Jay Leno Drives A 1962 Oldsmobile Jetfire: Video
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Turbocharging is a fairly common thing these days, but back in the ‘60s, the technology was just getting rolling. The first vehicle to introduce turbos for production cars was this – the 1962 Oldsmobile Jetfire. Now, Jay Leno is taking this lovingly restored example for a drive.
Although the Chevy Corvair wasn’t far behind, the Oldsmobile Jetfire is still considered America’s first production turbocharged car. Even so, it’s relatively unknown, even among dedicated enthusiasts, and a rare thing to see on the road.
The owner of this particular 1962 Oldsmobile Jetfire found the car while looking for another Oldsmobile for his wife. Despite a long history of Oldsmobile ownership in his family, the owner didn’t know too much about the Jetfire, but ended up falling in love with it, even selling the rest of his collection to get it.
The main party piece is under the hood, where the Oldsmobile Jetfire cradles a 215 cubic-inch V8. To run the boost, the engine requires something which Oldsmobile called “Turbo-Rocket Fluid,” a combination of water and methanol to combat detonation. The V8 has a relatively high 10.25:1 compression ratio, while the turbo puts out roughly 6 psi of boost. At the time, the gasoline wasn’t good enough to sustain all that, so without the special fluid, the engine defaults to run without all the boost.
The all-aluminum V8 makes 185 horsepower, but with the turbo spinning, that figure peaks at 215 horsepower. The car is also pretty light, weighing in at an estimated 2,900 pounds with a full tank of gas.
Of course, with how rare this car is, owners have to go to great lengths to keep it all in working order. For example, the owner orders custom air filters through K&N, and he mixes his own rocket fluid as well.
“These cars are really a community effort,” the owner says.
All in all, this 1962 Oldsmobile Jetfire looks pristine, and is even driven regularly on the street. Check it out in full with the video below:
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Beautiful Car, Beautiful Colours, Miss Beautiful Cars Today in Production. GM should have concentrate Design in Such
The problem with the Jetfire was that owners did not religiously keep the fluid level up, resulting in diminished reliability.
I like the 1961-63 first generation ‘compact’ Oldsmobiles (F-85), Buicks (Special/Skylark), and Pontiacs {Tempest}. The three shared the same body shell yet each emphasized their own personalities. Olds continued its Rocket tripping with the Jetfire; Pontiac’s Tempest took the novelty route with a flexible driveshaft and independent swing axle rear suspension with a 4 cylinder engine that was essentially Pontiac’s 389 cu.in. V8 sawed in half. The Buick Special and Skylark went down more a conservative path, being styled very similarly to the senior Buicks, with an eye on luxury and comfort for the upwardly mobile.
These first generation ‘middle-class compacts’ grew up in 1964 and became ‘intermediates’, which is another chapter in the history of the American automobile.
The failure here was part water injection but also the Turbo needed better cooling and oil.
It was not till turbochargers began to get water cooled housings, better metals and synthetic oil before the durability went up.
We had a tempest to play with. To note these cars were loosely built on the Corvair platform. The tempest used the power glide trans axle connected with the rope like drive shaft. It was like a larger speedometer cable. Surprisingly it was pretty durable and not very larger in size. Delorean himself designed it.
The slant 4 was a rough engine that did not get much mpg in the real world. Also the world was not about mileage anyway.
They moved these cars to the A platform with a full frame and the rest is history.
The 215 went away as it was cheaper to just do a cast iron engine.
These cars were about 12 years ahead of their time.
Great looking car. I always liked Oldsmobile. I think Olds, had the best overall quality of all the GM brands. I wish they were still around.
A great looking and performing car. We called the turbo fluid mouse milk.