Sign me up for one of those turbos if they ever make them again!
When the Corporation was in such dire straights, back in 1979, we all know what happened, or do we?
Chrysler got some loans from the US Government...that much is certain. That Chrysler (as a condition of those loans) had to sell off Chrysler Defense and the M1 turbine-powered tank program is somewhat lesser known, but still public knowledge.
What is known only to a priveleged few is that the government killed a dream of a lifetime for a group of 70 people at the Chrysler "skunkworks" in Highland Park.
Believe it or not, Chrysler was days away from making a production decision (one which Iacocca favored) on a rather unique vehicle....
1981 Chrysler New Yorker Turbine car (M-body)... the car was ready to be tooled according to the head of the program, Mr. George Scheckter, whom I met when I got to see and touch the 1963 Turbine Car again in 1989. There was no more design work to be accomplished, just tool and start production.
The Turbine Engine was a fifth generation (not a 3rd generation like the 1963 car) engine capable of 22mpg in the EPA test cycles. To really make this sink in, one of the prototypes is still in existence (at least it was in 1989), stored in the same building as the 1963 car, its tooling and all the remaining spare parts (enough to build 3 more of the '63 cars).
Your government thought it was too much of a risk and ordered the car cancelled as "too risky, from an economic standpoint." Just imagine what COULD have happened!