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Driving Granatelli's turbine-powered 1978 Chevy Corvette [w/video]

With its curvy snout and feminine haunches, the third-gen Chevrolet Corvette looks like a dreamy – if dated – exemplar of Sports Car Fantasy 101 when viewed through modern eyes. This particular specimen circa '78, clad in silver and black paint with red pinstripes, appears to be a well-preserved example from the era. Apart from its low-profile Pirellis, slightly raised and slotted hood, spacious stance and a certain hand-painted descriptor alongside its crossed flag logos, you'd never guess there's a Space-Age propulsion unit powering this Coke bottle-bodied ride. Climb inside, and you're presented with aircraft gauges and big, colorful square buttons in the center panel. It takes a push of the "Ignitor" button, a tap of the starter button, and a slide of a T-handle for this nearly 40-year-old sports car to start sounding like Gulfstream G650 ready for takeoff. Yep, you're sitting in an 880-horsepower, turbine-powered Corvette, the only one of its kind in the world. Welcome to the whoosh. What The...? Built by Vince Granatelli, son of Indy 500 guru Andy Granatelli, this curious Corvette came into being by cramming a Pratt & Whitney ST6N-74 gas turbine engine into the donor car's lengthy front end. The same type of Jet A-burning mill powered Granatelli Senior's STP-sponsored racecar at the 1967 Indianapolis 500, where it famously led most of the 198 of 200 laps until a $6 transmission bearing failed, knocking it out of the race. The idea of turbine power usurping internal combustion was so threatening that Indy's governing body restricted turbine performance into obsolescence thereafter. A turbine-powered Corvette sounds excessive because it is. But there are also things about this 880-horsepower, 1,161-pound-feet monster that might surprise you. While it smacks of futurist exoticism and cost a then-dizzying $37,000 in 1967, the Canadian-built powerplant uses 80 percent fewer parts than an internal combustion V8 and will run on virtually anything combustible – whiskey, diesel, even Chanel No. 5. Though it's triple the length of a V8, the Pratt & Whitney beast weighs only 285 pounds. It's also one hell of a robust workhorse, typically serving as an auxiliary power unit for commercial aircraft or a generator in oil fields, where it can run for tens of thousands of consecutive hours before needing an overhaul. To adapt the Chevrolet for jet duty, the nose section was gutted and a sub-frame was built to compensate for the loosey-goosey front end.

'84 MotorWeek Cherokee, Bronco and Blazer comparison indulges your SUV nostalgia

These days, truck-based, full-frame SUVs are somewhat of a rarity on the auto landscape due to the rapid rise in popularity of easier-driving, car-based crossovers. Although, without the gradually building popularity of these chunky, high-riding vehicles decades ago, it's unlikely that America's roads would be filled with so many CUVs today. In its latest dig into the archives, MotorWeek has found a 1984 comparison test of a trio of these early Sport Utility Wagons, as long-time host John Davis called them, that helped get acceptance of this segment going. This is a red, white and blue test of the SUVs from American automakers at the time and pits the Chevrolet Blazer, Ford Bronco and Jeep Cherokee (specifically in Wagoneer guise) against each other. Driving manners and interior usability are considered in the evaluation, but Motorweek actually takes these vehicles off road, too. Among the bigger revelations is the improvement in on-road ability in the past 30 years. While specific 0-60 times aren't given, all three models take around 10 seconds just to get to around 50 miles per hour in the 500-feet on-ramp acceleration test. Check out this clip to see just how far this segment has progressed in the past three decades or just get a blast of nostalgia from these now vintage models. News Source: MotorWeek via YouTube Chevrolet Ford Jeep SUV Off-Road Vehicles Classics Videos Ford Bronco chevy blazer

2016 Chevy Volt arrives with 50-mile EV range, 41 mpg [w/ video]

Let's start with the numbers. The 2016 Chevy Volt will have an all-electric range of 50 miles from a new, 18.4-kWh lithium battery. It will get 41 miles per gallon (combined) once the battery runs dry and have 102 MPGe. Oh, and it has five seats, sort of. To compare, today's four-seat 2015 Volt has a 38-mile range from a 17.1-kWh battery in a powertrain that offers 37 mpg and 98 MPGe. So, across the board, there are notable improvements. Now that that's out of the way, let's talk story. General Motors will unveil the new Volt at the Detroit Auto Show later today, but it's been talking about how this new version – the first major plug-in hybrid vehicle to get a serious redo in the modern era – was crafted with reams and reams of data from first-gen Volt customers. At a preview event for journalists last week, GM executive chief engineer Pam Fletcher told Autoblog that these owners "gave us the recipe" to make the second-gen model. At the top of the request list was more range (check), more "fun-to-drive" behavior (check?) and a smoother and quieter experience (we'll assume a check here, given that the new 1.5-liter four-cylinder – the first North American application of this new engine family – should offer more power with less noise than the previous 1.4-liter, four-cylinder powerplant). Other customer-driven changes in the new Volt include a different place to store the charging cable (in the side of the trunk instead of under the load floor) and a new brake system with improved blended regenerative braking feel as well as driver-selectable regen levels. The requested 50-mile range comes from a new, lighter battery that has increased capacity from fewer cells (192 vs. 288) and a simplified control architecture. Along with the new battery, the electric drive unit is a two-motor deal that is up to 12 percent more efficient and 100 pounds lighter, while also being "tremendously smaller," notes Fletcher. It offers 294 pound-feet of torque and a maximum 149 horsepower of "motoring power" delivered to the wheels. GM says it has worked hard to reduced the amount of rare earth materials in these motors, and one of them doesn't use any at all. The new powertrain offers improved acceleration times, as well. The 2016 Volt can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 8.4 seconds, a seven-percent improvement, while the 0-30 mph time has been improved by 19 percent, down to 2.6 seconds. The new Volt is more conventional looking, but certainly not completely ordinary.