Retrospective

[HarleyEarl]

1966 Chevrolet Turbo Titan III

Here's an article in Time magazine in '65. It mentions the Titan.

From the Magazine | U.S. Business

Toronados, Turbos & TV

Posted Friday, Jul. 23, 1965

While Washington talked safety last week, Detroit showed off some stylish new and future wares.

Oldsmobile introduced its racy, 375-h.p. Toronado, first U.S. car with front-wheel drive since the Cord phased out in 1937. Some foreign automakers, notably France's Citroën, also market front-wheel cars. According to Olds engineers, front-wheel drive offers more traction and stability than conventional rear drive; it also eliminates the hump on the floor (because the transmission and differential are up front). Other engineers contend that front-wheel cars tend to oversteer, and that the added weight forward causes greater wear on brakes. The Toronado, a two-door, six-passenger hardtop that is four inches shorter than Oldsmobile's 215-in. Starfire, will come to market in mid-October. Price in Detroit: about $4,500—in the same range as Ford's Thunderbird and Buick's Riviera.

Further away from production (perhaps seven years) but potentially more important is Chevrolet's prototype of a turbine-powered truck, the Turbo Titan III. Its engine is lighter, quieter and longer-lasting (350,000 miles v. 250,000) than conventional diesels, but fuel bills are costlier. Among its many innovations: "dial steering" by which a driver guides his truck with two small wheels mounted on a panel in front of him, similar to the "wrist-twist" system now being tested by Mercury. Chrysler Corp. is field-testing turbine cars but is undecided whether to market them.

Lest G.M. steal last week's whole show, Ford announced that it will immediately begin offering rear-seat portable television sets as optional equipment on all cars. Manufactured by Ford's Philco subsidiary, the 9-in. sets will sell for $169.95, can be plugged into the cigarette lighter or powered by a battery pack that costs an additional $29.95

Edited September 16, 2006 by HarleyEarl

[the_yellow_dart]

Stuff like this makes me wish I was older, so I could have lived through more of automotive (and regular) history.

[tmp]

You'll be living through some very interesting automotive history- the next few decades are going to very exciting for the industry.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

That looks, well, pretty modern for something from 1966.

[razoredge]

Thats cool, new to me.

[HarleyEarl]

In looking around, I was surprised how much GM was into turbine development over time. I wonder if it will make a return?

[HarleyEarl]

This is another GM concept truck, the Bison Bullet. Very limited info on it and the only photo I could find. It was designed with standardized containers on the bed.

[balthazar]

Thanks a bunch for the pics of the Titan, Harley- I'd looked around more than once for pics online but came up empty.

Ford had a turbine truck in this time period too, I think it was called 'Big Red' or something like that. I would like to see a pic of that one alongside this one.

{checks files}: yup; it was "Big Red". I have a pic, but couldn't find one online. Not sure if Ford's was turbine-powered or not (doesn't have any obvious air intakes). Wonder if either survived.

[HarleyEarl]

I found some more info...facinating time capsule.

[balthazar]

6-spd auto Allison! Cool. I hope like hell this monster is hiding in a warehouse somewhere.

I so wish someone (either Chevy or Merc) produced the 'Wrist-Twist' steering system. If I ever get real time in my shop, I need to engineer one- I have the construction details for Merc's system.

[Sixty8panther]

Wow... awsome. A first for me too.

[HarleyEarl]

Thanks a bunch for the pics of the Titan, Harley- I'd looked around more than once for pics online but came up empty.

Ford had a turbine truck in this time period too, I think it was called 'Big Red' or something like that. I would like to see a pic of that one alongside this one.

{checks files}: yup; it was "Big Red". I have a pic, but couldn't find one online. Not sure if Ford's was turbine-powered or not (doesn't have any obvious air intakes). Wonder if either survived.

194085[/snapback]

This is all I could find on-line, the Ford 'Big Red' turbine freight liner:

[the_yellow_dart]

How does "twist-wrist" work? I was expecting one dial, like on a forklift...

[loki]

this is pretty cool, never heard of this. and the looks are kinda streamliner/firebirds ( the concepts)

This is all I could find on-line, the Ford 'Big Red' turbine freight liner:

194241[/snapback]

looks great for highways, be a bitch to manevuer in even town traffic, w/ pulling 2 boxes

[balthazar]

How does "twist-wrist" work? I was expecting one dial, like on a forklift...

194261[/snapback]

Check the pic in the M/T page above.

Forklifts have one continually-rotating knob because they're (always? often?) connected to a single steer wheel.

Merc's Wrist-Twist used 2 about 5" diameter rings, spaced about steering wheel width apart. Instead of turning a big steering wheel, you turned the rings, which were connected under a cover via chain & sprocket to the steering column. Merc's system featured something like 1.75 turns lock-to-lock on a 5" wheel.... the potential for dangerously quick steering is obvious. Add to that Merc also had 'thumb holes', 1 per ring, so you could stick your thumb in & twirl and.... just wow.

It's just wild to see instead of a steering wheel, which we've had since the tiller steer days.

[HarleyEarl]

Now, is the sensation like those knobs they used to attach to steering wheels? Anyone know what they were called? I think truckers used them and car owners used them to be cool.

[HarleyEarl]

Thanks WJ.......yes, suicide knobs.

Here's a vintage one from the 50s.

Edited September 18, 2006 by HarleyEarl

[C.H.U.D.]

That almost looks futuristic today.

[mightymouse]

Nice post! This beast began life in 1959, as Bison I ...never saw any printed

mat'l linking it to the bullet name... it was a fiberglass buck only (XP757)

aka Bison 1000 in the early 60s. Wind tunnel models with patented container-

ization and others features showed up on Bison II (XP795) in 1963.

XP794 was a see thru model of the same showing the features of the

regenerative turbine system and other features. The awesome Titan was the

actual realization of the dream with a driving prototype (XP805) that was

heavy on emissions and sucked fuel so bad they gave up...it was too

impractical and expensive to market. Other turbine XPs include Firebird I-IV

and the XP800 3 whlr Corvette (Astro III) which had an Allison model 250

300h.p. turbine.

[balthazar]

MM- is the Turbo Titan III XP-805 or XP-809?

I show a Cadillac "Stallion", shortened convertible coupe under XP-805. Come back....

[mightymouse]

MM- is the Turbo Titan III XP-805 or XP-809?

I show a Cadillac "Stallion", shortened convertible coupe under XP-805. Come back....

195170[/snapback]

That's right TyPo XP-809 btw- Stallion was also called Colt for a while

It's funny many concepts had multiple names and guys would feud and

try to get others to go with "their" name.

Edited September 19, 2006 by mightymouse