Early turbochargers

argatoga

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I'm trying to think of the earliest mass production turbocharged cars (mass production as in not some custom Rollgatti built for Lord Pennychase of Blargoshire).

Off the top of my head I can think of the following:

1962 Oldsmobile Jetfire F-85

1963_Oldsmobile_F85_Jet_Fire_V8_Turbo_Engine_1.jpg


1962 Chevy Corvair Monza

800px-Corvair_turbo_engine.jpg
 
Wikipedia said:
The first production turbocharged automobile engines came from General Motors in 1962. The Y-body Oldsmobile Cutlass Jetfire was fitted with a Garrett AiResearch turbocharger and the Chevrolet Corvair Monza Spyder with a TRW turbocharger.[8][9][10] At the Paris auto show in 1974, during the height of the oil crisis, Porsche introduced the 911 Turbo ? the world?s first production sports car with an exhaust turbocharger and pressure regulator. This was made possible by the introduction of a wastegate to direct excess exhaust gases away from the exhaust turbine.[11]

The first turbocharged diesel truck was produced by Schweizer Maschinenfabrik Saurer (Swiss Machine Works Saurer) in 1938.[12]

The world's first production turbo diesel automobiles were the Garrett-turbocharged Mercedes 300SD and the Peugeot 604, both introduced in 1978. Today, most automotive diesels are turbocharged.
 
Yes because wikipedia is the tome of all knowledge and is never factualy wrong or incomplete.

Though I haven't looked at the Wikipedia you use in Slovakia so that may be more accurate.
 
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What point? It is a genuine question.
 
I think you're right, the Corvair Monza was the first thing that came to my mind, and I can't really think of anything super mainstream before that.
 
Actually, the last application was in the 1989 Pontiac Turbo Trans Am. The engine was rated at 250 hp, but most people felt that rating was a bit modest and the actual output was closer to 300 hp. Considering it was faster than the Corvette of the day, they may have had a point.
 
Faster overall speed or quicker to 60? If I remeber right, the Vette of the day had less that 250 hp so that would probably make the turbo TA better in both regardes.
 
I was thinking of the SAAB 99 Turbo, Wikipedia says "The Saab 99 turbo was one of the first "family cars" to be fitted with a turbo after the 1962-63 Oldsmobile Turbo Jetfire." The first 99 Turbos surfaced in 1978.
 
I was thinking of the SAAB 99 Turbo, Wikipedia says "The Saab 99 turbo was one of the first "family cars" to be fitted with a turbo after the 1962-63 Oldsmobile Turbo Jetfire." The first 99 Turbos surfaced in 1978.

The other "family cars" would have been the Buick Regal, Century, and LeSabre Turbo Coupes. Buick got into turbocharging in a big way in the late 1970s - to the point where a Turbo Century paced the Indianapolis 500 in 1976.

(God, I'm starting to sound like PunisherBass.)
 
The Porsche 930 is also what you could call an early Turbocharged car...

3060508.001_1074big.jpg


This was of course the first 911 Turbo, the 3,0 without the later 3,3's intercooler:

930motor.jpg


Twin turbo charged 917 engine Porsche used to campaign the 1972 and 1973 CanAm series:

Porsche917Turbo1109163873.jpg


Porsche-917-30_2.jpg


And in here you find out what it did...
 
This thread needs more BMW 2002 Turbo.
BMW_2002_Turbo_(2008-06-28)_ret.jpg

BMW_2002_turbo_engine_TCE.jpg


Introduced in 1973, it predates the 930 by a couple years.

The 930 was however pretty significant in a number of ways. Porsche pioneered the air-to-air intercooler on the 3.3l model.

Another car of note is the Shelby CSX-VNT, the first production car to use a variable-nozzle turbo
26494630001_large.jpg
 
Faster overall speed or quicker to 60? If I remember right, the Vette of the day had less that 250 hp so that would probably make the turbo TA better in both regardes.

I forget what the top speed was, but Car & Driver recorded a 0-60 time of 4.6 seconds. AFAIK, that is the fastest 0-60 time for any factory Trans Am. And the 1989 Corvette had 245 hp from the L98, getting up to 250 hp in 1990-91.
 
Does anybody else think it's weird that the first air-cooled, rear mounted turbocharged flat six engine was in a Chevy, of all things?
 
Does anybody else think it's weird that the first air-cooled, rear mounted turbocharged flat six engine was in a Chevy, of all things?

It was actually a straight six if I remember correctly.
 
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