That article made it sound like the 911 was the first production car with a turbo. Whatever though, the whole thing is a big Porsche add.

 

just curious, but what was the first car with a turbo.

 

Well, I'm not exactly sure what the first one was, but I know the Corvair came out with a turbo on one of the engines in 1962. So that pre-dates the first turbo'd 911 by 13 years (1975). There are probably others, I just know that one off the top of my head.

 

corvair came out with a turbo. wow I never knew that.

 

Yeah, not that great of an engine. Kinda interesting though, it was a 2.3L boxer 6, 150HP in turbo form, then 2.7L in 1963 but the same power output. Draw-through carb, no intercooler, shitty intake manifold. Par for the course in those days though. I think I remember them being air cooled too, which I think is why Corvair engines were popular in kit planes.

 

very fascinating. never knew that at all

 

The whole Ralph Nader Corvair safety thing was blown way out of proportion, it's what that car is known for and it's pretty much a blatant lie. That's a story for a different day though.

 

I believe the first production turbo car was a 1962 Oldsmobile F-85 Jetfire. It's really interesting how far the turbo has come in terms of "reliability". Mostly due to advancing engine management I suppose.

 

FTA:
On 16 November 1905 Swiss engineer Dr. Alfred Büchi received patent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent No. 204630 from the Imperial Patent Office of the German Reich for a "combustion machine consisting of a compressor (turbine compressor)




holy shit, the 16th is my bday too!!

...21 in less then two weeks FTW!!

 

I would say manufacturing technology, materials science, and CAD software. Engine management just gets rid of the drawbacks that carbs can't overcome. At the speeds a turbo is spinning, manufacturing becomes critical for bearings, seals, and balancing. Think of early turbos as being like the Chinese turbos from eBay. Crap manufacturing, and very high failure rate because of that.