Oldsmobile and Chevrolet pioneered the technology for mass-market cars, but the turbocharger failed — and it took decades to gain recognition.

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In 1962, GM's internal competitors-Oldsmobile and Chevrolet-ended a fierce intramural competition to use the tried and tested technology of World War II fighter jets to make advanced engines. This technology improves engine power and fuel consumption. It also points the way for Detroit to get rid of its dependence on more fuel-guzzling engines by getting more power from lighter, more efficient engines.

This cutting-edge technology is called a turbocharger. In the 1960s, it was exotic and innovative, and it was especially a disaster for General Motors.

The Olds F-85 Jetfire and Chevy Corvair Monza Spyder were the first mass-produced turbocharged passenger cars in the United States. Their technical and commercial failures caused Detroit to avoid turbochargers in the next few years.

From the Honda Civic to BMW's Z4 M40i Roadster, the turbocharged engine was not accepted by the public until the 1980s, when its reputation was restored by an eccentric Swede.

Even the archives of the General Motors Heritage Center—there are enough documents to fill a nearly three-mile-long file drawer—do not hint at why only two turbocharger projects were approved in the late 1950s. When automakers are engaged in a horsepower arms race, gasoline is cheap, and the Detroit motto is: "There is no substitute for displacement."

But this is also the dawn of the space age, when people were in awe of the future of technology. GM's innovation leader is Oldsmobile. But in 1956, Ed Cole, who was anti-traditional with the motto "Get rid of the status quo", became the general manager of Chevrolet, and he began to cooperate with Corvair. A game followed one after another.

Turbochargers are not well known. They appeared in the early 1900s, and by World War II, they were installed on American fighters such as the B-24 Liberator, P-38 Lightning, and P-47 Thunderbolt. After the war, diesel trucks began to use them.

The concept of turbocharging is easy to understand. The turbocharger uses exhaust gas from the engine to spin a micro-turbine, which in turn spins a second turbine. The second turbine sends a pressurized, concentrated fuel and air mixture into the cylinder to provide a more powerful charge. It can also burn more completely, thereby improving fuel efficiency.

But more engine power means more heat. Brandon Stevenson, who teaches advanced vehicle systems at Weber State University, said this is not a problem for diesel engines, which are not as finicky as gas engines and have lower combustion temperatures.

"Gas engine," he said, "in terms of air-fuel mixing, it is not as forgiving as diesel engines." Both Olds and Chevy would find out.

These two divisions produced turbochargers independently and may not know each other, at least initially.

The various departments of General Motors usually work in secret. Corvair was disguised as a project of Holden, a subsidiary of General Motors Australia. "We got Holden draft paper, Holden stationery, Holden purchase order-everything is there," former senior project engineer Robert Benzinger recalled in a speech to the American Corvill Association in 1975 road.

There are more fascinating stories here that you can't help but read to the end.

Even without turbocharging, heat is a challenge for Corvair's air-cooled aluminum engine. But the problem is exacerbated with turbocharging.

"The full output of the engine cannot be cooled!" Mr. Ben Singer exclaimed. Chevrolet assumes that “the driver will either run out of the road or run out of guts before the engine overheats,” he added.

During the test, the turbine engine burned holes in the valve. The engine requires a belt-driven cooling fan, but due to the weight of the fan, the belt fails at the maximum number of revolutions per minute. Therefore, Chevrolet cooperated with DuPont to create a lighter fan with a promising new plastic Delrin, which caused more serious problems.

After traveling from Detroit to Ohio, a test driver told Mr. Ben Singer that when he accelerated from the toll booth, "I started to choke and my eyes started to burn."

A frantic search for the cause started, resulting in four Corvair convoys returning to the route, each with an engineer from Chevrolet and an engineer from DuPont. The theory is different, suppose there is a problem with the static electricity generated by the Toledo air or fan. They drove to and fro radio, "Did you smell something?"

In the cold weather in Ohio, when the heater is running at full power, a lot of current flows through the battery in the hot engine compartment, so that it basically boils. The vaporized battery acid reacts with Delrin to form formaldehyde gas, which then fills the cabin. Mr. Benzinger said that potential casualties made him "shimmer so far." The cast aluminum fan was replaced.

Corvair's death was not due to turbocharging, but Ralph Nader. His book "No Speed ​​Is Safe" published in 1965 portrayed Corvair as a death trap, ushered in an era of consumer activism, and contributed to the establishment of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The agency later exempted Corvair from responsibility in a 140-page report, stating that its handling was "at least as good as the performance of some contemporary vehicles at home and abroad."

The description of Jetfire development was not common, complete or colorful, but major problems appeared after the car was sold.

"It comes from their Olds experimental department," said amateur Jim Noel, who probably rebuilt more Jetfire turbochargers at the age of 80 than anyone alive. Oldsmobile borrowed from the aircraft's method of solving the cooling problem, that is, "water injection".

The air intake is cooled by water and alcohol mist, increasing boost pressure and reducing heat and other accompanying ignition problems.

Olds curiously refers to the mixture of water and alcohol as turbo rocket fluid, which is in a single five-quart fuel tank. "If you are wandering around, you can use up a can of liquid in a week or two," Mr. Noel said. Then people did not refill the fuel tank.

But the situation got worse. The alcohol mixture makes the hose and diaphragm brittle. An improperly designed seal can cause sticky materials to accumulate and jam the turbine. When the car is turned off, the turbo rocket reservoir is still pressurized, it may partially fill the cylinder with liquid, and may damage the rod and piston when restarted.

Worst of all, Mr. Noel said, "The lawyer stepped in and wanted a safety device." These devices often paralyze the turbocharger, making it basically useless.

Oldsmobile offers Jetfire owners the option to remove the turbocharger. In 1985, when Mr. Noel was introduced to two Oldsmobile employees who had worked on Jetfire, he was told that "of the 9,607 Jetfires produced, approximately 80% of the turbocharged engines were removed and Replaced with a four-cylinder engine."

Both the Jetfire and Corvair camps claim that their brands are turbochargers first, which seems to be a victory that is not worth the loss. Oldsmobile was the first to be released, but the Monza Spyder was the first to be publicly displayed, which obscured a more important point: first or second, these cars polluted turbocharging technology. Until Buick in the 1980s, “General Motors had not touched another turbocharger,” Mr. Noel said.

After General Motors failed, except for trucks, racing cars and limited-production performance cars, turbocharging was rare.

When Robert Sinclair became president of Saab Motors America in 1979, things changed. Mr. Sinclair is an amiable but tough executive. Saab fans call him "Uncle Bob." Mr. Sinclair's sales and marketing background challenged Saab's business strategy.

"'You seem to be building something similar to a streamlined Scandinavian Volkswagen. I am interested in selling a high-performance Swedish four-person Porsche,"' he recalled, accepting Hemmings Sports and Exotics in 2006 Tell the board of directors during the interview. "We are the only company that has turbochargers in standard production cars, and these cars have such huge possibilities."

In 1978, Saab 99 equipped a production car with a turbocharged engine for the first time, since the failure of General Motors. "The first Saab turbocharged engine was not reliable," said Jim Smart, owner of Saab expert Smart Motors in Santa Fe, New Mexico. "For it to work, advanced engine management is required."

Despite this, the automotive media is still full of praise. Patrick Bedard wrote in "Car and Driver": "Saab, who discovered that it is safe, sane, and snow-proof, has now bought a second-speed rubber car, which allows us all All were shocked." "Who knows? Maybe the law of gravitation will be abolished next."

In 1982, Saab's turbocharger added its breakthrough automatic performance control, which is a microphone that can monitor engine combustion and make adjustments in flight. The engine became practical, reliable and economical. The word turbo became synonymous with Saab.

But Saab's highest achievement came in 1983, when the company forcibly introduced a stripped two-door back hatchback on Saab USA. Mr. Sinclair needs upgrades, such as cast wheels, advanced sound systems and leather interiors.

He recalled in that 2006 interview: "I went to the end of the list and said,'Oh, yes, there is another item.''What's that?''Convertible roof.'"

The convertible is one of the few convertibles available, and it went on the market in 1986. As the United States still felt the impact of the oil crisis in the 1970s, a convertible car equipped with a powerful, fuel-efficient turbine engine became popular. In the past 20 years, a quarter of the 1 million Saab convertibles have been sold.

Saab makes turbocharging more acceptable; this is prestigious. Saab does not have turbocharged owners who want people to think they do. "A person I know who works at Saab Parts said he sells more turbocharged badges than cars," Mr. Smart said.

With the resolution of technical and image issues, turbocharging technology is back. By the mid-1980s, they could be found on Volvo station wagons, Porsche 944, Ford Mustang SVO, Datsun 280ZX, Dodge Daytona Shelby Z and Chrysler’s LeBaron GTS.

According to a report by the Environmental Protection Agency, by the 2020 model year, 35% of new cars will be turbocharged.

When the F-85 Jetfire brochure in 1962 called its engine "revolutionary," it was right. This is 16 years early.