Bolus

The Real Acme

The Glorious Insanity of Turbonique

[ed. note: Brian Bounds over at the Garage Magazine site has posted my Garage #14 article on the legend of C. Eugene Middlebrooks and his Turbonique Company of Orlando, Florida, which I have reposted in its entirety below. For more automotive insanity drop by the Garage site and keep scrolling.]

 

 

Most of us have, at one time or another, heard the old urban legend about a friend of an uncle of a friend of a cousin of a guy who stole a JATO rocket motor from an Air Force base, strapped it atop a Chevy Impala, and torpedoed the contraption into an Arizona cliff side at 300 mph. There’s an intense primordial appeal in that story; the idea that somebody would have the unmitigated, glorious, throbbing balls to try something so foolhardy in the pursuit of momentary thrill. The anonymous guy behind the wheel of that Impala is our modern-day Icarus, the fabled Greek of old who fashioned wings of feathers and wax only to have them melt when he flew too close to the sun. Sure, we cringe at the thought of Icarus plummeting to the sea and the Impala pilot spackled across the rock facing. But we equally envy them for their courage and ingenuity and hubris, and the rush we imagine they felt in the seconds before final climactic catastrophe. 

Sadly, like the ancient fable of Icarus, the JATO story isn’t exactly true. After a thorough investigation, the mythbusting website Snopes.com concluded that the events never actually happened: “the legend of the smoldering Chevy smashed into a cliff face is pure fabrication,” it sniffs. Maybe so. But like all good yarns the JATO legend has a grain of truth, and the unvarnished truth is this: men once did strap rocket motors to their cars, and they were cheerfully supplied by the Turbonique Company of Orlando, Florida. 

Though the company no longer exists, mere mention of the name “Turbonique” still inspires shudders of awe among drag racing enthusiast, the company’s principle target market. Even in the Wild West atmosphere of 1960s drag racing, its products stood alone at the zenith of no-compromise, crazyass crazy: rocket motivation for strip or street, by mail order, no questions asked. Remember Acme, that mysterious purveyor of catapults and jet skates to cartoon coyotes? Pikers, compared to Turbonique.

 

 

The architect of Turbonique’s madness was Mr. C. E. “Gene” Middlebrooks Jr. A native of Jonesboro, Georgia, Gene Middlebrooks went on to study mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech. “A damn fine ME,” recalls a former colleague who requested anonymity. “He had an innovative mind and could solve just about any mechanical problem.”

He was also in the right place at the right time. When Middlebrooks graduated college in the duck-and-cover days of the mid-‘50s, the Cold War was in full swing. He landed a job with aerospace contractor Martin-Marietta, working on the company’s propulsion system for the Pershing nuclear missile program. By 1957 the Soviets shocked the world with the launch of Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, sparking the Space Race and lending even more urgency to Middlebrooks’ work at Martin.

Too Much

I've written a thing or two about Turbonique, the greatest speed equipment manufacturing company of all time.  You might remember this excerpt from the 1965 Turbonique catalog displaying a go-kart rigged with two Turbonique rocket thrust engines:

"TOO MUCH: The above cart, which is equipped with T-21-A engines, is considered unsafe for 1/4 mile competition as pictured. The thrust/weight ratio is such that speeds over 160 mph are reached within 4 seconds."

Well, over the transom this morning came an email from the current owner of the legendary "Too Much" Turbonique kart, and I am delighted to inform you that it is alive and well, in storage somewhere on the coast. Behold the photographic evidence.

Sweet holy Moses... imagine being strapped to that at 160 mph.

The owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, sent along some other hair-raising stories about this jawdropping artifact of automotive excess, but cautions that like most tales of Turbonique, it's hard to distill truth from urban legend. I'll try to verify some of them. What is known is that Too Much was originally built by an East coast guy named Bob Rapp with an assist from the Turbonique factory. More soon including bigger pics and vintage video.

Expanded Consumer Benefits Through Economical Applications of Space Age Technology

As you know I am crazy about all things Turbonique, so I was obviously delighted to get this email from reader Matt Nichols:

Dave,

Found this letter when cleaning junk, almost bought the Turbo for my Mustang, ran out of money (In college).

Reading the contents caused me a little melancholy, because Gene Middlebrooks' practice of offering dealerships was one of the charges that sent him to federal lockup in the early 1970s. 

But the best part? Note the bottom of  the stationery: Best. Company. Motto. Ever.

Thanks, Matt!

Smoke 'Em if You Got 'Em

Ah, Spring; when a man's fancy turns to thoughts of... rocket-powered muscle cars.

It was that primordial biological urge that drove me to Indianapolis last weekend for the Mecum Muscle Cars & More Auction. Over 800 drool-inducing classics went up on the auction block, but only one really mattered -- the immortal Zach Reynolds "Tobacco King" 1964 Galaxie 500. You might say this is the ultimate hybrid car: up front, 427 cubic inches of Latham-supercharged Side Oiler. In back, 900 screaming horses of Thermolene-fueled Turbonique Rocket drag axle power. In the pantheon of automotive crazy this car is Zeus, Thor, Leviathan, and Shiva, a hydra-headed Destroyer of Worlds clad in Detroit sheet metal.

As some of you know, I set out with the confused intention of bringing it home with me. Alas, it was not to be. But the good news: I got to drive it across the auction stage. Come along with me for a little ride.

Those of you watching the proceedings on the High Definition Theater cable TV network this weekend might have caught a quick glimpse of Yours Truly struggling to keep the Tobacco King's drum brakes engaged against the irresistible force of the 427. Current Tobacco King owner Eddie Krusch unwisely invited me to pilot the car across the red carpet, and, without a doubt, it was the most awe-inspiring 5 mph ride I've ever had. As they say in North Carolina, day-um.

Here's how this bizarre turn of events went down. Friday I bombed downed to Indy with a quick stop for provisions at Krazy Kaplan's Fireworks in Gary. Oy vey, such kabooms!

Then a quick stop at the Brownsburg, IN shop of my ol' buddy and upholstery guru Dave Martinez.

Dave's shop is in an area lousy with race teams. A couple of the neighbors - John Force and Don "The Snake" Prudhomme.

After dinner at Steak N Shake, headed over to the Indiana State Fairgrounds to check out the auction action. Some amazing iron (like the ZL1 Camaro below that fetched $800,000) and equally amazing neon.

But nothing like the Tobacco King. Owner Eddie Krusch and I have been trading emails and phone calls for a while, so I thought I'd be prepared before I saw the car. My 30 minutes of uncontrolled mouthular frothing said different. Complete and unrestored, the car has only 3166 miles on the clock.

After catching 80 winks at Days Inn I headed back to the fair pavillion Saturday for the big auction doings. More great cars, more great neon.

As the designated hour, Eddie and his mechanic Ken cranked the Tobacco King's 427 to life, eased it out of its display area and back through to the auction staging lanes. Even among the jaded crowd of muscle car pros, jaws were dropping like anvils.

As the line of cars moved forward into the building, Eddie says: "can you do me a favor? I'm sort of conflicted about selling it, and don't want to be in the car during the bidding."

Hokay, says I, trying to control my bladder. I slide in the seat carefully, turn the key, and the side oiler  blap blaps to life. I stomp my right boot down on the brake, careful not to hit the rocket button with my knee (the fuel tank is empty but I ain't taking chances) and pull it down into drive.

30 yards later I'm on the red carpet and the bidding starts: $200,000. $300,000. $325,000. $350,000. $360,000. $375,000. Gavel bangs. Roll 'er off.

Driving it away, I struggled mightily with the urge to peel out of the building and head down 38th Street. While I was conconcting my getaway plan, Eddie sticks his head in the car. "Hey man, look who's here!"

I glance sideways, and it's "H.W."

H.W. is a former Turbonique engineer and machinist, a current mad-genius-farmer, and a key source for much of my research on the Turbonique story. This is the first time I've met him face-to-face; Eddie and he have just met for the first time despite living in the same area of North Carolina. Cooler still, HW was one of the small team that built the Tobacco King in Florida back in 1966, and this is the first time he has seen the car in over 40 years. He's brought along some spare impeller parts for the rocket motor. And, maybe coolest of all, he's driven all the way here in his crazy, crude-oil powered, air-cooled diesel 1970 Ford F-250 pickup. After parking the Tobacco King back in its display space, I go out to the parking lot for a gander.

Forget bio-diesel and recycled fryer fat, HW's pickemup actually runs on from-the-well crude oil  (tho it's happy to burn sunflower or other vegetable oil as well). Power is from an experimental air-cooled diesel that he obtained from GM in the early 70s, with modified injectors of his own design. It is to economy what the Tobacco King is to power; HW criss crosses the country in the truck, and whenever he needs fuel simply stops at an oil well, and, with the permission of the well owner, adds a few gallons of crude to the big 330 gallon tank in the bed. It's an astonishingly cheap way to go; HW once made a NC-to-California round trip spending $3.50(!) Yesterday he returned to North Carolina with the same $1.66 in his pocket he left with Saturday. After 500,000 miles on the engine, no major mechanical problems.

After the truck tour, HW and I got back together with Eddie for final goodbyes. Long (happy) story short, the Tobacco King is going back home to North Carolina, and Eddie still owns it. With luck I'll be going there before long to see it again. The legend of Turbonique continues!

More Pictures Here

Cross-posted at Iowahawk

Turbonique Time!

Going once... going twice...

Off to Indianapolis tomorrow for the Mecum Muscle Cars and More Auction, wherein the amazing Turbonique rocket-powered "Tobacco King" 1964 Galaxie will go on the auction block. Longtime readers know my affection for all things Turbonique, and I'm not about to miss my chance to see the ultimate in vintage rocket car tech. Many thanks to all the readers who sent in pledges to help me bid on it. I'll stay in the chase as long as I can, but looks like it'll take the GDP of Botswana to take this sucker home.

While in Indy I'll be meeting up with current Tobacco King owner Eddie Krusch for a photo session and interviews, prepwork for a forthcoming Garage Magazine article I'm writing about original Tobacco King owner Zach Reynolds. Reynolds, who died in a plane crash in 1979, is every bit as crazy a story as Turbonique; a young man with an unlimited thirst for speed, and, as heir to the RJ Reynolds Tobacco fortune, an almost unlimited budget to chase it.

Anyway, the story should be a corker, and I'll post the Indy pics when I get back. In the meantime here are some current pics of the beast -- Latham-blown 427 Side Oiler up front, 900 hp 'Nique drag axle in back -- along  with some vintage pictures of the car from the 1965 Turbonique catalog, courtesy of Eddie Krusch. Plus a few shots of Gene Middlebrooks, the immortal mad genius behind Turbonique. Enjoy!

More pictures here

By the Beard of Jupiter, It Will Be Mine

I admit it. I'm a complete mesmerized dope for Turbonique. A couple of years ago I wrote a blog entry (reposted here) about the history of the mysterious Orlando, FL company and their insane line of rocket-powered hot rod speed equipment. That led to more research and digging, and an expanded version of the piece that appeared in Garage Magazine #14. I continue to work on a couple of other Turbonique related projects.

In the course of writing those pieces I've had the opportunity to interview some of the people who worked with Turbonique and the daredevils like Ky "Rocketman" Michaelson who used their products. Along the way I even obtained my own Turbonique C-2-A rocket supercharger. So I thought I was pretty set until I saw this (h/t to several readers):

That there is the "Tobacco King" '64 Galaxie 500 of R.J. Reynolds heir Zack Reynolds. Up front, a 427 FE topped with a Latham axial flow blower, fed by 4 sidedraft Carters. In back: A 1000 hp Turbonique rocket-fueled drag axle.   Put 'em all together and figure 1500+ hp to the rear wheels. This was Reynolds' Saturday Night Special, which he would street race in Winston-Salem and Greensboro NC in the 60's.  I interviewed a man for the Garage Magazine article who worked on the car, who reported that Reynolds was absolutely nuts and (given his family station) had no fear of  the police, and thought nothing of kicking in the rocket motor for a low-stakes street race.

To me this is the single greatest street-driven automobile in the history of planet Earth, and on May 17 it goes up for auction. I don't care what unspeakable deeds I have to perform to make it happen, I swear it will be in my garage someday. Unfortunately I suspect that rapacious bidders will push the price beyond my meager means.

That's why I'm taking my hat in hand and asking you to send an email pledge of financial support with the subject line "Make Iowahawk Happy Pledge Fund." Please, no actual cash or PayPal donations.  Just a pledge amount that you'd be seriously willing to contribute on the condition that I actually get the car.  If that happens,  I promise a free rocket car ride to any pledger that comes to Chicago.

Excelsior!

PS -  Even if you don't want to make me happy, I'll still take your pledge! Just send it with the subject line "See Iowahawk Splattered On a Cliffside Pledge Fund"