The Easidrive actually changed gear for you. "As soon as road speed and load conditions determine, a signal is passed by the governor to the control unit, and a solenoid is energized to engage second gear by means of a dog clutch."
There was a BX Citroen in the 80's that disengaged the clutch when you pressed the gearlever down and re-engaged after you selected the next gear and lifted off pressure, I only drove one and it was foul.
Ah. Perhaps that was a later version. The BMC version was fully described with fault finding and overhaul details in the factory workshop manual for my MG Z type Magnette. And on that there was no control over the gearbox - indeed it was pretty well the same as the ordinary one.
I've found a bit on it via Google, and since it seemed to appear in '59 it appears to be a very different beast to the one described in my manual (the Z type had ceased production by then). Including as you said a magnetic powder clutch.
Can imagine - it doesn't sound the best of ideas, although computer control could probably make it work these days. But I've only ever read about this type of transmission - never driven one.
Saab 900 New Generation had something like that as an option, where a manual gear change could operate the cluch automatically. But it wasn't popular and only short lived. Possibly mechanical problems.
Not quite - GS and CX C-Matics had a three-speed autobox, with torque converter, with a clutch and microswitch in the gear lever. Then there was the DS semi-auto, a four-speed manual with automated clutch and hydraulic selection of the gears.
Strangely, the D semi-auto is about the only semi-auto that's actually ever bloody worked properly and pleasantly. Odd how it's always the first attempts, innit? Perhaps it's because that was the actual high-point of real-live-engineering, and everything from there on was just replacing engineering with cost-cutting...
Sensonic. It was s*it. But it's very straightforward to retro-fit a normal clutch, apparently.
I once had a FIAT 132 1800 GLS from an auction, that one I could do cluthless gear changes, as I discovered when the clutch cable broke. Only problem was getting it started, but I could push the car along in neutral, then jump into the car at the last moment, change to 3'rd or
4'th to get it started. Yes I was somewhat younger and quite fit...Red light was a nighmare of course, and planning was necessary to avoid stopping on hills in uphill direction...
You've nudged a memory there. Remember driving a DS19 in the '60s which had no clutch pedal, but where you had to change gear. Think it worked quite well - albeit with some crunching on down shifts.
Yeah I remeber now. There was a button on the top of the gear leaver.
There's a whole range of adjustment around the clutch dis/engagement.
I'd put it down to worn synchromesh.
Aside from dodgy actuators in early Alfa Selespeeds... that system works very well so long as you remember it's a robotised singl-clutch manual - so you have to drive it like you would a manual.
ie. lift off the throttle when changing up.
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