Who Made the first Turbocharged car in the world??? - SRT Forums

DSMDirkah · 11-25-2005, 08:25 PM

After a long discussion about the origins of the turbo charger and an extensive google search still do not know who manufactured the first Turbo car or the first turbo for that matter.. We are thinking germany or porsche but we still are not sure.. Any help with this is appreciated!!

Matt

NeonDan · 11-25-2005, 08:34 PM

i know BMW was one of the first with the 2002 turbo and i know the 911 Turbo also debuted either around the sametime or before. Not sure its been a long ass while since i last saw the info. I did a research paper in HS about family owner car companies...BMW, Honda, Porsche etc

NeonDan · 11-25-2005, 08:40 PM

turbos were heavily "experimented" with in the 50s but finaly in the 60's people were taking notice. I know that turbo traces its origins to switzerland and several manufacturers toyed with the idea while BMW and Porsche ultimately came to market first

NeonDan · 11-25-2005, 08:45 PM

i stand corrected,

In 1938 the first turbocharged utility-vehicle diesel-engine was built by the Swiss manufacturer “Saurer”. Not until 1962 " General Motors" built the "Chevrolet Corvair Monza" and the "Oldsmobile Jetfire" as their first standard-type cars equipped with exhaust-fume turbocharging. The first turbocharged passenger car Diesel engine was built in 1978 by “Daimler-Benz” with the model “300 SD”.

TheBeak · 11-25-2005, 08:56 PM

i was going to say it had to be early or mid fourties, as they were turbo/supercharging aircraft engines in ww2....

looks like dan has it traced further back..

NeonDan · 11-25-2005, 09:32 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by TheBeak

i was going to say it had to be early or mid fourties, as they were turbo/supercharging aircraft engines in ww2....

yeah i found that info too

DSMDirkah · 11-26-2005, 02:15 AM

Thanks for all the great info!

murfman · 11-26-2005, 07:29 AM

IIRC Detroit Diesels were turbocharged back in the late 1930's also, along with other high tech features such as roller rockers, roller cams, and 4 valves per cylinder (All 4 were exhaust valves as it was a 2 stroke!!) They were pretty radical, and were produced from the late 30's until the mid 90's pretty impressive.

darkside · 11-26-2005, 10:27 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by NeonDan

i stand corrected,

In 1938 the first turbocharged utility-vehicle diesel-engine was built by the Swiss manufacturer “Saurer”. Not until 1962 " General Motors" built the "Chevrolet Corvair Monza" and the "Oldsmobile Jetfire" as their first standard-type cars equipped with exhaust-fume turbocharging. The first turbocharged passenger car Diesel engine was built in 1978 by “Daimler-Benz” with the model “300 SD”.

The first turbo came out in 1938, then in the 1939, the Germans were the first to add a Stage 1 and CAI to that turbo for the first mods in the world!!!! The supercharger actually came out before the first turbo!!

NemoFoss · 11-26-2005, 10:31 AM

the first exhaust-driven turbocharger was invented in 1905 by Dr. Alfred J. Buchi, a Swiss engineer.

NemoFoss · 11-26-2005, 10:36 AM

Büchi had to wait a long time until his invention was able to enter practical use. The first application of turbocharger technology was in large marine engines, with the German Ministry of Transport commissioning the construction of the "Danzig" and "Preussen" passenger liners in 1923. Each of these two passenger ships had twin ten-cylinder diesel engines with output boosted by turbocharger technology from 1750 to 2500 horsepower.

blackbird_R/T · 11-26-2005, 11:16 PM

As far as passenger cars, the '62 Olds Jetfire F-85 was the first and came with a 215 CI turbocharged V8 that also featured standard water/methanol injection. Later in that model year the Corvair was offered with a turbocharged, air cooled, flat-six. Next up would be the first European turbocharged car, the BMW 2002 Turbo which was made in '73/74 for a one year production run in very limited numbers. The first turbocharged car that went into a large volume production was the Saab 99 Turbo in '78.

deez_nutz · 11-26-2005, 11:31 PM

benz was the first one they had a turbo on a car in 1908. i wrote a paper on the uses and advancement in high school and benz was def. the first ones to use it

COY · 11-26-2005, 11:42 PM

The SRT-4

blackbird_R/T · 11-27-2005, 12:03 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by deez_nutz

benz was the first one they had a turbo on a car in 1908. i wrote a paper on the uses and advancement in high school and benz was def. the first ones to use it

If I remember correctly, some of the first forced induction developments were centrifugal blowers, but are you sure the Benz was exhaust driven (e.g. turbocharger) and not belt driven (e.g. supercharger)? There were a ton of different blown cars available well before the first turbocharged one, but as for a production passenger car, the Olds was still the first.

I've done some research a long time a go, and did a quick search and also came up with this, this, and this link, backing what Nemo already mentioned.