The name John Clifford Garrett is inextricably linked to the history of turbocharging. Garrett's passion for engineering and aviation was evident from an early age, and in 1928 he became Lockheed's 29th employee.
However, he had the ambition to run his own airline, and on May 21, 1936, he set up the Aircraft Tool and Supply Company (later the Garrett Supply Company) in a one-room office in Los Angeles. In the late 1930s, the company's first product, a full-aluminum intercooler for aircraft, was completed. In the late 1940s, after World War II, the ATSC gave a giant leap on the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange). The 1950s were marked by Garrett's diversification and expansion. The company's experience and knowledge and aerospace design supported the development of the company's nationwide business, and soon the name Garrett became synonymous with engine amplification in the automotive industry.
The story of the Turbo begins in 1954 when Garrett's T15 turn was paired with the Caterpillar D9 crawler. Although the aptly named Oldsmobile Jetfire Turbo Rocket became the first turbocharged production car in 1962, the influence of technology was instead recognized in commercial vehicles when John Deere in 1967 chose the Garrett T04 turbo to be used as the standard turbo in their range of farm tractors. At this point, people thought it was a move that could ruin John Deere's reputation, and so the whole industry followed suit.
It was not until the 1990s that turbocharging became mainstream worldwide when Garrett's new variable nozzle turbine (VNT) technology enabled a 1991 Fiat Croma to adjust the flow of exhaust gases to the direction of specific engine requirements. When Volkswagen-Audi paired VNT technology with their 1.9L diesel engine for the Frankfurt Motor Show launch in 1995, the symbiotic fit between turbocharging and direct injection of diesel engines was confirmed. This resulted in evolution becoming a revolution.