Chrysler Turbine – New York World’s Fair 1964

Sleek, bronze-coloured, and unlike anything else on the road, the Chrysler Turbine Car was one of the true engineering showstoppers of the Fair. Powered not by a piston engine but by a jet-style gas turbine, the car could run on almost anything flammable — gasoline, diesel, kerosene, tequila, even perfume — a fact Chrysler proudly demonstrated to astonished visitors.

Only 55 of these cars were ever built, and just a handful survive today. Their distinctive whine, smooth acceleration, and minimal moving parts made them feel decades ahead of their time. At the Fair, guests could watch demonstrations, sit inside display models, and learn how Chrysler engineers believed the turbine might one day replace the traditional internal-combustion engine.

Though the technology never entered mass production, the Turbine Car became one of the most iconic symbols of the optimistic, futuristic spirit of the 1964–65 World’s Fair — a bold glimpse of a tomorrow that almost arrived.