Has anyone ever driven a car with an actual Hydramatic transmission in it. The first ones that didn't have a torque converter and that had two fluid clutches? If so, what did the "shifts" feel like? From what I read, they shifted at least partly by filling and emptying the fluid couplings.
As I recall, they shifted quite firmly, when correct. Often when rebuilt--to factory specs--the customer would complain they shifted *too* firmly. But as it began to wear..... s
In the 1950's cars I owned with hydrmatics the shifting was solid if the box was in good shape. I'm not the least bit nostalgic about those old transmissions though. Compared to modern elecronically shifted transmissions they are truely inefficient dinosaurs.
First car I ever owned was a 1950 Dodge I bought in 1964 for $75.00 from a used car lot in Saint Louis,Missouri.The car didn't have a Hydramatic transmission, but it did have an automatic transmission.Sort of anyway.As I remember it, I had to manually shift into first gear. cuhulin
Was it what we called a "click-a-matic" where you had to let off the accelerator for it to shift to subsequent gear(s)with a distinct 'click'? And was the starter button like under the accelerator or was it under the 'clutch pedal' used for 1st gear? (Not from memory--just images/visualizations!) sam
wned was a 1950 Dodge I bought in 1964 for $75.00 from
That was probably a so-called semi-automatic stansmission. It combined a fluid coupling, regular clutch and a transmission that was shifted from 2nd to third as you describe, by letting off the gas. For normal starts you used those two gears. When the extra power of first or reverse gear was needed the clutch was depressed for engagement. Looking backward 60 years it seems like a Rube Goldberg invention. At the time automatic transmissions were still very much in their infancy and it was not at all clear that the car buying public would buy sufficient numbers of transmissions that were fully automatic. Chrysler had a second variation of the fluid drive. A fluid coupling and regular clutch connected to a manually shifted three speed transmission.
The Buick Dynaflow was another oddball that used variable vanes in a torque converter to match engine and car speed. Also known as Dynaslow when connected to a Buick straight 8 motor it offered the driver a low range for taking off on a hill.
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.