The Shelby Turbine was one of four
open-wheel Indy cars released in 1969 as part of the new Grand Prix
Series.
During
the winter of 1966-67, the Granatelli brother's STP team built a
radical new race car powered by a turbine engine. At the time,
such an engine was allowed under USAC rules. Parnelli Jones, 1963
Indianapolis
500 champion, was hired to drive the car. In the 1967
Indianapolis 500, Jones
led 171 laps, but a $6 bearing burned out on lap 197. The STP
Turbine, referred to by
some as the "pregnant guppy" might have been what the Mattel designer
had in
mind. For 1968, the Granatellis turned to Lotus for another try
with turbine
engines. The designer of the original STP turbine car, Ken
Wallis, approached
Carroll Shelby and convinced him to build a turbine car for the 1968 Indianapolis
500. Denny Hulme and Bruce McLaren were to drive the new Shelby
Turbines, but they were
quietly withdrawn before the race. After the 1968 pre-race crash
of a
Lotus Turbine that killed driver Mike Spence, Shelby announced that
turbine engines were
too powerful and could never be made to work safely in
automobiles. However,
the withdrawl of the cars likely had more to do with Shelby's discovery
that a design
flaw in Wallis' turbine engine left it without sufficient power.
One of the
Shelby Turbine cars was later used as a promotional vehicle for
Paul Newman's movie
"Winning".
Parnelli
Jones driving the 1967 STP Turbine (L); Denny Hulme in the 1968 Shelby
turbine car (R).
As with
all four Indy cars, the Shelby Turbine was produced only by the Hong
Kong factory.
It features a
blue-tinted
windscreen (as do all HK
cars) and a silver-painted intake vent to the side of the driver's
cockpit.
Shelby Turbines were painted with a variety of Spectraflame colors and
included a small "Hot Wheels" decal on the right side of the car.
A waterslide decal
sheet with racing numbers and sponsors logos was included in the
blister pack.
Most Shelby Turbines have black interiors, but occasionally tan interiors can be found. White interiors are quite rare and have only been found in red cars. Early production cars have bearing (white hub) style wheels, while later runs have cap style wheels. While the three other Indy cars had medium wheels in front and large wheels in the rear, Shelby Turbines had large wheels all around.
Above:
prototype Shelby Turbines in purple and aqua (B. Rosas).
A
green Shelby Turbine with prototype snap-on fuel tanks.
Proto tanks: click
here to see real deal vs. repro...
Shelby
Turbine Color chart
| COLORS: |
COMMENTS: |
| blue | common |
| red | common |
| aqua | common |
| purple | common |
| green | |
| orange | |
| olive | |
| copper | hard to find |
| rose ("watermelon") |
hard to find |
| brown |
rare |
| light green |
very rare |
A rare light green Shelby Turbine
in a cut blister
pack!
A beautiful blue Shelby
Turbine still in the blister
pack!
Ted
Gray's awesome group of Shelby Turbines!
A Shelby Turbine rainbow!
