Slick 60's

Here are a few Ford Factory photos from my collection.



The 61 prototype I had posted earlier. Uni doors, quad headlights, six spoke wheels, no spears on the side of the hood.



The infamous gas turbine powered Ford truck. A note about this truck. A lot of features from this truck showed up on the CLT 9000 models that came out in 78. Check out the N series parked behind it.



The cockpit of the Gas Turbine truck



Two 65 models, an F 100 and an F 250 Camper Special



A nice photo of the 65 model.






Great picture of an N series. The picture says 1964 model, but I some how think that it may be a prototype picture of the 63 model. Note the mesh in the upper grill, the chrome bumper, those two things never showed up on the production models. This truck also sports a chrome Luberfiner oil filter (you can see it just behind the fuel tank) Stainless mirrors, and a chrome stack. The air filter shown on this truck never made it into production either.

What would you class the Gas Turbine as?, a truck and dog or a B double?, I cant really see if the truck is articulated or not!

Alan Mclennan wrote:What would you class the Gas Turbine as?, a truck and dog or a B double?, I cant really see if the truck is articulated or not!

No, it is not an articulated truck, it has a fifth wheel. Here is another picture and you can see it better.



I love the grill in this truck, It has George Barris written all over it. It looks like it came straight from a 50's custon car or truck.

Big Job, I too love the oversize gear and lightning bolt, I would love to have it for my Ford collection.

Michelle those are very cool.
What makes the gas turbine truck "Infamous"? I have never heard much about it before, bad or good. I know much more about Chrysler's gas turbine car.

Thanks for the education. We need more stuff like this. Great post!

Johnny Canuck wrote:Michelle those are very cool.
What makes the gas turbine truck "Infamous"? I have never heard much about it before, bad or good. I know much more about Chrysler's gas turbine car.

The reason I say infamous is because while it was a cutting edge concept and seemed like a good idea it just had too many problems that were never over come. Ford is not the first truck to try and use a gas turbine engine. KW tried it in 1950 and had the same problems. With the advance of the technology in turbine enges from 1950 to the mid 1960's I guess Ford thought it was worth another try.

Here are a few pictures of the turbine powered KW. Some of the cars and trucks in the back ground make the pictures even more interesting.



It looked like a truck with no engine. I bet it surprised a lot of people when it passed. Check out the size of the stacks on the truck The ACF Brill Trailways bus getting ready to pass probably had a lot of surprised passengers.



Note the 49 Autocar truck passing him, I guess the turbine engine was a little lacking in the area of torque.



That looks to be about a 50 model Studebaker pulling a small travel trailer about to pass.



Looks like the KW may be passing the Chevy convertible, may be there going down hill.



A good compairson of the two engines. Note the 49 Ford convertible in the back ground.

Those trailers from the Ford gas turbine truck ended up at Bill Stroppes shop in Long Beach, CA.
I remember seeing them (or one) there in the 1990's.
They hauled the off road race team to SCORE races in Mexico and such.
If I searched around I could probably find some pictures but here is a link to their web site.

http://stroppe.com/

1. I can't believe how freaking small that engine iswith two guys holding it !

2. Part of me would love a huge old school camper like that for my pops 66 .

foodstick wrote:1. I can't believe how freaking small that engine iswith two guys holding it !

2. Part of me would love a huge old school camper like that for my pops 66 .

My dad had an Alaskan and a Hi/Lo. I never particularly liked them, now I kinda want one. I still have the shell he had on his last F150; I may put it on the longbed for Slickstock.
Paul

Thanks for sharing the photos, Michelle. Hope you're well.

Grits,
While I firmly believe it is never too late to say thanks; you DID note the date on Michelle's posts?
Aw, anyway, I second the sentiments!
Paul

I hope this pic comes out, Chelle this work look great on your desk!................

http://www.tonkagasturbine.com/Ford_Gas ... _Model.jpg