When you hear the word turbocharger, what comes to mind? Drag-strips, squealing tires, and powerful engines?

Believe it or not, the first exhaust-driven turbocharger was invented in 1905 by Dr. Alfred J. Buchi, a Swiss engineer. Buchi was Chief Engineer for Sulzer Brothers Research Department and in 1915 he introduced the first prototype of a turbocharged diesel engine. His engine was basically ignored at by the automotive industry but aeronautical engineers were quite interested. The turbocharger seemed like a solution to the problem of maintaining sea level performance at high altitudes.

General Electric Company in the U.S. began developing turbochargers during the late 1910s. In 1920, a LePere bi-plane equipped with a Liberty engine and a General Electric turbocharger set a new altitude record of 33,113 feet.

During World War I, French engineer Auguste Rateau developed a turbocharged aircraft engine. In the U.S. Turbochargers were used on a few aircraft, but serious development began on a larger scale in the 1930s and 1940s.

With the start of WW II, almost all military aircraft had turbochargers. Turbochargers were also used on large industrial engines and on transport trucks working at high altitudes.

The Garrett Corporation, formed in 1936 by J. C. "Cliff" Garrett, designed a charge air cooler or aftercooler for the B-17 plane, located between the General Electric turbocharger and the Pratt and Whitney engine. On September 27, 1954, Garrett started the AiResearch Industrial Division - for gasoline engine turbocharger design and manufacturing. AiResearch Industrial Division would later be named Garrett Automotive.

Hot rod builders and racers began experimenting with turbos for automobile engines during the 1950s, but it was not until the '60s that turbos would be fitted onto production cars.

In the spring of 1962, Chevrolet and Oldsmobile introduced turbocharged models. Oldsmobile had a turbo on its 3.5-litre aluminum V-8 F-85 intermediate model. It was called the "Jetfire." The turbo increased the horsepower to 215, or one horsepower per cu. in. Chevy's Corvair Monza Spyder Convertible featured a 6-cylinder 150 horsepower engine. Other American car manufacturers did not enter the turbo race until the '70s. Buick's first production turbocharged 3.8-liter V-6 (derived from the 1976 Indy 500 pace car), did not appear until 1978 on the Regal Sport Coupe.

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