Jay Leno rebuilds engine for Chrysler Turbine Car

In the 1960s, Chrysler built one of the few cars with an aircraft-type turbine engine. When that turbine was in need of a rebuild, where could it be brought? The original manufacturer, of course.

Jay Leno's Chrysler turbine car, like the others in his collection, was in regular use until the engine failed. So Leno sent it to Williams International, a Michigan company founded by Sam Williams, one of the engine's designers. An all-volunteer effort organized by Williams' son Greg, who now runs the company, made this rebuild possible.

To review, the Chrysler Turbine Car was the result of an ambitious research and marketing project in the early 1960s: after experimenting with prototypes since the 1950s, Chrysler built 50 (and five pre-production vehicles) and delivered them to customers for evaluation and feedback and delivered them to the customer for evaluation and feedback.

Experimentation with turbine-powered vehicles continued to flourish after the war. Ford built a prototype turbine-powered Thunderbird in 1955, and the STP-Paxton Turbocar nearly won the 1967 Indianapolis 500. However, Chrysler was the only automaker (albeit a small one) to install a turbine engine in something resembling a regular car that customers would actually drive.

The test program showed several positive aspects of turbines, including smooth operation and the ability to use a variety of fuels other than gasoline. However, ease of maintenance was not one of them, as Leno found out when his car's engine seized up.

Turbines have fewer moving parts than the piston engines used in most production cars, but to handle the high heat and rotational speeds of turbines (the Chrysler engine reportedly restarted at 60,000 rpm), these parts require finer tolerances and more exotic metals. This, along with concerns about fuel economy and emissions, was one of the factors that kept Chrysler from mass production.

Williams International still manufactures small turbine engines and helped develop the series hybrid version of the pioneering General Motors EV1, but rebuilding this engine was still not straightforward. With no replacement parts or original blueprints, the team essentially had to start from scratch, even though 3D printers were now available.

Fortunately, however, the Chrysler turbine car was able to find a home where it could be properly cared for and appreciated.