Cool, Awesome & Amazing Custom/One-off/Prototype Cars

  • Thread starter RocZX
  • 684 comments
  • 184,975 views
Are these one off Ferrari's, or they could renders?

Image000018.jpg


2b0acbd21423ef65ca263e718def1fe6.jpg




evren-milano-torino-ferrari-770-daytona-pininfarina-fioravanti_0-100.jpg
 
Are these one off Ferrari's, or they could renders?

Image000018.jpg


2b0acbd21423ef65ca263e718def1fe6.jpg




evren-milano-torino-ferrari-770-daytona-pininfarina-fioravanti_0-100.jpg
2 of them are attempted renders of what the LaFerrari was going to look like.

The last one is some god awful job of trying to plaster a Daytona grille to a F12 in what I assume is an "attempt" to speculate a new F12 successor.
 
The GM Coal Dust Turbine
0906_01_z+1978_cadillac_eldorado+front_three_quarters_view.jpg

As part of GM's long running program of attempts to have a production model equipped with a turbine engine, the coal dust powered variant cropped up when the fuel crisis hit the US in the '70s. The first prototype was a 1978 Eldorado, chosen due to the size of its engine bay and trunk; perfect for running all of the experimental equipment.

0906_03_z+powered_coal+storage_tank.jpg

The system was very complex: you had a conveyor belt moving the dust around, a diesel/kerosene ignition system to start the engine, and it was all geared down to a 3-Speed Hydramatic. The reason coal dust was chosen is because, at least in the late 70s and early 80s, the US had roughly 600 years worth of usable dust. The initial program was ended with the experimental Eldorado being sent to one of Allison's facilities and is presumed destroyed. Although there was another coal dust powered turbine dropped into a Delta 88 in 1983 or so (which had some monitoring components taken directly from a Boeing 727, might I add), GM completely went away from coal powered turbines for the rest of their jet propelled prototypes as other forms of fuel were deemed cleaner and didn't require complex delivery systems.
 
Last edited:
In case the 500 cubic inch V8 wasn't dirty enough, lets try coal power!
It was dirty more in the "getting disgusting black grease everywhere when you refueled" sense than polluting the environment. You also couldn't just shoot dust into a turbine and expect it to burn; it had to go through a "gasifier" to be agitated before being sent into the engine.

If you think about it, coal power sorta made sense then: oil was expensive, and coal dust was abundant on top of having one of the best energy to cost ratios of any form of fuel.

Alas, even if the engineers did get it reliably working it probably would have been a very expensive engine to produce (subsequently making it a very expensive option) and likely wouldn't see mass production. All that was compounded by the fact the Eldorado and most of GM's large boats were getting downsized anway, which would have meant shrinking the whole thing; basically, it was doomed from the start.
 
I love the massive diffuser. As if a GTO/Stealth needs any help sticking to the ground. :lol:
 
Back