Jay Leno had his turbine car modified. Watch his first ride here

About six years after Jay Leno got his priceless Chrysler Turbine car, the engine melted down. You may not have heard about it at this point, as it seemed like the former Tonight Show host didn’t tell anyone. This may have been because he didn’t know if the problem could be fixed – a reasonable assumption, but one that turned out to be wrong.

Leno’s copper-colored two-door Chrysler, powered by his rebuilt turbine engine, hit the streets in August this year as part of the Woodward Dream Cruise. The effort to get it working again was enormous. You might think that much of the knowledge required to rebuild such an engine would be lost, but that’s not true. Sam Barlow Williams, one of the engine’s original designers, founded his own turbine company called Williams International after Chrysler discontinued the car. His son Gregg still runs the same company and utilized its resources and expertise to complete the project. Several original Chrysler engineers also volunteered and provided vital assistance.

The ride shown in the Jay Leno’s Garage video is short, but that’s because it’s the first test ride after the engine rebuild. Still, it’s interesting to hear about the technology used to repair the engine. It looks like much of the outer casing and other features have been retained, but metal 3D printing has reportedly been used extensively to recreate parts that would otherwise have been cost-prohibitive to produce. Leno says engineers still retained many of the project’s original blueprints, which were undoubtedly combined with technology like 3D scanning to get the Chrysler engine running again.

Hagerty released a documentary some time ago that details the history of the turbine car and the restoration work surrounding Leno’s vehicle. It’s a good watch, although I think Leno’s Garage will probably do a longer article detailing the conversion, perhaps as part of one of his occasional restoration blog videos.

In the meantime, however, enjoy once again the sound of a turbine car whistling through the streets of America.