Whoosh!

General Motors this week rolled out the most Buck Rogersish automobile ever to come out of Detroit, its experimental XP-21 Firebird (see cut). The plastic-bodied Firebird closely resembles Douglas' supersonic F4D Skyray, with its sweptback delta wings (for stability), its vertical tail fin, and plastic bubble enclosing the driver's seat. Behind the driver's seat, the Firebird has a gas turbine engine, the first in a U.S. car. The small, kerosene-burning engine drives a turbine that transmits power directly to the wheels.

At full throttle, the Firebird can do 150 m.p.h. on a straight track. But motorists will probably never see it on a highway. Even though the hot gases blasted out of the Firebird's huge tail go through a cooling unit first, they are still hot enough to burn clothing or flesh several feet away. Explained G.M. President Harlow Curtice: "This is not a car of tomorrow, but a laboratory on wheels . . . We are not trying to develop overwhelming horsepower or tremendous speeds, but are trying to determine whether the turbine can be harnessed to give efficient and economical performance in the low and normal automotive range."

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Packard Motor Car Co. took the wraps off its 1954 models and a new Clipper Super series which will give it a complete range of cars from medium-priced ($2,500) to luxurious ($7,200) custom models. Except for rounding off the boxy look of earlier models, most of the changes were under the hood. Into Packard's Caribbean convertible has been put a new straight-eight, 212-h.p. engine with the highest compression ratio (8.7 to 1) in the industry.

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