Ford's 'Big Red' Truck of the Future

[DJR-351]

This is a first for me, had a quick search here for "Big Red" but couldn't find anything...

Ford's Incredible Turbine-Powered Semi-Truck 'Big Red'

https://www.thedrive.com/news/37925/...st-for-decades

Several months ago, we set out to catch a ghost. First seen at the 1964 World's Fair alongside a fun new car called the Mustang, Ford's "Big Red" was the automaker's experimental gas turbine semi-truck, a moonshot experiment built to lift American motoring into the jet age. Thirteen feet tall, nearly 100 feet long with its tandem trailers, packed with truly futuristic features and powered by a monster 600-horsepower turbine engine, the fully-functional prototype was a wonder to behold. It wowed fair attendees and captured the imaginations of thousands on a cross-country promotional tour that followed. Then, it was mothballed when turbine technology didn't add up. It changed hands by chance, people lost interest, and years after the 10-ton fire-breather barreled down America's highways, it vanished.

Though it seems like it'd be pretty tough to hide, Big Red's been missing since the early 1980s. It's perhaps one of the most significant pieces of automotive history to drop off the face of the earth. Ford itself had no idea what happened to it. But now, we do—after months of searching, after our initial investigation last fall got us closer than anyone had been in decades, the hunt is finally over. We've found Big Red. And we can confirm not only that the truck still exists, but that it's been painstakingly restored—working turbine and all—to its former glory by its exceedingly private and equally dedicated owner.

........"a lot more in the above link"

[ozrunner]

Wow what an amazing truck for its time and complete with all the cabin comforts.

[wodahs]

was interesting yes there has been some out of the box ideas over the years
how ever it has been in the forum prier with other turbine trucks and odditys
think they were added to a running thread not one just for them

[DJR-351]

Originally Posted by wodahs

was interesting yes there has been some out of the box ideas over the years
how ever it has been in the forum prier with other turbine trucks and odditys
think they were added to a running thread not one just for them

If it's already on AFF then it's well buried cause i had another look and didn't even get half a hit anywhere

[roKWiz]

Yeah that new footage released recently on yuotube is great. Funny how it came up as a suggestion after I watched Twin Stick Garage....ummm.

[DJR-351]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Yeah that new footage released recently on yuotube is great. Funny how it came up as a suggestion after I watched Twin Stick Garage....ummm.

It was the article about recently finding the truck that led me to the Video....

[GasoLane]

Love the corrugated iron sides

[Bossxr8]

Gas turbines where the next big thing in the 50's/60's. Turned out to be a big fail though.

One point of failure was leaded fuel. The lead deposited on the blades and eventually unbalanced them, which caused it to eventually blow up. Might have worked a bit better once unleaded fuel became available. Although emissions and poor fuel consumption would have killed it anyway.

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

I wonder what Big Red's drivability was like? Gas turbine's (at least in the aviation world) are renowned for spooling in comparison to a turbo-prop for eg.

Territory owners often complained of lag in the early model diesels; could you imagine the complaints from lag in a gas turbine!

As an aside, the new PC-21 aircraft the RAAF use for pilot training have software on board that can emulate the spooling (and therefore response rate) of a gas turbine engine, allowing students to become familiar with the lag in a turbo-prop aircraft before they convert to a gas turbine powered aircraft.

[XR Martin]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Gas turbines where the next big thing in the 50's/60's. Turned out to be a big fail though.

One point of failure was leaded fuel. The lead deposited on the blades and eventually unbalanced them, which caused it to eventually blow up. Might have worked a bit better once unleaded fuel became available. Although emissions and poor fuel consumption would have killed it anyway.

Being a turbine you could just use anything, so you would use diesel or kero instead.

[Wretched]

Not sure it would fit under the Montague St bridge.

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by Wretched

Not sure it would fit under the Montague St bridge.

Lambo is about the only thing that does!

[DJR-351]

Originally Posted by XR Martin

Being a turbine you could just use anything, so you would use diesel or kero instead.

The company i work for has a few ships with diesel fed turbine emergency generators.

The power station in Mt Newman years ago had an old Rolls Royce Avon emergency generator running on diesel, a bugger to get running sometimes but pumped out around 12MW....the whole unit was encased in a 40ft container, very squeezy...

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by XR Martin

Being a turbine you could just use anything, so you would use diesel or kero instead.

Could you pull up to a pump at a servo in the 60's and fill up with kero?

[XR Martin]

I remember in the 80s you could kero and 2 stroke out of pumps.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Wretched

Not sure it would fit under the Montague St bridge.

One of my favourite entertaining youtube channels......11ft 8in.

[rare ss]

My boss was telling me about a turbine powered haul truck that was tested in Indo during the 90's, it didn't end well..

[roKWiz]

Kenworth played with the idea back in the 50's.



Freightliner in the 60's.



and GM



Great reading......
https://bangshift.com/bangshiftxl/th...nother-mother/

[Fordman1]

Personally I like Turbine powered vehicles

The ADF have a good one

[Fordman1]

[DJR-351]

Listen carefully, you can hardly hear it starting up

[.:4:.]

A few years back a mate was renting a workshop. His landlords had on site their twin jet turbine offshore racing powerboat. At the time i was told it was the only jet turbine powered one in the country. Both jet turbines were estimated at around 3000hp each. Yes it could do 250km/h +, but the fuel costs were astronomical, and it needed to be towed by a prime mover and a crane needed to be rented to get it in the water. It was an impressive machine. It wasnt even raced either. But it was one of the top level offshore powerboats that has 2 hulls and needs both a throttle man and a steerer.

[roKWiz]

Who could forget the other turbine engined FORD truck.

[Franco Cozzo]

Not a Ford but a turbine powered car - Chrysler Turbine

[XR Martin]

Rover made a turbine car in 1949.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rove...,(142%20km%2Fh).