The Chevrolet Turbo Titan III was a

gas turbine A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of Internal combustion engine#Continuous combustion, continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas gene ...

-powered concept

cabover Cab-over, also known as cab over engine (COE), cab forward or flat face (U.S.), flat nose (Canada), or forward control (UK), is a body style of truck, bus, or van that has a vertical front, "flat face" or a semi-hood, with the cab of the ...

heavy

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

designed and built as a working prototype by

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

in 1965. It was accompanied by a matching custom trailer built in

stainless steel Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...

; the Turbo Titan III was first shown to the public at the 1965 session of the

1964 New York World's Fair The 1964 New York World's Fair (also known as the 1964–1965 New York World's Fair) was an world's fair, international exposition at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, United States. The fair included exhibitions, activ ...

History

GM designed and built prototype trucks in the 1950s using the same gas turbine engines as the ones used in its

Firebird Firebird and fire bird may refer to: Mythical birds * Phoenix (mythology), sacred firebird found in the mythologies of many cultures ** Fenghuang, sometimes called Chinese phoenix * Vermilion bird, one of the four symbols of the Chinese constella ...

concept sports cars, including the Turbo Titan I ( GT-304 turbine, also fitted to Firebird II) and II (GT-305, Firebird III). Rival

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

had built a similar turbine-powered Big Red concept truck, first shown at the

. The dual-turbine GM Bison was also exhibited at the 1964 World's Fair; under most operating conditions, the Bison would drive on its GT-309 turbine engine, using the auxiliary turbine as needed for loads, grades, or acceleration. Reportedly, the Turbo Titan III prototype was destroyed in the late 1960s.

Design

The Turbo Titan III was built around the General Motors ''GT-309''

engine and featured streamlined

Space Age The Space Age is a period encompassing the activities related to the space race, space exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events, beginning with the launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, and co ...

-styling.

Styling

The cab was built using fiberglass and steel, with prominent air intakes for the GT-309 engine on either side of the front fascia. At the time, the head of design for General Motors was Bill Mitchell. The chassis was a conventional Chevrolet tilt-cab cab-over-engine, first marketed in 1960. Both the headlight units and front turn signals retracted into the body when not in use. The interior featured aircraft-like gauges and a "twin dial" steering unit.

GT-309 gas turbine

The GT-309 was derived from earlier GM gas turbine engines developed for the Firebird concept cars of the 1950s. For the GT-309, the turbine and compressor were designed to operate at 35,700 RPM, with reduction gearing used for the upper output shaft, generating at a shaft speed of 4,000 RPM. Stall torque was at idle. The GT-309 has a

free-turbine turboshaft A free-turbine turboshaft is a form of turboshaft or turboprop gas turbine engine where the power is extracted from the exhaust stream of a gas turbine by an independent turbine, downstream of the gas turbine. The power turbine is not mechanicall ...

design in which the output shaft is not mechanically coupled to the compressor shaft, but to maintain a nearly-constant

operating temperature An operating temperature is the allowable temperature range of the local ambient environment at which an electrical or mechanical device operates. The device will operate effectively within a specified temperature range which varies based on the de ...

and provide for

engine braking Engine braking occurs when the retarding forces within an internal combustion engine are used to slow down a motor vehicle, as opposed to using additional external braking mechanisms such as friction brakes or magnetic brakes. The term is ofte ...

, the engine was fitted with a variable clutch that coupled the gasifier (compressor turbine rotor) with the output shaft; this system was developed jointly with

Allison Transmission Allison Transmission Holdings Inc. is an American manufacturer of commercial duty automatic transmissions and hybrid propulsion systems. Allison products are specified by over 250 vehicle manufacturers and are used in many market sectors, includi ...

and branded "Power Transfer". Raw

exhaust gas Exhaust gas or flue gas is emitted as a result of the combustion of fuels such as natural gas, gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, fuel oil, biodiesel blends, or coal. According to the type of engine, it is discharged into the atmosphere through ...

temperature was at the gasifier inlet, but a regenerator was used to muffle noise and recover heat energy by preheating inlet air, resulting in tailpipe exhaust temperatures of . Compared to a diesel engine of similar output, the GT-309 was more compact and was only of the weight. The GT-309 was also fitted to

GM New Look bus The GM New Look bus is a municipal transit bus that was introduced in 1959 by the GMC (automobile), Truck and Coach Division of General Motors to replace the company's previous coach, retroactively known as the GM "old-look" transit bus. Also c ...

prototypes, as the Turbo-Cruiser II and III, and other bus prototypes including the RTX and later RTS-3T that competed in the

Transbus Program Transbus was announced in December 1970 as a United States Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) program to develop improvements to existing transit bus design; at the time, the US bus market was dominated by the GM New Look and Flxible ...

References

External links