GM XP-500
GM XP-500 was the world's first automobile to be developed and built with a free piston engine in the 1950s by the US automobile company General Motors .
The vehicle was completed by General Motors Research Laboratories after 14 months of development and presented to the public at the inauguration ceremony of the GM Technical Center in 1956. The presentation was broadcast on television in the United States.
description
The XP-500 was similar to the Firebird II and had a streamlined body with two gull-wing doors , like the Mercedes 300 SL .
The free piston engine with the internal designation GM 4-4 consisted of two parallel cylinder levels, each with a set of two horizontally opposed free pistons. This engine had an output of 250 hp and served as a gas generator for a turbine located in the rear of the car, which was connected to the drive train.
However, due to technical shortcomings and other priorities of the US automotive industry, General Motors abandoned the XP-500 automotive project after three years. GM then only produced the free piston engine for ship propulsion systems of the Liberty class with an output of up to 6000 hp.
literature
- Cars Detroit Never Built: Fifty Years of American Experimental Cars. Edward Janicki. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. New York. 1990
- A. Underwood, "THE GMR 4-4" HYPREX "ENGINE A CONCEPT OF THE FREE-PISTON ENGINE FOR AUTOMOTIVE USE," SAE Technical Paper 570032, 1957
swell
- XP-500 Free Piston Automobile , GM Heritage Center website with pictures at gmheritagecenter.com