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Greetings 405 listener!
The 405 airs over KMMR Radio Station. At 5 Minutes past 4 PM each M-F week day of the year. Here on the website we strive to have it posted within a few hours afterwards.
Your neighbor and website maintainer,
D.J. Rasmussen
Thanks for stopping by and listening to the shows.
I wanna again welcome you to The 405 Coffee Break. Guys, new week. Get you a cup of coffee, glass iced tea, bottle of water, pair of Mentons. Let's see what's happening.
OK Solberg:Spring wheat $5.58 a bushel. 550lb steer calf. Oh, looky here. It is dropping. Still a good price, though. But $4 and a nickel. $4.05 Down from $4.40 to $4.60, but still a good price. The glut is on. A butcher hog in Iowa, 69ยข a pound, and a 100lb fat lamb in Billings on the top end $2.23 a pound. Guys, there's more, much more.
OK Solberg:Are you ready for winter? Ready or not, here I come. The weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful. Oh, yes. The fire inside our wood stove is doing its magic. But alas, we live in Montana, and we know what to expect. And it's Monday, and we also know what to expect. It's Jay and Joe's Motor Monday, the day we look at horsepower one Monday at a time.
OK Solberg:Now if you remember last week, last week, we were talking about a 1963 Chrysler turbine automobile that was, and now there are only three left that are in running order. And Jay Leno has one of them.
OK Solberg:Last week, I told you the turbine engine, just like jet airplanes use, you know, remember what I said? Where our automobiles today run down the road at 2,200 to 3,000 RPMs, the turbine engine was twisting out 20,000 RPMs at an idle and wrapping up to 60,000 RPMs as it was cruising down the highway. Remember what I said last week, if you keep your RPMs low, things have the likelihood of lasting longer.
OK Solberg:Now an interested party asked last week, if the Caterpillar cranked out 1,100 to 1,300 at working RPM, What was the RPM for a John Deere two cylinder 830? Well, I'll tell you. It's very close to the old Caterpillar engines. The 830 at full twist, or in other words, at the rated governor speed, that was 1,125 RPM. Slow as molasses on a Montana deep freeze day.
OK Solberg:So compare the John Deere 830 to the Chrysler turbine engine, 1,125 compared to 60,000 RPMs. Wow. Something's gonna wear out sometime. Something could fly off the handle. Now last week, I also told you, after the user program ended 1966, Chrysler reclaimed the cars and destroyed all but nine. Chrysler kept two cars for themselves. Six are displayed at museums in The United States, and one is in comedian Jay Leno's private collection.
OK Solberg:Why did they destroy them? I said, tune in again next week to hear more of the story of the jet engine automobile and why they destroyed them. Well, it's next week. Now because this was such an experimental project and because it was so high RPMs and so much heat was produced, Chrysler chose to destroy them primarily because of liability issues, potential liability issues. Few companies are gonna go out outright and say that we didn't want any liability problems because that implies that there could be liability problems, and that would look poorly on Chrysler.
OK Solberg:So they were very careful with their wording. It is documented, and you guys can find it also if you wish. Go on the Internet. Here's what they did give for the reason they destroyed them. One Chrysler engineer with the last name of Carrie said, we don't want any PR problems by letting a bunch of these bodies run around uncontrolled, which could diminish the good image effects from the turbine program.
OK Solberg:Well, then another Chrysler official named Rosenbush stated Chrysler didn't want prototypes out on the road. We didn't want them to end up on a used car lot and have somebody pull out the turbine engine and put in a 318 instead. That's a quote. Truly, you can find it yourself. But bottom line was this, Chrysler didn't want the liability.
OK Solberg:You know how people are. Have an accident from a fire or an explosion, and what do you do? You slap a lawsuit on the Chrysler Corporation. Engineer Bill Carey stated anything done outside the control of the corporation could potentially create all sorts of PR headaches. And Mr Kerry, the engineer recalls, he personally went to the scrapyard to watch the cars getting crushed. Man, that had to hurt.
OK Solberg:But it's a good time for a bible verse. Listen. What your eyes have seen, do not hastily bring into court. What your eyes have seen, do not hastily bring into court. For what will you do in the end when your neighbor puts you to shame? Proverbs 25:8 That's what the good book says, but we know not everyone follows the good book.
OK Solberg:So the bottom line, the Chrysler Corporation destroyed so many of the 1963 turbine cars for liability reasons. They didn't want someone to have a turbine cut loose and take somebody's head off at 60,000 RPMs. And that wraps up this topic on Jay and Joe's Motor Monday. Hopefully, you can tune in again next week when we'll talk about another subject dealing with motors or engines, if you so prefer.
OK Solberg:Better put your glosses on. It's sloppy out there. So until next time, as you go out there, remember now, don't be bitter.