hunger Force also experimented with the idea of a turbine car. Went just about as well as Chrysler's efforts did.

[@alexkennedy183]

the hotwad

[@LeIronPickle]

I LOVE your content bud.

[@darrenkelly1638]

Top Gear also made a car that runs on crisps...

[@scottdparrott]

Pringles car PRINGLES CAR

[@TheosDeorum]

Love your videos keep up the good work!

[@Mis73rRand0m]

There were also busses powered by Chrysler Turbines. Wonder if they are around at all?

[@rafagd]

Plenty of cars in Brazil can run on both Alcohol and Gasoline. But you can't drink the car's alcohol because it contains solvents used to separate it from the water that would otherwise ruin the engine.

[@pramienjager2103]

You might get to this, but I am impatient and so I want to mention it now. The draw back to this car was at the time people wanted more and faster acceleration, hotrods and dragraces were all the rage. The turbine in this car had a small delay when accelerating though, when you were sitting at a red light and stomped the accelerator it would spool up for about half or 3/4 of a second before it started to move forward. I would 100% be OK with that, but at the time most people were not.

[@HaightTheGreat]

I once had a girl friend that ran off of Hennessy and Axe body spray.

[@H3xx99]

Given how fucking expensive alcohol is, I think I'll stick to gas. I'll drop both of them for an electric car.

[@TheZebinator]

To be absolutely fair though a petrol car would pretty easily run on straight alcohol if it was strong enough as the water in a weak liquor will break the engine. There are also many diesel engines that happily run on vegetable oil with basically no modifications, regular piston engines are a really really simple thing in theory as they are basically just glorified airpumps that can power themselves

[@laurenkirby97]

Being something of a jet engine enthusiast I can safely state that a car like that would, in fact, have much less emissions than one with a normal engine. In the case of alcohol, emissions would be near 0 aside from any non-combustible impurities in the alcohol. Moreover, alcohols and biodiesels can be used in jet engines to great effect in the place of less sustainable and environment-safe fuels. I'll probably try to modify my own car to have something like this if I ever get the time and money for it (and potentially get it approved if necessary).

[@b.thomas8926]

In the end they couldn't meet government regulations on fuel efficiency. Which is horseshit. They could run on Canola Oil. The fuel efficiency standards law wasn't specific enough to the fuel type. In other-words, it was about miles per gallon of _______ rather than miles per gallon for gasoline or diesel. The engine even produced less pollution and was attractive to the predecessor of the EPA. One of the Chrysler engineers in an interview on a documentary of the car said that big oil used the loophole in the law to lobby the end of the R and D of the engine. That was his (personal) opinion and the source of the rumors. Officially, Chrysler stated that the engine consumed to much fuel of any type to be practical and they felt consumers wouldn't find the engine type attractive. Characteristics of the car was that it was slow to accelerate due the run up time on the turbine. It was thought that the spin up time could be reduced with further research.

[@woodrow_mayes]

Diesels can run on used vegetable oil from chip fryers, most high performance racing cars do run on alcohol of a sort, ethanol. It is alcohol but you would just keel over if you drank it . Also if you convert a car to run on ethanol you will realise that fuel economy does decrease , which wouldnt be that bad if it was substantially cheaper but it isn't. It doesn't surprise that Chrysler never went through since that gains were not enough to justify over a petrol or diesel vehicle, although diesel passenger cars weren't that common back then.

[@beefcakesasquatch6608]

Can't make money selling cars that don't break. Reminds me of a story about Canada commissioning some defence contractor make them a new apc or something like that. The company made it just the way Canada liked. So then some years down the road that company went back to Canada and said " he remember that thing we made for you? Well we made a better one. Gave it a facelift and some new upgrades we really think you would like!" To which Canada replied " wtf for?! These old things are great, the don't break down and the preform exact the way we want them to.". Then the company was like " but but we just spent millions on developing these upgrades for you.". Then Canada was like " sorry bout your luck, we're just going to hang on to our old ones."

[@foximacentauri7891]

Upsides: runs on anything, durable, high max output. Downsides: loud, heavy, slow RPM changes (bad acceleration and long start-up time), and not very efficient if run at anything but it’s designed RPM. It’s a jet engine. It’s very good for aircraft and turbo-electric systems (often found in ships and other very big vehicles), but not well suited for cars.

[@flamingdratini7846]

hey karl im pretty sure modern military vehicles (like the abrams tank) use a turbine of some sort as their engines.

[@kanchur3432]

I was watching The Flash season 2 and in some episodes. they mentioned a turbine supercar that can run on any kind of oil. I was like "stop bullshitting". Here I am, dropping my jaw when I heard this thing exist in the 60s.

[@hilbilly1000]

Used to live near a biodiesel maker and seller and loaded up the car there. Drove around smelling like a chippy.