The Turbonique Auxiliary Power Supercharger was shaped like turbocharger, had it's own spark plug, and a switch on the dash engaged it.
Unlike conventional superchargers (which are driven by a belt from the crankshaft and take some crank horsepower to run), and unlike conventional turbo chargers (which use the exhaust energy to spin up the turbo), the Turbonique Auxiliary Power Supercharger had it's own fuel source to power itself ...
When the switch was flipped, liquid oxygen and a rocket fuel named Thermolene were fed to the supercharger.
The Thermolene fuel in itself had some weird properties. Almar.easynet.be reports ...
"It could be stored in jerrycans, in the shadow. It had, nonetheless, some peculiar side effects: it was irritating to the skin, it would melt most plastics, rubbers, etc. and it would react under certain circumstances if in contact with some metals, like mild steel, in the presence of water."
If the Turbonique Auxiliary Power Supercharger sounds amazing to you, bear in mind that the Turbonique AP superchargers were at the mild end of the Turbonique catalog. At the touch of a button, it would add an extra 1,300 horsepower (yes that's one thousand, three hundred).