A lot of time has gone by since this was recorded in 2001. Frank Kleptz is no longer with us and his car collection was sold off after his passing. What a superb collection it was.
Yes, he had quite a collection - I didn’t know he had the plexiglass Pontiac! I’ll have to look to where it is today. It’s in a couple of my Pontiac marque books, and I’ve read about it in HMN. Frank passed away in 2010, at age 89. Rest in Peace.
Frank drives like I feel . . . old and slow! My favorite line is "Where are all these people going?!" I can relate. What an amazing vehicle! Way, way ahead of it's time. Thanks for posting.
Jay Leno also has one of these car. He had featured this car on one of his web shows. Later, he bought his from Chrysler. Bill Harrah had his Chrysler Turbine car on display in his auto collection in Sparks, NV. As with all the cars loaned to museums for display, Bill Harrah's had a turbine engine on display next to the car. So, Bill Harrah's car actually had 2 engines. The car had an engine installed in it. I saw this car myself at Harrah's car collection. I also saw one on display in an L.A. museum. The story is that when these cars were loaned to museums, a crucial part was removed so the car couldn't be driven. Chrysler had been experimenting with turbine engines in it's cars long before this car and it's siblings were built. This was the first car which was specifically designed and built for the turbine engine. Chrysler continued to experiment with the turbine engines into the 1970's, installing them in it's regular cars. Emissions and fuel mileage were the final nails in the coffin which ended the turbine engine experiments.
There were 55 built, with 50 lent out to the general public for everyday driver testing. The lucky 50 individuals who received a turbine car had to keep a detailed diary that Chrysler created to log performance data.
Yes, there’s a great Turbine Car Website out there, run by a guy whose parents were one of those who got to use one of the cars for a while. Lots of documentation there, including a short clip of cars being burned and crushed at a wrecking yard in the Detroit area (in 1967, I think). At the end of the customer trials, Chrysler tried to find homes in museums for as many of the cars as possible, but sadly, they didn’t get a lot of takers, and that’s why most were scrapped. Chrysler was responsible for import duties on the cars, so rather than pay the duties, Chrysler donated or scrapped them. Also, engines were pulled from some of the cars and donated to trade schools.
This is a great resource. Rather than the original show segments that aired on Velocity, SPEED Channel, MT TV, etc., these are lightly edited raw videos (notice the conversations with the cameraman, director, etc.) I remember seeing the Turbine Car segment, and it maybe seven or eight minutes long (keep in mind that these shows are 30 minutes long).
I wish I had been able to meet Frank, talk cars, and see all of his collection. He was so knowledgeable. I am honored to be the next caretaker of his 1905 Stevens Duryea. When I was a kid I remember the car in The Great American Race, I never expected that it would be in my garage one day!
Always thought this to be one of the best looking cars I'd ever seen. From behind, it resembles a mid 60's mo par Polara or something similar. A really cool concept with that turbine.
Great! I was 10 in 1963, and our family were a "Chrysler a family",....well specifically, our Pop liked to buy Dodge's. In 63 or 64, Pop always bought the newest car for our Mom, who was a school teacher. Pop would take over the older car, he was a business owner. So he got her the Dodge Dart, it had a white exterior, and a red interior, and it had a convertible top. It was a cute looking "compact" car, and shared some body design elements, with the Turbine Car. As a family we went to an auto show, held in an arena in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, we lived out in the suburbs. I wish I had saved the original sales brochure, we were given, promoting the Turbine Car. I was always fascinated by The Turbine Car, back then and even now. I recalled one of the selling points was, that it could be fueled by many things. Perfume,.....(like what women sprayed on themselves), and any kind of drinkable alcohol,...I'm guessing Vodka. (Neat, stirred, & not shaken) And good ole reliable, American gasoline. I'm 70, presently.
The Transportation museum in St. Louis has one and they start it for the the crowd every Easter Sunday at the car show in Forest Park. I posted a video on RUclips a few years ago.
You can forget about miles per gallon and start thinking in gallons per minute even when you're sitting at a stop sign. Not to mention the noise is going to drive you nuts eventually. It's pretty obvious why this idea was a dead end but I wish I could find a copy of the 1964 movie "The Lively Set" with Doug McClure, James Darren, Pamela Tiffin and the turbine car.
Thanks Dennis - nice episode. I understand that Frank passed on a while back. Do you know where this car is today? Hopefully it’s still being maintained and driven.
I just saw a video on how Jay Leno's Turbine car has just been fixed after breaking down a few years ago. Williams who build and work on Turbines did the engine fix.
Beautiful car collection! Thanks,..I love this video. Was the Turbine Car engine sounds, in this video exaggerated? If they weren't,....then I could see why it was failure. The jet engine-like and or vacuum cleaner sounds were unpleasant to my hearing.
@@MyClassicCarTV Wow,...I was surprised how loud it was, and it was giving me a headache. I was expecting it to be nearly silent, or gently humming. It reminded me of the vacuums one hears in a hotel, when they are cleaning your up your suite.
What sort of gas mileage did the turbine get between city and highway driving? I'd assume in the city it was quite low, and on the highway, it should do rather well.
Something that Jay Leno and your show doesn't cover is how good the fuel milage was in this car! Why is that? Are they better than a piston engine since they use the regenerators and recover the heat over and over again?
My father’s business associate had o e to test in 1963. I got to drive it (supervised). It had very poor acceleration. I almost got run over making a left turn in front of an oncoming truck.
The car was sold by "HYMAN LTD" of St. Louis Missouri, several years after Frank Kleptz passed away. Jay Leno's car was one of three that Chrysler had.
Who would have ever put up with all that noise while driving around? ( for those insided feel like they're in a constant Jet flight and those outside would feel like they're living next to an airport!)
Well, maybe not this car, but the turbine engine project kept going well after these were done doing their demonstration tours. Fuel economy and emissions were one thing, but at the end of the day, they could never get the cost of the engine itself down enough to make it profitable, how ever I'm sure the engineers at various aircraft companies were able to harvest the fruits of Chryslers labor in trimming down the cost of their jet engines.
@@MyClassicCarTV Curious though, one of the old promotional posters shows a different mirror, and it's body colored. Just makes me wonder if the original mirror was replaced with another mopar mirror at some point in time, or did it inspire the later mirror design? I dunno, I just notice little things like that and it makes me curious
The first time I saw the Chrysler turbine car was when I was a kid in 1964 and a movie came out called "The Lively Set" starring James Darren Pamela Tiffin and Doug McClure and the car was featured in a race.
Jay Leno stated in his video done some 11 years ago that the car definitely could burn rubber by standing on the brake, revving up the engine and then releasing the brake. The transmission is vintage Topflight mated to the turbine, and Jay refused to consider a burnout because he did not want to risk damaging the transmission, which would be difficult to repair.
A lot of time has gone by since this was recorded in 2001. Frank Kleptz is no longer with us and his car collection was sold off after his passing. What a superb collection it was.
Yes, he had quite a collection - I didn’t know he had the plexiglass Pontiac! I’ll have to look to where it is today. It’s in a couple of my Pontiac marque books, and I’ve read about it in HMN.
Frank passed away in 2010, at age 89. Rest in Peace.
Frank drives like I feel . . . old and slow! My favorite line is "Where are all these people going?!" I can relate. What an amazing vehicle! Way, way ahead of it's time. Thanks for posting.
Jay Leno also has one of these car. He had featured this car on one of his web shows. Later, he bought his from Chrysler.
Bill Harrah had his Chrysler Turbine car on display in his auto collection in Sparks, NV. As with all the cars loaned to museums for display, Bill Harrah's had a turbine engine on display next to the car. So, Bill Harrah's car actually had 2 engines. The car had an engine installed in it. I saw this car myself at Harrah's car collection. I also saw one on display in an L.A. museum.
The story is that when these cars were loaned to museums, a crucial part was removed so the car couldn't be driven.
Chrysler had been experimenting with turbine engines in it's cars long before this car and it's siblings were built. This was the first car which was specifically designed and built for the turbine engine. Chrysler continued to experiment with the turbine engines into the 1970's, installing them in it's regular cars. Emissions and fuel mileage were the final nails in the coffin which ended the turbine engine experiments.
There were 55 built, with 50 lent out to the general public for everyday driver testing. The lucky 50 individuals who received a turbine car had to keep a detailed diary that Chrysler created to log performance data.
Yes, there’s a great Turbine Car Website out there, run by a guy whose parents were one of those who got to use one of the cars for a while. Lots of documentation there, including a short clip of cars being burned and crushed at a wrecking yard in the Detroit area (in 1967, I think).
At the end of the customer trials, Chrysler tried to find homes in museums for as many of the cars as possible, but sadly, they didn’t get a lot of takers, and that’s why most were scrapped. Chrysler was responsible for import duties on the cars, so rather than pay the duties, Chrysler donated or scrapped them.
Also, engines were pulled from some of the cars and donated to trade schools.
Great info on the Chrysler turbine and LOVED seeing the collection at the end!
This is a great resource. Rather than the original show segments that aired on Velocity, SPEED Channel, MT TV, etc., these are lightly edited raw videos (notice the conversations with the cameraman, director, etc.)
I remember seeing the Turbine Car segment, and it maybe seven or eight minutes long (keep in mind that these shows are 30 minutes long).
I wish I had been able to meet Frank, talk cars, and see all of his collection. He was so knowledgeable. I am honored to be the next caretaker of his 1905 Stevens Duryea. When I was a kid I remember the car in The Great American Race, I never expected that it would be in my garage one day!
Frank was a fascinating guy.
Imagine seeing this beauty cruising on the road knowing you'll never see another one again
Great video! Now I have to do some vacuuming.
That sucks!
I saw the Chrysler Turbine car at the Henry Ford Museum. it is really cool to hear it run and see it on the move.
Naturally, the turbine car is great, but the best part of the video was the short tour of his collection.
Always thought this to be one of the best looking cars I'd ever seen. From behind, it resembles a mid 60's mo par Polara or something similar. A really cool concept with that turbine.
Great! I was 10 in 1963, and our family were a "Chrysler a family",....well specifically, our Pop liked to buy Dodge's. In 63 or 64, Pop always bought the newest car for our Mom, who was a school teacher. Pop would take over the older car, he was a business owner. So he got her the Dodge Dart, it had a white exterior, and a red interior, and it had a convertible top. It was a cute looking "compact" car, and shared some body design elements, with the Turbine Car. As a family we went to an auto show, held in an arena in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, we lived out in the suburbs. I wish I had saved the original sales brochure, we were given, promoting the Turbine Car. I was always fascinated by The Turbine Car, back then and even now. I recalled one of the selling points was, that it could be fueled by many things. Perfume,.....(like what women sprayed on themselves), and any kind of drinkable alcohol,...I'm guessing Vodka. (Neat, stirred, & not shaken) And good ole reliable, American gasoline. I'm 70, presently.
A family in the town where I grew up in NJ had one for awhile. I saw it on the road twice. I was about 13 years old and now I'm 75.
Very cool!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m old now too. 😞
@@drippinglass 👍😉
Great vid, have always liked the Chrysler Turbine car!! 👍🙂👍
Definitely reminds me of Dad's '61 T-Bird in styling.
They were both styled by Elwood Engel.
great car thank you for the video's
One of coolest cars ever
Great episode 😊
The Transportation museum in St. Louis has one and they start it for the the crowd every Easter Sunday at the car show in Forest Park. I posted a video on RUclips a few years ago.
W O W , , , all I can say is W O W !
So cool! I still have a late-1980's Micro Machine of this car, the headlights and taillights used to light up when you gently pressed down on the toy.
Jay Leno does have one of these. He did a video on it.
Man, it's been over 50 years since I've been to Terre Haute. My father grew up there, and Rosedale. I can't say anything looks familiar.
You can forget about miles per gallon and start thinking in gallons per minute even when you're sitting at a stop sign. Not to mention the noise is going to drive you nuts eventually. It's pretty obvious why this idea was a dead end but I wish I could find a copy of the 1964 movie "The Lively Set" with Doug McClure, James Darren, Pamela Tiffin and the turbine car.
I've seen these at the Gilmore Car Museum, Stahl's Car Museum, The Henry Ford Museum, and the one that was at the Chrysler Museum that Jay Leno owns.
Thanks Dennis - nice episode. I understand that Frank passed on a while back. Do you know where this car is today? Hopefully it’s still being maintained and driven.
Went to a museum, privately sold to them before it was planned to go to auction
@@peace.quiet.freedom6675 Thanks for your reply
Great highway car. Truly like a private jet.
A modern day version with a hybrid system would probably do pretty decent.
5 of 9 are running today according to Steve Lehto. The 1979 300H is my favorite.
I just saw a video on how Jay Leno's Turbine car has just been fixed after breaking down a few years ago. Williams who build and work on Turbines did the engine fix.
Jay Leno has one to that drives
I was expecting another, "Do you trust me to steer this thing?" Followed by, "....i cant hear you..."
Beautiful car collection! Thanks,..I love this video. Was the Turbine Car engine sounds, in this video exaggerated? If they weren't,....then I could see why it was failure. The jet engine-like and or vacuum cleaner sounds were unpleasant to my hearing.
Is was pretty loud!
@@MyClassicCarTV Wow,...I was surprised how loud it was, and it was giving me a headache. I was expecting it to be nearly silent, or gently humming. It reminded me of the vacuums one hears in a hotel, when they are cleaning your up your suite.
I saw one at the NY Coliseum at the auto show when it used to be held there
The car was a head-turner.
What sort of gas mileage did the turbine get between city and highway driving? I'd assume in the city it was quite low, and on the highway, it should do rather well.
Something that Jay Leno and your show doesn't cover is how good the fuel milage was in this car! Why is that? Are they better than a piston engine since they use the regenerators and recover the heat over and over again?
Actually the mileage is terrible.
My father’s business associate had o e to test in 1963. I got to drive it (supervised). It had very poor acceleration. I almost got run over making a left turn in front of an oncoming truck.
Jay Leno has a turbine car, so only 4 in museums. This is quite well known and I can't believe you didn't mention that
This was shot back in 2001. Long before Jay had one.
Anyone know what the mpg is on these?
It's beautiful but for a little market or no market with this complicated turbine and fuel consumption
Is the owner say highway 141 ?! You're filming in St Louis I know it. I saw that particular car at the Easter Sunday car show in Forest Park
Actually Hwy 41 in Terra Haute, IN.
@@MyClassicCarTV something something "kiss me where it stinks" blah blah "Terre Haute" yadda yadda "Harry Frye."
This was filmed in the 90's wonder where the car is now..the old dude cant still be here.Leno prob has it..
The car was sold by "HYMAN LTD" of St. Louis Missouri, several years after Frank Kleptz passed away.
Jay Leno's car was one of three that Chrysler had.
Who would have ever put up with all that noise while driving around? ( for those insided feel like they're in a constant Jet flight and those outside would feel like they're living next to an airport!)
EPA started in 1971 so epa has nothing to do with this car
Well, maybe not this car, but the turbine engine project kept going well after these were done doing their demonstration tours. Fuel economy and emissions were one thing, but at the end of the day, they could never get the cost of the engine itself down enough to make it profitable, how ever I'm sure the engineers at various aircraft companies were able to harvest the fruits of Chryslers labor in trimming down the cost of their jet engines.
I thought that was Jay...lol
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but is that a dodge charger mirror?
Probably not since this car predates the Charger by about three years.
@@MyClassicCarTV Curious though, one of the old promotional posters shows a different mirror, and it's body colored. Just makes me wonder if the original mirror was replaced with another mopar mirror at some point in time, or did it inspire the later mirror design?
I dunno, I just notice little things like that and it makes me curious
Good eye!
Jay lenno has one that runns. You rode with him.
This was recorded several years before that one.
This was shot back in 2001. I’ve been doing this for quite a while.😎
@@MyClassicCarTV might be handy to put in the description, since we all know Jay just finished getting his running with Williams Int'l help.
He didn't mention that white Packard. Why not?
So many cars. So little time. 😁
The first time I saw the Chrysler turbine car was when I was a kid in 1964 and a movie came out called "The Lively Set" starring James Darren Pamela Tiffin and Doug McClure and the car was featured in a race.
Frank died 14 yrs ago.
Sorry but the numbers aren’t adding up.
is it just me or are they speaking at warp speed 😮
figured it out Iphone update changed my settings 😮
🤣
6:57 hehe
1:30 sorry to be that guy, but math doesn’t add up, unless he’s referring to Jay L as a museum
Originally the cars were donated only to museums.
That changed after some of them closed.
This video was recorded back in 2001, back when Frank's numbers were correct.
I can't smell shit. 😅
Turbine car seems not fit for low / city speed
Chrysler needs to bring this car back especially now!
🤔 I dunno. It’s probably the most inefficient concept imaginable.
Inquiring minds want to know. Will she burn rubber?
You don't do burnouts with a car as rare as this.
@@milfordcivic6755 Are you completely void of a sence of humor? 🙄
Jay Leno stated in his video done some 11 years ago that the car definitely could burn rubber by standing on the brake, revving up the engine and then releasing the brake. The transmission is vintage Topflight mated to the turbine, and Jay refused to consider a burnout because he did not want to risk damaging the transmission, which would be difficult to repair.
maybe more will get running after the effort and money from Leno and Williams Int'l to get Jay's engine rebuilt
It took three years to accomplish that.
@@waynekaminski5438 next one they wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel ..