How Jay Leno Resurrected His Chrysler Turbine Car
When you own an experimental car from nearly 70 years ago, parts are only the start of your problems when things go wrong. If anyone is going to be an example of problems like this it’s Jay Leno. The man has a collection that spans pretty much the entire existence of the automobile, and that brings about a whole host of unique problems to solve when things go wrong.
The latest example is the Turbine Bronze Chrysler coupe that was recently brought back to life after an unfortunate engine seizure some time ago. Jay bought the car directly from Chrysler and drove it around regularly for a few years before the turbine stopped one day and turned the car into a very fancy, very interesting, very expensive rolling paperweight. If you think whatever car you have is impossible to get parts for, now imagine the parts you are searching for are aircraft-grade and were produced as part of an experimental program 70 years in the past. There are no spare parts. None.
So what to do? Well, you go to the place that built the parts in the first place. Jay shipped the car to Williams International in Detroit, Michigan. The man who picked up the phone was Gregg Williams, the son of the man who was instrumental in the initial development and production. Williams International is still in the business of gas turbine engines and offered a space to repair the turbine engine from Jay’s car. Now they just needed to reverse engineer the powerplant to figure out what went wrong.
Instead, Jay and Gregg decided on an easier route and started making phone calls. Before long there were engineers from the initial development, many of whom were well into their 80s, who rallied to supply any knowledge and input they could. Jay mentions that these very engineers might have squirreled away blueprints and drawings that could help reproduce parts.
Even with the drawings, producing turbine parts is on a totally different level than making a short run of pistons or forging a crankshaft. The speeds and temperatures that turbines run at are radically different than those of standard automotive engines. Luckily Williams was able to step in with the production capability and material science to put Jay’s Turbine back on the road. Fascinatingly, according to Gregg, multiple parts were produced using metal 3D printing.
After it’s back together, the pair go for a cruise in the car and talk about some of the finer points of driving something that idles at 20,000rpm. The engine is also so well-balanced that vibration is nearly non-existent. It’s surely a wild feeling from the driver or passenger seat as the Turbine whirrs down the road, and luckily the car is running again so that even more people can experience the feeling firsthand.
I heard one run at the Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills, during the Chrysler Motorsports Employee Association annual car show (over 400 cars attending, including my Corvair Corsa coupe). Sounds just like a giant Hoover vacuum.
So it sounds like a woodworker’s dust collector?
Had a ride in one in 1965 (or so) in Charleston WV – unfortunately, I wasn’t a “car guy” then so I didn’t understand or appreciate what was really going on. It was on loan to a university professor at the time.
WOW…I live in Charleston WV, but in 1965 I was only 3
One of the Assistant Scoutmasters of our Boy Scout Troop in the early ’60’s was John Fahlgren who worked at Chrysler. He brought a Turbine Car to one of our meetings and gave rides to everyone. The thing I remember most was that they were having a problem with the exhaust being so hot that it would melt asphalt if they directed it down and burn people if they directed it out the back.
I came up behind one at a light in High Point NC. The heat coming off it and a summer day made it pretty uncomfortable as I was wearing short and t shirt on my Honda Scrambler. Of course I followed and passed to get a look. The guy was cool and waived as I passed. Obviously having a good time!
I wonder how often Jay has a cop tailing him for miles.
I like curious cops (I can say that
because I’m not doing anything wrong).
Forty years ago, I had a cop pull me over in a Mustang, he asked since I had a plate “P-51” if I had a flying Mustang.
“No”, I said ” If I had that kind of money I’d be driving a better car”.
Curious Jay made no mention of his police escort tailed by a fleet of engineers?
Probably about 10 or 12 years ago, Jay took his car to a car show in West Hills, at a Rocketdyne annual picnic/ car show. He drove it in, opened the doors, and let kids and anyone else sit in the car. Shows what a true car guy is! The car is made to be used and enjoyed. Of course, I walked up, with my daughter, (maybe 2 or 3 years old at the time), up in my shoulder. I asked if she could sit in the car so I could get a pic, and he said sure, no problem. And, for some reason, my daughter started crying, and I ll never forget Jay just looking at me, laughing knowingly, kids!
I just posted, however, to make it clear, it was his turbine car.. this one in the article. So pretty cool that he will drive a turbine car across the Valley from Burbank, same way he would drive a 2020 honda across the Valley!
A true gearhead saving part of history, love it.
The last time I saw a Chrysler turbine car was in our driveway in the Detroit area in the 1960s. A Chrysler exec fried of my dad’s drove it over regularly. The slyling reminded me of the Thunderbird.
That 3/4 frontal view in the video lead above looks more like a P-38 Lightning.
Remember seeing one in Euclid, Ohio driving by. It sounded like a vacuum cleaner.
About fifteen years go, while I was working for an aerospace company in Denver, my boss sent me and one other engineer to Burbank to meet with a small aerospace company that had a niche product he thought we could use. I can’t remember the company name, but their product was an aerospace quality rupture disc that burst at a very specific pressure. Their plant was located on a quiet two lane Burbank street. When I got there, I was surprised to see a bunch of foot wide black rubber marks in the street. It was a very small company, it looked like they had about twelve or fourteen employees, and we met with the president, who was also the chief engineer and owner. After our morning meeting, he took us to lunch, then he told us, “I’ve got a special activity for you that will take about forty-five minutes.” It turned out the facility across the street was Jay Leno’s garage, and Jay’s lead mechanic took us on a tour, telling us about the cars and some about their histories. He mentioned that the steam cars were the mechanics’ least favorite, because they tended to require about an hour of maintenance per hour of drive time. There was a vintage fire truck in the shop, and the lead mechanic mentioned that every month or two, Jay would come by the garage, load all the employees into the fire truck, and take them to lunch at the local In and Out Burger. I asked him if Jay had a favorite car, or if he drove several of them regularly. He said Jay would come by the shop, pick one out and drive it for a week or two, and then return it and pick another one. I guess it’s good to be Jay Leno. It turned out the black rubber marks in the street were there because, occasionally, when the staff finished working on a car, Jay would pull out into the street and do a few burnouts to see how it was running. When we walked back across the street to the aerospace plant, the owner mentioned that on a few occasions, when Jay needed a part that was out of production and unobtainable, he had come over and asked if they could help. The plant owner had made the part (and I would imagine a couple of spares), and he said since he liked Jay Leno, he had given him the part for free. Since he owned the company and didn’t have any shareholders to answer to, he could do that. That was why Jay Leno was always happy to give his guests a plant tour. If Jay had gone to a typical publicly owned specialty company to have one part made, I would guess the price would easily be five figures. So, as several commenters have mentioned, having a lot of money to keep the cars in his collection running is obviously a huge help, but it also helps a lot that he’s a good guy who people like.
Jay, I’m sure you’re going to read all of these comments. Just putting it out there that you might want to seriously consider putting all your vehicle collection into your own museum located in McPherson KS. Most readers will know that McP College has the 4 year auto resto degree program. Central location, right on the interstate, tough to drive coast to coast and not come within a couple hours of Mac. Next time your in McPherson, swing by and I’ll cook us up some brats and we can look at some neat old cars. Actually, just driving through the student parking lot does that.
I had the privilege of riding in a turbine car as a teen. One of my neighbors had one in the driveway when I delivered their newspaper. I knocked on their door and asked about it. He explained that his cousin from Utah had been awarded the car from Chrysler. He told me to come back after dinner with my dad and we could go for a ride. I didn’t have to talk dad into it he was as interested as I was. The experience was a never forget moment for me. The gentleman that had the car told all about it and said it ran on the cheapest gas he could find as per Chrysler’s instructions. He and his wife had driven from Utah to Pennsylvania so he has some “seat time” and had become familiar with it. It idled around 20,000 RPM’s and tacked out close to 50,000 RPM’s. It was beautiful inside and out and the copper color was a real eye catcher.
Jay frequents the Mopar Spring Fling down in Van Nuys, CA and enters a rare car from his collection. I believe he’s entered the turbine. The guy is a national treasure and one of, if not the greatest representative of the American automobile, no matter the make. His story of acquiring the Turbine is pretty great. I can imagine that his eyes twinkled a bit at the thought of pulling together the minds and resources needed to properly get the car back on the road. How valuable is the Chrysler Turbine? This is the first Leon’s Garage video I’ve seen where he was escorted by a 4 car security entourage. I just wish he would fix the foam window seals.