{"id":33211,"date":"2024-08-18T21:16:38","date_gmt":"2024-08-19T01:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=33211"},"modified":"2024-08-18T21:16:38","modified_gmt":"2024-08-19T01:16:38","slug":"jay-leno-talks-about-his-restored-chrysler-turbine-at-the-woodward-dream-cruise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/jay-leno-talks-about-his-restored-chrysler-turbine-at-the-woodward-dream-cruise","title":{"rendered":"Jay Leno talks about his restored Chrysler Turbine at the Woodward Dream Cruise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pontiac<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 The Woodward Dream Cruise is where people from all over North America bring their unique automobiles: classic milk trucks, 1,500-horspower dragsters, Batmobiles.<\/p>\n

This year, Jay Leno brought his rare Chrysler Turbine car.<\/p>\n

The comedian was at the corner of Woodward Avenue and Saginaw Street on Saturday afternoon doing what all Cruisers do: meeting fellow gearheads, taking pictures and talking about his latest find. Dressed in his signature jeans, the Hollywood celebrity feels more at home at the Cruise than at the ritzy Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California this weekend.<\/p>\n

\"Jay<\/figure>\n<\/div>
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Jay Leno and his Chrysler Turbine automobile at the Woodward Dream Cruise in Pontiac, Michigan on Aug. 17, 2024.<\/em> Daniel Mears, The Detroit News<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIf you to California, you meet one guy with a hundred cars. Here you meet 100 guys who each own one car,\u201d Leno said in an interview.\u00a0\u201cAnd, for a lot of them, it\u2019s a car they bought before they got married and it\u2019s been sitting in the garage and they are waiting for the kids to graduate from college so they can finish the project they started in high school. I love that part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leno\u2019s latest project is the root beer-colored 1963 Turbine, a car that he first saw as a kid at the 1964 World\u2019s Fair in New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up at a time when people said: \u2018By the time you\u2019re adults, cars will fly and you won\u2019t have to eat a meal and take a pill and we\u2019ll all wear silver suits that never get dirty,\u201d Leno said, getting animated. \u201cKennedy was saying we could have a man on the moon \u2014\u00a0GET OUTTA HERE!<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 and have jet cars \u2014\u00a0GET OUTTA HERE!<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 and both of those things came true. It was an era when there was nothing America couldn\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Interior<\/figure>\n<\/div>
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Interior of Jay Leno’s Chrysler Turbine automobile at the Woodward Dream Cruise in Pontiac, Michigan on Aug. 17, 2024. Daniel Mears, The Detroit News<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Chrysler built 55 of the Turbines \u2014 all painted Turbine Bronze \u2014 in 1963-64, the pinnacle of a turbine engine program that had begun after World War II. Eventually destroying all but nine, Chrysler held on to two. Six of them are in museums, and Leno owns one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI managed to get one that ran,\u201d said the comedian. \u201cI was driving one day and\u00a0\u2014\u00a0XXXXHT!<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 the engine just melted down. I called Chrysler, but the (turbine program) guys there were all retired.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, sort of.<\/p>\n

\"Jay<\/figure>\n<\/div>
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Jay Leno’s Chrysler Turbine automobile, with the turbine under the hood, at the Woodward Dream Cruise in Pontiac, Michigan on Aug. 17, 2024. Daniel Mears, The Detroit News<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Leno knew that one of the original Chrysler turbine engineers was Sam Williams (1921-2009), a genius engineer who went on to found Pontiac-based Williams International, a world-renowned jet engine manufacturer. Williams’ son Gregg is the current CEO.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew the Williams connection, so I contacted Gregg because I knew his dad\u2019s connection to the car,\u201d said Leno. \u201cThey gave us a clean room and found 60 guys from the original Chrysler team \u2014 all over the age of 80. It looked like the movie \u201cCocoon\u201d \u2014 one guy was 94, sharp as a tack, knew every statistic. We couldn\u2019t have done it without him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams International got the band back together, and, using modern manufacturing technology like 3D printing, they restored the historic A-831 Turbine engine to life.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father, Sam, started his career working for Chrysler in Highland Park \u2014 working on a turboprop engine for World War II airplanes,\u201d said Gregg Williams, sitting next to Leno at the Dream Cruise. \u201cAnd when the war came to an end, they took those engineers and put them to work with this revolutionary thought that they could built a gas-turbine powered car. It was a thought way ahead of its time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MoreMore like the Batmobile, Jay Leno’s Chrysler Turbine automobile is a sight to see at the Woodward Dream Cruise in Pontiac on Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. Daniel Mears, The Detroit News<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

After Chrysler pulled the plug in the 1960s (and the Indianapolis 500 regulated turbine race engines out of existence), jet turbine cars were shelved. Until Leno came along.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of throwing out the blueprints, they kept all this stuff,\u201d smiled Leno. \u201cAnd I come around 50 years later, and (imitating an old codger\u2019s husky voice) \u2014\u00a0here\u2019s the chance to do it again!<\/em><\/p>\n