Prototype Rover gas turbine motor car, JET 1

PART OF:
Prototype Rover gas turbine motor car
Made:
1946-1950 in England and Solihull
maker:
Rover Company
Arrival of Rover Jet Car at Museum Rover Gas Turbine Car 1948 - general view

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Arrival of Rover Jet Car at Museum
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Rover Gas Turbine Car 1948 - general view
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Rover gas turbine motor car, Jet 1, built by the Rover Company, Solihull, England, 1946-1950.

JET 1 was the world’s first gas-turbine-powered motor car. It was made by Rover, the car company which had been intended as the main producer of the new Whittle aircraft jet engine in the Second World War. Work on a small gas turbine suitable for powering a motor car began in 1946, and the finished vehicle was unveiled to the public in 1950. In 1952 JET 1 was fitted with an uprated engine and achieved a world record speed (for gas turbine cars) of 152 mph (244 km/h).

When JET 1 was launched, the gas turbine ‘jet’ engine was seen as a symbol of modernity and of British technical prowess. Many viewed it as the power source of the future, but test driving showed that its poor fuel consumption and slowness to respond to the throttle made it unsuitable for road transport. Rover continued to develop gas turbine car designs until 1965, and work was subsequently carried out on gas-turbine-powered trucks. Many other companies also started to explore gas-turbine-powered cars, trucks and railway locomotives.

For all these small-scale applications the gas turbine has proved, up to now, too costly to manufacture, and the problems of control and fuel economy still exist. However, higher-power gas turbines are very successful in aircraft, ships, and for generating electrical power.

Details

Category:
Road Transport
Object Number:
1958-80 Pt1
Materials:
metal (unknown), plastic (unidentified) and glass
Measurements:
overall: 1350 mm x 1440 mm x 4380 mm, 1270 kg
type:
private cars and gas turbines
credit:
Rover Car Co. Ltd.