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Topic starter
11/05/2025 1:17 pm
In the early 1950s, automobile design took styling cues from jets and rockets. In 1954 General Motors went all the way with their Firebird l turbine powered car designated the XP-21. It sported the logo of the General Motors Air Transport Section (GMATS). This Harley Earl inspired test car had its aerospacial fiberglass and plastic body wind tunnel refined by Cal Tech with wing and empennage tweaked to keep the car on the ground. Power came from a "Whirlfire Turbo-Power" gas engine turbine generating 370 HP @ 13,000 rpm through a 2-speed transmission. Besides the heavy duty external finned brakes, the wings could deploy aircraft style flaps to enhance braking. The car was test at the Indy track reaching 100 mph in first gear. Shifting to 2nd gear, the rear wheels lost traction from the engine's torque and so for safety reasons, it never was pushed beyond that speed. Speed and performance was never contemplated when it was built. It was mainly a test bed to determine the feasibility of using turbines in their production cars. The Firebird l exists today in the GM Heritage Collection.
11/05/2025 1:37 pm
Where were the first two photos taken, Rich? At first I thought they were of the 1:1.
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Topic starter
11/05/2025 4:20 pm
@paul-rouffa Those first pics were taken a the old Fort Hancock at Sandy Hook, NJ. The area is full of the ABM batteries that protected the Greater New York Area. Through the years they were armed with the Nike missile systems from the Nike Ajax, Nike Hercules and the nuclear armed Zeus. They were decommissioned after the ABM Treaty of 1972. I remember seeing either the Hercules or Zeus missiles laid out in a maintenance yard cut in half for satellite verification. Some of the different systems were restored as a remembrance. That area is a little memorial for the men killed in one of the many fatal accidents occurring at that particular site:
Here's the Ajax and the Zeus: (I have better closeups somewhere)
11/05/2025 4:49 pm
Thanks for the background and history, Rich!
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11/05/2025 5:50 pm
Thanks for the pictures and writeup Rich. Love the history lessen.
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