1978 Mercedes-Benz 300SD Turbo

Have you read or been told the first turbocharged production cars were the late 1970′s Mercedes Benz? I read an article that stated this as fact.  The problem is it’s not true. Mercedes was not the first production car with a turbo. Well, sort of…

The first known and patented turbocharger was in 1905 by the Swiss engineer Dr. Alfred J Büchi. Years after the original patent in the early 1920′s the turbo began showing up in ships, plains and locomotives.

In 1920 the LePere bi-plane was turbocharged and set an altitude record of 33,113 feet. 1925 saw two German ships fitted with 2,000 HP turbocharged diesel engines. That same year Dr. Büchi applied for the patent on his new pulse turbocharger system.

Turbocharged production engines started rolling out in the early 1930′s. These turbo engines were for aircraft. The main benefit to a turbocharging an aircraft was increased altitude. Installing a turbo helped minimize the problems created by low atmospheric pressure in higher altitudes.

Turbocharged 1955 Caterpillar D9 - Copyright Don Clough

It was Schweizer Maschinenfabrik Saurer (Swiss Machine Works Saurer) who in 1938 built the first turbocharged diesel truck engine.

The 50′s were big for the turbo. By the early part of the decade turbocharging had spread across locomotive, marine and industrial applications. In 1952 Fred Agabashian’s turbocharged Cummins Diesel Special made a splash at Indianapolis. The Special qualified for pole position and broke an Indy record on its first lap. The qualifying four lap totals also broke a record. By 1955 Caterpillar also made the history books by offering the D9 crawler tractor which was the first turbocharged American production diesel vehicle.

1962 Oldsmobile F-85 Jetfire Turbo Rocket

It wasn’t until 1962 that the first production passenger cars with turbos arrived thanks to General Motors. Now defunct Oldsmobile was the first one with the 1962 F-85 Jetfire Turbo Rocket which was fitted with a Garrett T05. A few months later came the 1962 Chevrolet Corvair Monza Spyder sporting a Thompson-Ramo-Wooldridge (now TRW) turbo.

Mercedes-Benz does set a turbo first. The record is for the first turbodiesel production car which was released May of 1978. The car in question was the Mercedes-Benz 300SD sedan.

So that should set the record straight. Check back soon for more turbo firsts.