If you're looking for a jet-engined Chevy Corvette, one is on the market.
The only one, that is. Developed as a personal project for a racing team owner's son, this 1978 Chevrolet Corvette is outfitted with an 880-horsepower Pratt & Whitney jet engine and went up for auction through Barrett-Jackson last week. No buyers bid high enough to score the unique ride.
One adventurous driver is now distinguished as one of the few people in the world to have driven two cars that run on turbine power. CNNMoney auto writer Peter Valdes-Dapena had already driven a 1963 Chrysler Turbine Car before he recently took the Jet Vette out for a spin.
"It's not really a jet-powered car, strictly speaking," he explained. "It's a turbine car. It's not pushed through the air by the exhaust coming out the back. Instead, the rapidly spinning jet turbine spins a crankshaft that drives the car's back wheels."
While the Jet Vette stands alone, around 50 turbine-powered Chrysler coupes were built and delivered to more than 200 households in a two-year social experiment. The Turbines were displayed in shopping malls and taken on a world tour of 23 cities in 21 countries; however, the car never made it to mass production.
But back to the Jet Vette. The powerful car idles at a cool 65 mph unless the driver applies the "gigantic brakes," while starting it takes a bit more than just turning a key. The fuel rod must be pulled out and igniters must be started; after checking gauges, the igniters are turned off and the fuel rod replaced for the Jet Vette to be ready for driving.
Valdes-Dapena describes "gently" bringing the car to 100 mph as the jet engine hissed.
"This car is reportedly capable of going from zero to 60 miles per hour in an insane three seconds, but acceleration once higher speeds were reached seemed relatively sane, if noisy," he wrote. "After we got done the car sat there happily hissing like a dragon with smoke drifting of out its hood vents.
"I was told that was perfectly normal."
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