Turbochargers were pretty much a back shelf item when they were "dumb". The Corvair Spyder and the Olds F85 Jet Fire were early ones but they had a very conservative 5-7 pounds of boost. The Jet Fire used a alcohol/water mixture to control combustion temp plus it was all aluminum which carried heat away quicker. The Corvair had a fan that blew air down through finned cylinders which gave a quicker response than heat into coolant, coolant into radiator, and finally coolant back to heat source. A more successful "dumb" system was the centrifical supercharger like used on 57 T-Birds. Once systems became "smart" with a bunch of sensors and a central processing unit to INSTANTLY make adjustments for changing conditions then turbos started popping up everywhere. Even with all the controls a turbo engine is best if built from scratch to handle extra heat and stress. When right a turbo engine is awesome with huge torque figures. For kicks watch the McClaren 720S (256ci twin turbo V8) and in street clothing blow the doors off a purpose built for drag Hemi Demon.
