Jay Leno takes off with his revived Chrysler turbine car

It’s OK to have rare things If it’s simple and doesn’t move, it’s relatively hassle-free. One-off sculpture? Just stay stable, secure, and safe. An obscure stamp that collectors will go crazy for? Make sure you store it properly and in the right conditions so you don’t have problems. But if you have something rare and mechanically complex, sooner or later you have to fix it, and that’s not an easy task. As the video below shows, Jay Leno learned this with his Chrysler Turbo car.

Fundamentally, the Chrysler Turbo Car was a relatively unique product in that it was not sold to consumers. But they were tested on public roads. Chrysler produced a total of 55 cars, 5 of which were prototypes. The program did not put turbine-powered Chrysler cars in dealership showrooms, and when the program ended, the company destroyed all but nine of the cars. One of the survivors ended up in Leno’s garage. Like many old cars, it broke down—in fact, the engine “melted out,” in Leno’s words. At that point, the car’s rarity became more of a drawback than a pleasure. Not just anyone can drive a turbine-powered car. Metals and tolerances require specialized machinery, tools and expertise.

So Leno turned to Greg Williams, president and CEO of Williams International, the company his father, Sam, started after helping develop Chrysler turbine engines. The young Williams reunited the titular team, recruiting some 60 of the original team members who worked on the turbine cars (now in their 80s and 90s) to get the engines running in the Lenos . “It took 22,000 small octagonal holes to be drilled. They made special tools to make the parts that bend the corrugated metal in the turbine,” Leno said.

On the road, the Ghia-bodied Turbine Bronze hardtop’s ride is as soft, smooth, and vacuum-like as ever. The Turbo Car may not have survived the public testing phase of development, but thanks to Chrysler’s preservation and the dedication of the likes of Leno, Williams, and the original team behind the Turbo Car, it lives on as an example of ambition and talent, and originality.