Turbine Trucks: The Gas Powered Big-Rigs of the 1960's



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42 thoughts on “Turbine Trucks: The Gas Powered Big-Rigs of the 1960's”

  1. As the last 110 years or so, the future will show the highest and best design for all average driving scenarios is internal combustion piston engines. Gas powered cars have become ridiculously efficient, reliable, clean, and affordable and turbo diesels are even more efficient effortlessly moving goods on land and sea, and are reliable on a scale ev scam junk will never realize.

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  2. I am looking forward to seeing the big red ford turbine truck – I think I've read somewhere that it will be in a museum someday.
    this is the first time I've ever seen a picture of a GM turbine truck.
    the only thing I've ever seen that resembles the bison is a custom truck built on the Toronado frame and used to transport a mock up of a rocket-powered car

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  3. Wait. Someone please tell me that I heard wrong. Did he say 350 pound feet? That is neither respectable or exceptional. There were diesel engines of that era capable of over 1000 pound feet.

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  4. Nah, the economics didn’t work. A gas engine then cost under $200. A turbine, requiring very expensive alloys, very expensive machining, and expert mechanics, it cost more than 50 times as much. There was no way that could ever make economic sense. Plus technically a turbine didn't fit. Turbines take like 20 seconds to get up to speed and have a limited number of such cycles. You'd either have to idle the truck at 80% RPM, wasting a lot of fuel, or let it idle down at stop lights, drastically shortening the life of blades and combustors.

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  5. First time I see you being incomplete on a subject. In the US there were also Mack, HI and Freightliner that ran trials and also in Europe: Besides Leyland in the 1970s, Europeans dabbling with turbine power included Magirus-Deutz, MAN, Fiat and Berliet of France. All came to nothing, like I suspect the flurry of hydrogen trucks and busses of today

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  6. The GM Bison looks very similar to a Hot Wheels tractor trailer from the late 60s and early 70s from their Heavy Weights line. They were still 1:64 scale trucks, and in addition to the tractor trailer, there were a few other variations like a tow truck, I think a box van and a couple others.

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  7. I will continue to use my tri-fold leather wallets, I have never put my wallet in my back pocket, and therefore the wallet bulge everyone complains about does not affect me. Even at its most full, my wallet has never been a bother.

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  8. In the fifties my father in law worked in Seattle for a logger as a mechanic 3 it the trucks were GMC with two huge V6 engines end to end with a coupler in the middle he said nothing could keep up with it but it got 2 miles to the gallon the engines were around 550 CID each

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  9. What does "gas powered" even mean?
    Gas turbines run on kerosene or diesel – neither are "gas" in the correct sense or in the american abbreviation for gasoline
    3:55 When they refer to a "tandem drive tractor" they are not referring to a agricultural machine

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  10. The non-conventional steering wheel of the Chevy Titan III may seem odd to those who have only driven passenger cars. I haven't driven long-haul trucks but agriculture equipment and sometimes you have to spin the steering wheel 4-5 times to get the wheel where you want them, and having a spinner on the steering wheel is great. Having a full-sized steering wheel is great if you lose power steering but generally having a smaller wheel with a spinner would be ideal.

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  11. I believe the fate of the turbo titan III's fate is known but there's still speculation on it due to the hands exchanging it have become murky. Someone did buy it but no one can track it cause the guy sold it and it's been lost due to not having a serviceable title.

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