Who Killed the Gas Turbine Car?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 08.28.06
Italian engineer and designer Giovanni Savonuzzi came from renowned design shop Ghia in Italy in 1958 to become chief engineer for turbine research for Chrysler, and built 55 gas turbine cars with the fabulous futuristic Italian jet plane-inspired design. He tooled around New York City using Arpege perfume and peanut oil as fuel. It must have been fun to drive; the engine topped out at 45,700 RPM. Evidently, after showing the cars around, Chrysler destroyed 46 of them to avoid paying customs duty on the imported Italian bodies. A shame- unlike the GM electric car, these actually look cool. ::Wikipedia from a letter by Alberta Savonuzzi to Vanity Fair
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