Why can't I buy a jet car? - comment

[Charmbrights]

If I had a car with “flames shooting out the back end [looking] impressive in the pictures” I am sure the local law enforcement would object bitterly. I would also be sued by pedestrians whose clothes I had ignited (or even scorched).

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LINK TO COLUMN: Why can’t I buy a jet car? - The Straight Dope

[CJJ]

Cecil didn’t mention it likely because it’s a confirmed Urban Legend, but this 1995 Darwin-award-winning story of a JATO-assisted car in Arizona is still fun to read–and includes some of the real-world examples used to debunk the original claim.

[TriPolar]

You can’t buy a street legal jet car because no one makes them. You can buy cars that shoot 1400 degree fahrenheit exhaust out the back though, and no one is getting sued.

[user_hostile]

The VW Beetle with the jet engine.

My favorite parts of the story:

[Cop looking at vehicle] “We get this a lot. A police officer picking at his nose while trying to figure out what to charge me with. Notice the hopeful anticipation of us on the right. We’re rooting for him and offer suggestions but unfortunately, the California Department of Motor Vehicles did not anticipate such a vehicle so he’s out of luck.”

“A DMV insider has disclosed to me that the DMV has made a formal request to a federal agency to rule if my Beetle constitutes a threat to national security based on what could happen if it got into the wrong hands.”

Visit the web page. I’m terribly jealous of the man.

Cecil had one error concerning the fueling the car (at least the Chrysler one): It wasn’t limited to diesel. Per this Wikipedia link (bolded for emphasis):

The fourth-generation Chrysler turbine engine ran at up to 44,500 revolutions per minute, according to the owner’s manual,[3] and could operate using diesel fuel, unleaded gasoline, kerosene, JP-4 jet fuel, and even vegetable oil. The engine would run on virtually anything with combustible properties and the President of Mexico tested this theory by running one of the first cars—successfully—on tequila*. No air/fuel adjustments were required to switch from one fuel type to another and the only evidence of which fuel was used was the odor of the exhaust.

The leaded gasoline using tetraethyl lead. It would gook up the blades with deposits with the added bonus of driving up homicide rates.

*Is there anything that tequila can’t do?

[running_coach]

In South Africa, you used to be able to get a flamethrowerinstalled.

[TriPolar]

If you check out the story of the Area 51 aliens, you’ll see in it’s origins a guy who built a rocket car. As far as I can recall he did nothing but bolt a rocket onto the back of a car and took pictures of it. But this kind of thing easily interests people, despite the near total lack of success.

[user_hostile]

@CJJ

Cecil didn’t mention it likely because it’s a confirmed Urban Legend, but this 1995 Darwin-award-winning story of a JATO-assisted car in Arizona is still fun to read–and includes some of the real-world examples used to debunk the original claim.

I read this back in the 90’s. (Alert: annoying yellow-text on violet background).

[triolamj]

Marine Turbine Technologies of Lousiana has a working jet truck, the RetroRocket, built along the lines of their Y2K Superbike (which is in production and is street legal). Both use helicopter turbine engines retired after their maximum flight miles / hours and can pretty much burn any kind of fuel. I’ve got one of their product DVDs at home. Check the truck out at: http://www.marineturbine.com/projects.asp .

[Fear_Itself]

Rock legend Neil Young converted a 1959 Lincoln convertible to a biodiesel-burning microturbine powered hybrid electric vehicle called LincVolt.

[LawMonkey]

My favorite part of the jet-Beetle story was: “I was thinking of putting it into an import car show but the promoter told me that it looked too plain and recommended that I put some decals on it, lower it, and put on some aftermarket wheels.” Cause y’know, it’s just a jet engine. You can’t very well expect that to get people’s attention when it’s gonna have to compete with STICKERS.

[agnesnitt]

I once owned a supercharged MR2–so yeah, dating myself. Let me say based on what was probably hundreds of miles at a 100 mph, I question the guys doing 187 Mph even in a heavily modified MR2.

I used to commute from a town in the desert in California, through Death Valley, to a town in Nevada twice a week. Perfectly smooth, beautifully maintained roads, straight as a ruler. I never felt safe in that car above 105 mph. It would start to rock at 106. At 110 I felt like it was going to lift off the ground and roll over. I used to fly aerobatic airplanes, and I had really good reflexes. If I was uncomfortable, it was significant.

I took it to a couple of performance shops, and we tried stuff out: new tires did the most good. But in the end I decided it wasn’t worth the trouble and gave up.

Then I got old and my knees couldn’t take the shifting, and now I drive a Corolla. Lo’ how the mighty have fallen. Supercharged MR2, still, damn fine ride.

[carlos_8]

Back in the mid 50’s if I remember right, in the UK, Rover had a turbine experimental car touring round the country, I saw it, it was noisy, like a jet engine, high whine, I believe it was quite heavy on fuel, but otherwise excellent performance.
Carl NZ

[Senegoid]

@user_hostile

I read this back in the 90’s. (Alert: annoying yellow-text on violet background).

Here’s a sane (black text on white background, with original illustration) rendition of the same.

Note, he claims that the rocket car urban legend has been around, in one variant or another, “for a LOT longer than most people think.” In this very lengthy but entertaining read, he describes an attempt by himself and some buddies to put a JATO engine on a little rail car, which he suspects is the “germ of truth” upon which the whole genre of rocket car stories evolved. Fun read.

[Senegoid]

@Senegoid

Here’s a sane (black text on white background, with original illustration) rendition of the same.

BTW, this version is a bit more complete than user_hostile’s link: It includes the Afterword at the end that’s missing from the other one.

[user_hostile]

@Senegoid

BTW, this version is a bit more complete than user_hostile’s link: It includes the Afterword at the end that’s missing from the other one.

Thanks, Senegoid, for finding the “Afterword”. I knew a more sane version was out there, but my Google fu prowess seems to be decreasing as of late. :(.

[Anthony_Kaye]

The British car manufacturer Rover was involved in jet engine design during the war.
Post-war they tried to apply it to car production-with the same lack of success as Chrysler.
Here’s an interesting link:- rover.org.nz

[John_W.Kennedy]

Rocket sleds were used in the early space program.

[C_K_Dexter_Haven]

Charmbrights: Just a reminder (and to others), when you start a thread, it’s helpful to other readers to provide a link to the column in question. Yes, it’s the column of the week this week, but in a few weeks, it will sink into the Archives, so the link in the thread saves search time (and, with any luck, prevents people from repeating what’s already in the column.) No biggie, I’ve edited it in for you.

[jz78817]

An actual “jet” car would be a non-starter because of the flamethrower sticking out its rear end. A car using a turboshaft engine wouldn’t be desirable because gas turbines have horrifically high fuel consumption at low engine speeds.

[Pushkin]

@carlos_8

Back in the mid 50’s if I remember right, in the UK, Rover had a turbine experimental car touring round the country, I saw it, it was noisy, like a jet engine, high whine, I believe it was quite heavy on fuel, but otherwise excellent performance.
Carl NZ

This one? Despite having such a potent engine, it was the 1950s and the thing just had to look terribly fuddy duddy.