Time capsule: Turbine trucks and cars, 50 years ago

Dec. 1, 2015
In this photo series from more than 50 years ago, Fleet Owner explored the possibility of heavy trucks as well as passenger cars powered by turbines.

More than half a century ago, Jack Lyndall, then Fleet Owner's associate editor, explored various companies' efforts to develop gas turbine engines for automobile applications, but perhaps more interestingly — and less recalled today — some heavy trucks as well powered by turbines. 

This is the series of photos included with the article originally published in the Nov. 1964 issue of Fleet Owner. Be sure to check out the article as well, which we've also reproduced. 

About the Author

Aaron Marsh

Before computerization had fully taken hold and automotive work took someone who speaks engine, Aaron grew up in Upstate New York taking cars apart and fixing and rewiring them, keeping more than a few great jalopies (classics) on the road that probably didn't deserve to be. He spent a decade inside the Beltway covering Congress and the intricacies of the health care system before a stint in local New England news, picking up awards for both pen and camera.

He wrote about you-name-it, from transportation and law and the courts to events of all kinds and telecommunications, and landed in trucking when he joined FleetOwner in July 2015. Long an editorial leader, he was a keeper of knowledge at FleetOwner ready to dive in on the technical and the topical inside and all-around trucking—and still turned a wrench or two. Or three. 

Aaron previously wrote for FleetOwner. 

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