Indeed, since it was first founded in 1899, Fiat has been seen serving the world's high-volume automotive market with reliable and low-cost products. On the other hand, for the high performance, low volume and high cost automotive market, it is left to a third party.
The Fiat Turbina concept is built by Fiat and debuted in 1954, it uses a turbine engine as the drivetrain. (Picture from: https://bit.ly/2SUvQ30)
But in the 1950s, something different had happened when the Italian car manufacturer built an unusual concept car called the Fiat Turbina, which it all did on its own. Then why is this called an unusual project because it develops a concept car that uses a gas turbine engine as its driving force. Yes, in 1954 Fiat was the second car manufacturer in the world, after Rover, to introduce a car driven by a gas turbine engine.
The Fiat Turbina concept first appeared in public on 23 April 1954 at Caselle Torinese Airport, where it was a demonstration driving with Fiat test driver Carlo Salamano behind the wheel. (Picture from: https://bit.ly/3nPNALm)
In fact, this project required a long time of planning, and the company had begun studying this concept car in 1948 and ended with a track test in 1954 on the rooftop track of the Fiat's Lingotto factory, in Turin, Italy.
The
Fiat Turbina concept features a turbine engine without a gearbox which
is placed in the middle, just behind the passenger compartment. (Picture from: https://bit.ly/33WuPOs)
This car project is known to be handled by Dante Giocosa, who at that time served as the Technical Director of Fiat who was also working on the Fiat 8V legendary sports cars. This concept car features a turbine engine without a gearbox which is placed in the middle, just behind the passenger compartment.
A cross-sectional image of the 1954 Fiat Turbina turbine-engine concept car. (Picture from: https://bit.ly/3k1X8k0)
This machine has a 2-stage centrifugal compressor, three can-type combustors, a two-stage turbine driving the compressor, and a single-stage power turbine with a geared reduction to its rear wheels.
The
Fiat Turbina concept can be seen on display at the Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile (National Automobile Museum) in Turin. (Picture from: https://bit.ly/34QbrBS)
The Italian manufacturer says the engine burst power of 300 hp (220 kW) at 22,000 rpm, and is capable of delivering this concept car to run up to a top speed of 250 kph (160 mph). While the bodywork had undergone wind tunnel testing at the Politecnico di Torino facilities.
Inside the cockpit of the
Fiat Turbina concept at the Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile (National Automobile Museum) in Turin. (Picture from: https://bit.ly/33WuPOs)
This car first appeared in public on 23 April 1954 at Caselle Torinese Airport, where it was a demonstration driving with Fiat test driver Carlo Salamano behind the wheel. After that the concept car was brought to the arena of the 1954 Turin Auto Show which was taking place at that time.
The Fiat Turbina concept has the slippery shape had an amazingly low drag coefficient, and with its two compressor stages and one turbine stage drivetrain, it produced around 300 hp at 22,000 rpm. (Picture from: https://bit.ly/33WuPOs)
The Fiat Turbina concept car was noted as the record holder for the car's lowest drag coefficient (0.14) for 30 years. At the end the project was abandoned due to insurmountable overheating problems and extremely high fuel consumption, so the concept car was shelved in the plant garage.
Today, the Fiat Turbina can be seen on display at the Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile (National Automobile Museum) in Turin. Even in 2014, Pagani, another Italian premium car manufacturer collaborated with Garage Italia Customs to present the one-off supercar named Pagani Huayra Lampo, whose design was said to be inspired by Fiat Turbina. ***[EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | WIKIPEDIA | DRIVETRIBE | FLICKR]
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