@@RingoYote I remember this being the reason my dad said Honda would never make it. "Who cares about 30 mpg when gas is so cheap." So he shorted Honda alot.....dumb thinking
Oh,come on now,let's not exaggerate - it most likely got about 8 mpg in stop and go driving,and about 12 - 14 mpg highway if you kept your speed down.These cars also needed regular tune ups and carburetor maintenance to get their best fuel economy...
@@frankgiaquinto1571 He's full of shit. These cars got on thr mid teens on the hwy. Christ, my 61 Lincoln 430 gets 14 on the HWY. Buick wouldn't have been able to compete.
Nah. I've got a '64 Le Saber Sedan. Same frame, but with a 425 and a Turbo 400. Same floor. Three gears in the tranny make a difference. I've gotten as much as 17 miles per gallon in what is basically the same car. Same doors, same glass, slightly different fenders, hood, trunk lid and quarter panels. I cheated, though. The engine and transmission are out of a 79 Cadillac. And I did some major frame cutting to move everything back so that most of the engine is behind the front axle. I also put modern front disc brakes on it using a bracket kit from Scare Bird. Front brakes are basically 1999 two wheel drive Chevy half ton pickup truck rotors with 79 Cadillac El Dorado calipers and pads and the soft lines off of a 76 Buick Skylark. It looks mostly stock, except for a massive skid plate in front of the oil pan and a big Griffin aluminum radiator you can see through the grille.
And the benefit with this over a real CVT is that even though you're getting horrendous fuel efficiency, it's not gonna break as easily (looking at you Nissan)
The Dynaflow actually had two forward gears which were identical to those in the Powerglide. The difference was the Dynaflow couldn’t automatically shift. Buick designed it this way for smooth acceleration with no perceptible “shifts” but had to use that fancy torque converter to allow for a 1:1 ratio from a standing start. Shifting to L changes it to the 1.8:1 low gear. The torque converter stator positions are only affected by throttle position.
King Bones Venom Snake was the one who took all the shrapnel for Big Boss, thus they put him in a coma for 9 years, gave him plastic surgery and transferred Big Boss’ memories over. The joke is that the power steering‘s so light that Venom Snake, weak as hell from just waking up from his coma, could steer it
@@The.jokes.on.you1997 The Chevy Powerglide was essentially the same concept as the Buick Dynaflow. Chevrolet and Buick were more "brothers in blood" mechanically (in the days when GM divisions had more individual control) than they were the rest of the General Motors line. Buick and Chevy had OHV engines for YEARS while say, Cadillac and Pontiac were STILL flatheads, for years Chevy and Buick employed the enclosed torque tube dive shaft, ETC. Buick was the foundation of General Motors, So it makes sense that the "base" brand (Chevrolet) should be that tightly connected to the "founding" brand, Louis Chevrolet WAS a race car driver for...Buick!
@@consoleconceptshd6371 The only thing that I have had go wrong on older cars outside of normal maintenance was points and carburetor needs to be retuned. The other stuff happens to modern cars too, such as alternators, water pumps, etc
Never mind the Koenigsegg Regera having the same type of transmission... the placement of the oval in the center of the dashboard of both cars is E X A C T L Y T H E S A M E
no1DdC The whole point of Koenigsegg Direct Drive is that 'Why didn't anyone think about just using a torque converter?' And so he did with the assistance of two electric motors. One at the motor, the other at the axle.
The actual design of the transmission is a really innovative way to get around an invented problem. Impressed at the ingenuity of this car at filling it’s design brief.
There was a fire in the Hydramatic plant in 1950 and a bunch of Cadillacs got Dynaflows put in them. The only one I ever saw had a self winding clock in the bottom spoke of the steering wheel. I think that is so you can tell it had a Dynaflow, at least that is what the guy that owned the junkyard said.
@@NickTwisp80 I saw one of those cars in a Junkyard back in the 1980s and thought it was odd to see a two-speed shifter in a Cadillac. It's too bad the car got scrapped; despite it's inferior performance, it had an interesting history.
They're awesome and that's coming from someone whose only experience with a floor-mounted dim-dip was a 1978 Ford F600 where your left foot managed not only the beam but the washers as well (via a rubber bladder!) and of course the clutch with its 200-pound return spring which demanded you wear the safety belt lest any attempt to declutch instead lead you to simply stand up. But it was a great truck, with its 3+low "Rock Crusher" transmission and its 7.10 gears and air-over-hydraulic brakes which, in contrast to the clutch, have 1/3 pedal travel that does almost nothing, a threshold that if incautiously crossed will cause you to again experience the necessity of the safety belt as four tons of truck stops in its own length. The only time you get the pedal below 1/2 way is when the brakes fail (and the do) and, in the immortal words of C.W. McCall, "Pedal went clear to the floor; staid right there on the floor, sorta like steppin' on a plum". Fortunately you are provided an emergency brake, a charmingly railroadesque Johnson bar that will put you in mind of "The Wreck of the Old 97" as you bring it under control with the rear drums alone. The extremely low gearing makes a brake failure much more manageable than in other vehicles I have had it happen in, however. So you could say it kept the left foot busy. I really don't understand why, in light of the proliferation of the automatic gearbox, some duty hasn't been given back to the left foot, whose idleness is often explicitly accepted by virtue of a little footrest in the wheel well. The old-timey floor-mount dim-dip was troublesome if it rusted out, because it was a hole through the body (it existed in the first place because it saved the cost of a hardened relay able to switch the full battery current, which was an extremely specialized piece of equipment in those days, and very costly, if it was available at all) but nowadays it could easily be a simple rugged switch that sits above the floorboards and vapor barrier and whatnot, but car manufacturers continue their love affair with stalks as if they have the world's most insatiable stiffy for a D&D Beholder which remains stubbornly erect because there's nowhere to stick your dick on one of those things...
Uhm, Mister Regular, Wikipedia says the Dynaflow HAS a planetary gearset for the low gear. So it is actually two gears, but they don't automatically shift. In drive you are always in high gear. The performance setting on the turbine is activated by the throttle.
Similar to the "Fordomatic" in the "mini-bird", normally starts in second and shifts to third, except when flooring it at standstill then it drops into lo!
Wow! glad you highlighted the dynaflow, over the years I've had 5 cars with dynaflow transmissions. The fuel economy is actually on par with most other cars of the era, however I believe the 6mpg figure is due to the edelbrock carb on that car. I drive a 54 buick century 322ci nailhead, with the 2nd generation dynaflow almost daily, I usually see 12-15 mpg, yes, not great, but whatever. the car will do freeway speeds, stops fine, is pretty reliable and comfortable.
Doug is mostly new cars Jay mostly classic cars But you guys do old betters and that’s really fun 6 MPG a 1 gear transmission , Alcohol for the windshield , it’s another time another era but it’s great fun to look back .
You hit the nail on the head with the effortless input you have to give to steer those 'land barges' of that era. That's what makes them so much fun to drive today!
Not really, the torque converter gives more torque at the wheels when it's slipping (it converts slip to torque (and heat)). A slipping clutch only produces heat when slipping, it doesn't change output torque.
I had a LeSabre exactly like this one, and though my mileage was not great, I generally got about 11-13 mpg, even in around town trips. I think that edelbrock carb is the reason your mileage is not too good, although it could also be your throttle habits. True enough, this was no economy car, but it was not the biggest gas hog of the era by a long shot. Those triple carb set ups that the auto makers were hawking in the late fifties and sixties were even more thirsty. I guess it must seem just so awful to you that the Dynaflow had only one gear, but a variable ratio transmission was outstandingly modern when the dynaflow was introduced. The dynaflow was in production for a long time, roughly as long as the other early automatics, the powerglide, the fordomatic, powerflite and others. When one developed the habit of using the low range to pull away, shifting up at 15 mph, you save a little fuel, too. If you wanted to show the world your taillights, the low range was good to 50 and the 62 buick I had, with a two barrel carb, would do 0-60 in 8.7 seconds. Not bad for 4000+ pounds. I had a 1980 corvette that did not do a bit better than my old buick. My son used to call the buick the "camaro killer" for its surprising acceleration. I noticed that you had no trouble roaring down the highway with those tiny valves and that "one speed" transmission. All that in a car that was already old when you were born!
I can't put into words how much I love this channel. I've been a car guy forever but RCR made me appreciate every car not just for what it looks or drives like, but for what it is. Here's to many more seasons!!
@@cyclonejohnny1 Actually 4 speed because both D and L had passing gear. Put it to the floor and passing gear would kick in and last to around 70. It would put the 283 cars to shame without passing gear. You could keep up with them with plenty of pedal left, and then gracefully pull away and wave goodbye. All with one smooth grear. Want to put the hammer down and floor it, hold on to the steering wheel (no seat belts) and let the passing gear work. To make it into a drag car. Drop it in low, stand on the brake, put the gas pedal to the floor, release th pe break. Low will be in passing and when it upshits you have to shift to drive. Drive will be in passing. Around 70 passing will kick out. Yes, I have burned the clutch packs out.
It's the stator that's variable, not the turbine. Also, the DynaFlo had a two speed planetary gear set, it just stayed in second gear unless low was selected.
Correct. The engine RPM provides the radial force and the turbine is always moving the same RPM as the engine. The stator receives the power with fluid coupling and sends the power to the driveshaft. The “switch pitch” stator design will change the stall speed by slipping the coupling rate which increases torque multiplication. There is 2 gears. Drive is 1:1 direct and Low selection is 1.8:1.
The Dynaflow was actually a two speed transmission. It’s just that in D... it was locked in high gear and used torque conversion to make up the other gears. You had to manually shift to L to get the lower gear and manually shift it up again to go into top gear. It was for long hilly stretches to save fuel and brakes and the transmission from overheating due to the constant slipping of the torque converter.
Enjoy being technically correct, because it has no real world meaning. The car is effectively a single gear machine, the same way you dont consider a truck with a 2 speed T case to have a 6 speed because its paired to a 5 speed manual. People actually try that BS with the 4wd Civic transmission sometimes, claiming its a 6 speed. Its a 5 speed with a low gear for off road driving. You can't realistically drive the car shifting through all 6 gears.
Except that you can shift this transmission at speed and quite easily. The 4WD low range comparison is meaningless. A more meaningful one would be the Corvette 4 + 3 since you can use the inline overdrive to create more gears. Just like you can split ratios on a semi or use different ranges on the crank of your bicycle. It’s still an 18 speed or a 21 speed even though you can’t easily row through the gears in order of ratio.
The narrator did well with covering the distinctive basics of this Buick, as I'm familiar of that car brand from the early to mid-1960s; such as the fuel mileage, the premium gas required, and the effortless power steering. I noticed that the interior's dashboard, and steering wheel, was remarkably similar to the 1966 Buick Wildcat my dad owned.
WELL AKSHEWALLY it's 96.4% ethanol, you can't distill it any purer, you need to use chemicals to remove the last bit of water, and the moment it comes into contact with air it will absorb water until it's back to 96.4% Also, why does the nailhead sound like a 2-stroke?
The nailhead sucked, but so did all of the original emissions motors. It was the great twin skidmarks on the underpants of automotive history. Oh well. Let's be glad that twin injection has begun.
I literally watch these videos even if I don’t think I’d like the car, and I come out of the video either liking it or coming out with more knowledge of the car and appreciating them. I love the jokes and insanity that usually comes with these videos. You do an amazing jobs with these videos seriously, thanks for the content!
For “performance” acceleration, you start out in Low and shift up to Drive at 20-25 mph. I had a ‘61 LeSabre, and I could get 16-18 mpg on the highway, and around 10 in the city.
I just love the way he talks. He brings in all kinds of jokes, and some of them you just might not get at times, someone is really good at English. Like how Carlin was, but he's a car guy instead. I appreciate the work.
@@SupaFlyJedi Hey, people used to cook their lunch on a car engine with a little "cook box" kit or whatever it was, probably attached to the exhaust manifold. Get your bacon in there, and maybe 35 minutes later, stick some eggs in. 10 minutes after that, get your bread and onion out and have an egg bacon and onion sandwich at the rest stop.
Your dad impressions are almost exactly like my dad. Went through the TV thing after Christmas. We bought him a new TV mounted it on the wall and my sister and I took turns going to his house daily to correct whatever buttons he pressed to screw it up. Finally he got mad and busted the screen with a candle when we couldn’t get there in time. I can’t wait to get old and throw tantrums like a toddler without any repercussions.
The dynaflow is a 2 speed and has a planetary gearset. It also has a 5 element two turbine torque converter. In D it will start in 1:1. In L the ratio is 1.8:1. It is incapable of automatic shifting. Buick relied on the 3:1 torque multiplication of the complex torque converter and touted the smoothness of acceleration compared to other gearboxes. The variable torque converter that you are talking about was in the ST400, also found in Buicks and predecessor to the TH400. This is all available on Wikipedia.
My 63 lesabre gets close to 17 mpg on the highway. Used to get 12 mpg with the original 2 barrel on it. I put a factory carter 4 barrel on it. It does have a 2:78 axle ratio so that helps a lot.
This was my first car. Given to me by my great grandfather in 1984. He was the original owner and put only 38k miles on it in 22 years. Wish I could have kept it. Thanks for the memories!
Interesting that he swapped in an MSD and an Edelbrock, but kept the generator. Also, side note, this is the earliest I've ever watched and/or commented on an RCR video. My dad had a '62 Wildcat for pretty much my entire life until he passed, and your assessment of the car is SPOT on.
I love your channel and the reviews they're so funny and unique. Thank you for the inspiration I got into making some basic daily vlogs about my Jeep. I’m trying to keep it consistent with the uploads but its such a struggle but I love doing it.
My first car was a 73 lesabre I learned to drift in that worn out piece of garbage with no reverse gear but this video still brings back so much nostalgia for me. Especially the sounds of that engine. Despite how horribly it ran though ive got to say the ride in one of these is like riding on a cloud you could run over a boulder at 60mph and it would just feel like a regular road.
My parents had a 1964 LeSabre. It had the small 8 cylinder. We drove it many times on 1000 mile trips to visit the grand parents in indiana. The car was roomy and very comfortable.
Awesome vid. I had same car but mine was the “luxury Electra 225” 401 nailhead motor was a gem and ran excellent, dynaflow slushbox kinda sapped all its power though. The power bench seat was killer! Miss that old dinosaur 🦕
Can you name the truck with 4 wheel drive, smells like a steak and seats 35? It drives real slow with the hammer down, its the country fried truck endorsed by a clown. Canyonero.
@@Boemel 2 yards long, 2 lanes wide, 65 tons of American pride! Canyonero! Canyonero! Top of the line in utility sports, Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts! Canyonero! Canyonero! She blinds everybody with her super high beams, She's a squirrel-squashin', deer smackin' drivin' machine, Canyonero! Canyonero! Canyonero! Whoa, Canyonero! Whoooooaaaa!
Took a 401 (with Carter AFB 4bbl) out of a rusted-out deuce-and-a-quarter and put it into '67 short-box GMC (with 3.54 diff IIRC). The Dynaflow performed fabulously. 12 mpg "on a good testing day".
In my junior year of HS I inherited a 62 LeSabre as transportation to school and my PT job. The car was a beast. It took three weeks to get up to 50 MPH but once there it cruised like a missile. It drank gas like Otis T. Campbell drank home made hooch. When you turned off the key the car burped. The deal when I got the car was that I had to pay for license, registration, gas, and maintenance and my parents paid the insurance. I'm not sure but I think giving me this car during the mid-70's gas shortage years was my parent's secret way of discouraging me from driving except when absolutely necessary. It worked.
Buick was an early adopter of coil spring rear suspension. The early Hydramatic was too rough for it, so Dynaflow was invented to please the rear suspension.
My grandfather bought a pink and white 1956 Buick Special Riviera [hardtop] 4-door which I drove a lot, so I'm very familiar with Dynaflush and nailheads. He was afraid of power steering, so the gigantic white steering wheel gave leverage to the incredibly slow and heavy steering. It was like watching someone operate a windlass. And my 4'10" grandmother drove the car too. She could parallel park it! By the way, the 3800 V6 sounds very similar to the nailhead.
I had a '62 LeSabre hardtop for almost a decade and my older brother owned it for almost 15 years before he gave it to me. Fucking LOVED that car, still miss it. I got so excited when I saw what this episode was since most people who saw mine had NO idea what the hell it was. Most asked if it was a Skylark for some reason, the rest asked if it was an Impala. Interestingly enough, I later owned a '65 Skylark and most people asked me if it was a LeSabre ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Fun fact: the fullsize Chevys, Pontiacs, Buicks and Oldsmobiles of that era only shared parts from the beltline up; so trim, glass and the roof skin. That's it. I was having such a hard time finding parts I finally threw in the towel and bought a 2nd one just for parts. The Buick Electra, Olds 98 and Pontiac Bonneville all shared beltline-up parts with Cadillac. The cars were COMPLETELY different otherwise.
Dude! Thanks for reviewing a Buick Nailhead land yacht! I had a '55 Super 2 door hardtop with a 322 and the DynaFlush '53-'55 twin-turbine variant and the switch-pitch button on the floor left of the (useless) brake pedal. It's in New Zealand now. Sometimes I miss that car. Only sometimes.
The Dynaflow does have a true low gear only engaged when manually shifted into L. This is separate from the huge torque converter's low which like is said, it shifts the vanes. When you floor it, the second rod on the carb runs down to the trans and shifts the angle of the stator vanes inside the toque converter. So when in L, the low band is engaged in the trans and when you floor it, it changes the TQ vane angle, so you get a double effect of torque improvement down to the wheel.
Weight disto like that is good for highway cruising, keeps you heading straight and stable at speed, change of direction is undesirable then. Audi used to do it for autobahn action too. Just like a throwing dart.
The fuel economy was fine. It goes from 0-60 in 4 gallons.
6 gallons per mile
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Yeah but gas was like 50 cents a gallon back then so no one really gave a flying fuck about fuel economy...because it was cheap.
0to 60 in 10 gallons!!!
@@RingoYote I remember this being the reason my dad said Honda would never make it. "Who cares about 30 mpg when gas is so cheap." So he shorted Honda alot.....dumb thinking
"Hey what car is that?"
"It's got one gear and loads of torque, so it's basically a Tesla"
Dean Churchman good one ☝️
A Tesla With huge, hairy balls and a 410 v8
It's a Koenigsegg Regera
Tesla: 0 - 60 < 3s; Buick LeSabre: 0 - 60 : yes
Tesla - 0-60 in 3 seconds
LeSabre - 0-60 in 3 gallons
when you start getting gallons to the mile, instead of miles to the gallon
That is called Smilies per Gallon.
@@wobblysauce Or "Why the hell did I buy this?" if you expected more.
Or 'Oh, you know its economy' as you like a cigar with a 100dollar bill.
Oh,come on now,let's not exaggerate - it most likely got about 8 mpg in stop and go driving,and about 12 - 14 mpg highway if you kept your speed down.These cars also needed regular tune ups and carburetor maintenance to get their best fuel economy...
@@frankgiaquinto1571 He's full of shit. These cars got on thr mid teens on the hwy.
Christ, my 61 Lincoln 430 gets 14 on the HWY. Buick wouldn't have been able to compete.
"Fuel economy? Easy. We provide the car, Eisenhower provides the economy."
WoodstaS I love this, thank you, I'm stealing it
I Like Ike!
Eisenhower was out of office BEFORE this car was built!
@@TheOzthewiz True, But the driveline is based on 1956 technology.
@@TheOzthewiz ya but all of the hooplas seeds at middle east planted at his time.
"There's hardly any transmission tunnel here". Maybe because there is hardly any transmission at all here.
Nope, those Dynaflows are HUGE and made of cast iron. They just aren't very long, that's all.
Nah. I've got a '64 Le Saber Sedan. Same frame, but with a 425 and a Turbo 400. Same floor. Three gears in the tranny make a difference. I've gotten as much as 17 miles per gallon in what is basically the same car. Same doors, same glass, slightly different fenders, hood, trunk lid and quarter panels. I cheated, though. The engine and transmission are out of a 79 Cadillac. And I did some major frame cutting to move everything back so that most of the engine is behind the front axle. I also put modern front disc brakes on it using a bracket kit from Scare Bird. Front brakes are basically 1999 two wheel drive Chevy half ton pickup truck rotors with 79 Cadillac El Dorado calipers and pads and the soft lines off of a 76 Buick Skylark. It looks mostly stock, except for a massive skid plate in front of the oil pan and a big Griffin aluminum radiator you can see through the grille.
@@johnbutler1323 Le Sabre
@ Joel Sanford
Le Sab _er_
@@Bartonovich52 Google it
"Whats the fuel efficiency?"
Me-"14"
"Thats not bad"
Me-"14 feet per gallon"
"oh"
I see you're trying to compete with a cruise liner...
You mean gallon per feet
@@AnonyDave They didn't call these cars "land yachts","land barges" or "boats" for nothing.
The Buick LeSabre, a car that sounds like a rapid-fire visit to Brown town.
Buick Lesabre, the car that makes brown town discoloured
Itz_ Fez-Tex
They gonna play in the mud!!!
So that's what it was, having those problems rn, so that sounded familiar.
Naw we only drive Deuces. F-- that LeSabre
Dynaflo was like the original CVT and was really quite impressive. Very cool piece of engineering.
Actual CVTs have been in cars since (just) before the dawn of the 20th century though.
And the benefit with this over a real CVT is that even though you're getting horrendous fuel efficiency, it's not gonna break as easily (looking at you Nissan)
@@boheyoYes. The first one in a production car was made by the Dutch DAF company.
It sucked and cvt sucks. Nobody has a good thing to say about them they r junk
@@claytonator343nissan and Toyota makes good CVTs
Dynaflow, for when the Powerglide has just too many gears.
when shifting to low wasnt automatic
Chevy had the turboglide - similar to the dynaflow as an upgrade from the powerglide
torqueflite: now your just pushing my buttons!
The Dynaflow actually had two forward gears which were identical to those in the Powerglide.
The difference was the Dynaflow couldn’t automatically shift. Buick designed it this way for smooth acceleration with no perceptible “shifts” but had to use that fancy torque converter to allow for a 1:1 ratio from a standing start.
Shifting to L changes it to the 1.8:1 low gear. The torque converter stator positions are only affected by throttle position.
dynaflow with the nail head was a great combination as long as you kept up the maintenance on it.
“The steering is so light, Venom Snake could drive it out of the hospital”
You’re pretty good
Skydrag.V60 kept ya waiting with that metal gear reference huh?
except that wasn't venom snake in the hospital, it was his body double the medic
King Bones yeah. Venom Snake
King Bones Venom Snake was the one who took all the shrapnel for Big Boss, thus they put him in a coma for 9 years, gave him plastic surgery and transferred Big Boss’ memories over. The joke is that the power steering‘s so light that Venom Snake, weak as hell from just waking up from his coma, could steer it
@@Skydrag.V60 edit: god damn it now you're messing me up
"there's hardly any transmission tunnel here." There's hardly any _transmission_ either.
It's like the complete antithesis of a Tesla and I love it
Tesla has one gear.
@@calvinnickel9995 i think he means because it has very bad fuel economic. I don't know why that is good considering this car is super slow
@@catinthehat5140 yeah I own a 1963 Chevy 2 with a 2 speed and it’s slow, you go about 30 up hill with your foot down
@@calvinnickel9995 Yep!
@@The.jokes.on.you1997 The Chevy Powerglide was essentially the same concept as the Buick Dynaflow. Chevrolet and Buick were more "brothers in blood" mechanically (in the days when GM divisions had more individual control) than they were the rest of the General Motors line. Buick and Chevy had OHV engines for YEARS while say, Cadillac and Pontiac were STILL flatheads, for years Chevy and Buick employed the enclosed torque tube dive shaft, ETC. Buick was the foundation of General Motors, So it makes sense that the "base" brand (Chevrolet) should be that tightly connected to the "founding" brand, Louis Chevrolet WAS a race car driver for...Buick!
The 60s - ‘Because burning dinosaurs will last forever’
Better then what they have now. Damn electric hybrid
it will dinosaurs were really big lots of oil out of them in the earth's bountiful vagina.
@@joshuaherpolsheimer3541 Not at all even.
Algae, not dinosaurs, but yes, that was certainly the attitude at the time.
@@consoleconceptshd6371 The only thing that I have had go wrong on older cars outside of normal maintenance was points and carburetor needs to be retuned.
The other stuff happens to modern cars too, such as alternators, water pumps, etc
Never mind the Koenigsegg Regera having the same type of transmission... the placement of the oval in the center of the dashboard of both cars is E X A C T L Y T H E S A M E
While the Regera only has one gear, there is no torque converter being used, unlike with the Buick.
no1DdC The whole point of Koenigsegg Direct Drive is that 'Why didn't anyone think about just using a torque converter?' And so he did with the assistance of two electric motors. One at the motor, the other at the axle.
@@no1DdC it has a torque converter, there is even a video of Christian Von Koenigsegg explaining it.
@@Looptydude I thought it was using a clutch-like system to emulate the function of a torque converter.
This car is the distilled hopes and dreams of the greatest generation
Speaking of "distilled", have you seen my windshield washer fluid reservoir?
and the reality that the boomers ruined everything.
“I’m turnin’ this car around, and the belt’s comin’ off” 🤣
I love that my 63 Citroen 2cv (Jolene) is one year older gets 50mpg American and 18bhp and these 2 cars existed at the same time. Incredible
Hoooly shit. About 8x more distance per drop of fuel. Insane
The actual design of the transmission is a really innovative way to get around an invented problem. Impressed at the ingenuity of this car at filling it’s design brief.
There was a fire in the Hydramatic plant in 1950 and a bunch of Cadillacs got Dynaflows put in them. The only one I ever saw had a self winding clock in the bottom spoke of the steering wheel. I think that is so you can tell it had a Dynaflow, at least that is what the guy that owned the junkyard said.
1953 is when that fire occured.
@@NickTwisp80 I saw one of those cars in a Junkyard back in the 1980s and thought it was odd to see a two-speed shifter in a Cadillac. It's too bad the car got scrapped; despite it's inferior performance, it had an interesting history.
I've always wanted a floor-mounted high beam switch.
lostinthemasses it’s a good time
My 68 LeSabre had one, with the floor pedal ebrake. Effortless stuff and I miss it to this day (my hs car in the 80s).
They're awesome and that's coming from someone whose only experience with a floor-mounted dim-dip was a 1978 Ford F600 where your left foot managed not only the beam but the washers as well (via a rubber bladder!) and of course the clutch with its 200-pound return spring which demanded you wear the safety belt lest any attempt to declutch instead lead you to simply stand up. But it was a great truck, with its 3+low "Rock Crusher" transmission and its 7.10 gears and air-over-hydraulic brakes which, in contrast to the clutch, have 1/3 pedal travel that does almost nothing, a threshold that if incautiously crossed will cause you to again experience the necessity of the safety belt as four tons of truck stops in its own length. The only time you get the pedal below 1/2 way is when the brakes fail (and the do) and, in the immortal words of C.W. McCall, "Pedal went clear to the floor; staid right there on the floor, sorta like steppin' on a plum". Fortunately you are provided an emergency brake, a charmingly railroadesque Johnson bar that will put you in mind of "The Wreck of the Old 97" as you bring it under control with the rear drums alone. The extremely low gearing makes a brake failure much more manageable than in other vehicles I have had it happen in, however. So you could say it kept the left foot busy. I really don't understand why, in light of the proliferation of the automatic gearbox, some duty hasn't been given back to the left foot, whose idleness is often explicitly accepted by virtue of a little footrest in the wheel well. The old-timey floor-mount dim-dip was troublesome if it rusted out, because it was a hole through the body (it existed in the first place because it saved the cost of a hardened relay able to switch the full battery current, which was an extremely specialized piece of equipment in those days, and very costly, if it was available at all) but nowadays it could easily be a simple rugged switch that sits above the floorboards and vapor barrier and whatnot, but car manufacturers continue their love affair with stalks as if they have the world's most insatiable stiffy for a D&D Beholder which remains stubbornly erect because there's nowhere to stick your dick on one of those things...
My 88 F150 has one.
Yes, bring these back! Maybe we could start a trend of modding modern cars with these floor switches
Uhm, Mister Regular, Wikipedia says the Dynaflow HAS a planetary gearset for the low gear. So it is actually two gears, but they don't automatically shift. In drive you are always in high gear.
The performance setting on the turbine is activated by the throttle.
Similar to the "Fordomatic" in the "mini-bird", normally starts in second and shifts to third, except when flooring it at standstill then it drops into lo!
it's a Super-Turbine 300 with autism
Depends on the year. They changed the design of the dynaflow pretty segnificantly at least 3 times
i can do 1 gear. take it or leave it
No lowballers I know what I've got
Gonna have to take u up on that offer buddy 1 speed is good enough for me
Come on man give me Atleast 3 gears
:(
I have one speed, one gear... _go._
One gear automatics make my little boy saluting to gen eisenhower
That car still has the civil defense radio markings at 640 and 1240 AM. What a machine.
Hey I haven't been early enough to say anything youl see but these videos are what got me into cars, keep doing what you do.
Blake you got the almighty heart from Mr. R. Feel inspired. 😂
Wow! glad you highlighted the dynaflow, over the years I've had 5 cars with dynaflow transmissions. The fuel economy is actually on par with most other cars of the era, however I believe the 6mpg figure is due to the edelbrock carb on that car. I drive a 54 buick century 322ci nailhead, with the 2nd generation dynaflow almost daily, I usually see 12-15 mpg, yes, not great, but whatever. the car will do freeway speeds, stops fine, is pretty reliable and comfortable.
Doug is mostly new cars
Jay mostly classic cars
But you guys do old betters and that’s really fun 6 MPG a 1 gear transmission , Alcohol for the windshield , it’s another time another era but it’s great fun to look back .
How is no one comparing this to the Koenigsegg regera hahaha
And that writing skills at 9:36
300 mph Buick Le sabre.
Somehow get a way to put a tesla motor in there, and you'll get a Ghetto Regera lol
@@FalafelTheBurner use the GM eCOPO Camaro engine instead.
May I complain about his pronunciation of "nucular"?
I thought Two speed was minimal.
Kyle Soler same here. I thought the Powerglide was as low as you can go but we’ve been proven wrong.
Yeah This is news to me as well, but what did I know? I still have my dad's 1998 version of this car.
1953 C1 corvette ?
It is
I can’t imagine thee engine noise!
You hit the nail on the head with the effortless input you have to give to steer those 'land barges' of that era. That's what makes them so much fun to drive today!
This is the equivalent of starting off in 5th gear in a manual and just slipping the clutch constantly lmao
4th gear is usual 1:1, but yeah... Ouch
Not really, the torque converter gives more torque at the wheels when it's slipping (it converts slip to torque (and heat)). A slipping clutch only produces heat when slipping, it doesn't change output torque.
Yeah but as they said, it's the equivalent for a manual.
I had a LeSabre exactly like this one, and though my mileage was not great, I generally got about 11-13 mpg, even in around town trips. I think that edelbrock carb is the reason your mileage is not too good, although it could also be your throttle habits. True enough, this was no economy car, but it was not the biggest gas hog of the era by a long shot. Those triple carb set ups that the auto makers were hawking in the late fifties and sixties were even more thirsty. I guess it must seem just so awful to you that the Dynaflow had only one gear, but a variable ratio transmission was outstandingly modern when the dynaflow was introduced. The dynaflow was in production for a long time, roughly as long as the other early automatics, the powerglide, the fordomatic, powerflite and others. When one developed the habit of using the low range to pull away, shifting up at 15 mph, you save a little fuel, too. If you wanted to show the world your taillights, the low range was good to 50 and the 62 buick I had, with a two barrel carb, would do 0-60 in 8.7 seconds. Not bad for 4000+ pounds. I had a 1980 corvette that did not do a bit better than my old buick. My son used to call the buick the "camaro killer" for its surprising acceleration. I noticed that you had no trouble roaring down the highway with those tiny valves and that "one speed" transmission. All that in a car that was already old when you were born!
Beautiful car, and a nice review. My hat is off to the owner for keeping it pretty much stock. The bit about the glass bottle made me smile.
1MPG.. finally a number which is pretty similiar to metric system
what? the similar number is 15.3 15.3 MPG ~ 15.3 l/100Km
The guy who owns it looks EXACTLY like who you'd expect to own a 62 LeSabre. This car's in good hands.
Those cars were on the road when I was a little boy. Brings back memories of the early 70s.
I miss the days when cars were better suited for sex. In this one you can even swing!
Poor family planning at it’s finest.
I suppose a handful of boomers were conceived in those.
And it even has enough room to entertain them 'sturdy gals' too.
And enough room to doggy a chubby girl on a drunken night stooper
Baby boom ended when cars lost their bench seats.
I can't put into words how much I love this channel. I've been a car guy forever but RCR made me appreciate every car not just for what it looks or drives like, but for what it is.
Here's to many more seasons!!
so if i’ve watched enough jay leno steam car videos then that transmission could be good if it had 1000 ftlbs at idle.
This is ALMOST my dad's first car! His was a 62 Wildcat 2 door, but mechanically the same! What a cruiser
the allentown area references make these so much better
“we’re going to crystal cave!”
Yeah, dynaflow is a 2 speed, just not automatic shifting.
Came to say this. L is a separate gear on a planetary but needs to be manually selected. Definitely 2 speed trans.
@@cyclonejohnny1 Actually 4 speed because both D and L had passing gear. Put it to the floor and passing gear would kick in and last to around 70. It would put the 283 cars to shame without passing gear. You could keep up with them with plenty of pedal left, and then gracefully pull away and wave goodbye. All with one smooth grear. Want to put the hammer down and floor it, hold on to the steering wheel (no seat belts) and let the passing gear work.
To make it into a drag car. Drop it in low, stand on the brake, put the gas pedal to the floor, release th pe break. Low will be in passing and when it upshits you have to shift to drive. Drive will be in passing. Around 70 passing will kick out.
Yes, I have burned the clutch packs out.
Sounds like a Briggs & Stratton at full throttle
Dude, that's true! XD
Best sounding lawnmower I've ever heard.
Probably makes similar power numbers to.
@@nathanmcdonald610 yeah if a Briggs makes 300 hp 410 ft lbs at the crank
It's the stator that's variable, not the turbine. Also, the DynaFlo had a two speed planetary gear set, it just stayed in second gear unless low was selected.
Correct. The engine RPM provides the radial force and the turbine is always moving the same RPM as the engine. The stator receives the power with fluid coupling and sends the power to the driveshaft. The “switch pitch” stator design will change the stall speed by slipping the coupling rate which increases torque multiplication. There is 2 gears. Drive is 1:1 direct and Low selection is 1.8:1.
The Dynaflow was actually a two speed transmission.
It’s just that in D... it was locked in high gear and used torque conversion to make up the other gears. You had to manually shift to L to get the lower gear and manually shift it up again to go into top gear. It was for long hilly stretches to save fuel and brakes and the transmission from overheating due to the constant slipping of the torque converter.
thank you somebody knows
Enjoy being technically correct, because it has no real world meaning. The car is effectively a single gear machine, the same way you dont consider a truck with a 2 speed T case to have a 6 speed because its paired to a 5 speed manual.
People actually try that BS with the 4wd Civic transmission sometimes, claiming its a 6 speed. Its a 5 speed with a low gear for off road driving. You can't realistically drive the car shifting through all 6 gears.
Except that you can shift this transmission at speed and quite easily. The 4WD low range comparison is meaningless.
A more meaningful one would be the Corvette 4 + 3 since you can use the inline overdrive to create more gears.
Just like you can split ratios on a semi or use different ranges on the crank of your bicycle. It’s still an 18 speed or a 21 speed even though you can’t easily row through the gears in order of ratio.
The narrator did well with covering the distinctive basics of this Buick, as I'm familiar of that car brand from the early to mid-1960s; such as the fuel mileage, the premium gas required, and the effortless power steering.
I noticed that the interior's dashboard, and steering wheel, was remarkably similar to the 1966 Buick Wildcat my dad owned.
WELL AKSHEWALLY it's 96.4% ethanol, you can't distill it any purer, you need to use chemicals to remove the last bit of water, and the moment it comes into contact with air it will absorb water until it's back to 96.4%
Also, why does the nailhead sound like a 2-stroke?
I have an F1 engine
it doesn't
I don't think this example runs all that well.
The nailhead sucked, but so did all of the original emissions motors. It was the great twin skidmarks on the underpants of automotive history. Oh well. Let's be glad that twin injection has begun.
I literally watch these videos even if I don’t think I’d like the car, and I come out of the video either liking it or coming out with more knowledge of the car and appreciating them. I love the jokes and insanity that usually comes with these videos. You do an amazing jobs with these videos seriously, thanks for the content!
For “performance” acceleration, you start out in Low and shift up to Drive at 20-25 mph. I had a ‘61 LeSabre, and I could get 16-18 mpg on the highway, and around 10 in the city.
Learned to drive & tune-up my parent's 4-door 1962 LeSabre. Video brought back fun memories. Thanks!
Yeah, sure. Buick does it and everybody shits on them. But when koenisseg does it everybody loses their mind!
That's because Koenigsegg put thought into their design.
@@deusexaethera you really missed the joke there pal
I just love the way he talks. He brings in all kinds of jokes, and some of them you just might not get at times, someone is really good at English. Like how Carlin was, but he's a car guy instead. I appreciate the work.
If all that power is being dumped in to the torque converter, doesn’t that sucker get hot? Like, cavitation in the oil?
Maybe you could make your own ethanol still for long trips...
@@SupaFlyJedi Hey, people used to cook their lunch on a car engine with a little "cook box" kit or whatever it was, probably attached to the exhaust manifold. Get your bacon in there, and maybe 35 minutes later, stick some eggs in. 10 minutes after that, get your bread and onion out and have an egg bacon and onion sandwich at the rest stop.
Your dad impressions are almost exactly like my dad. Went through the TV thing after Christmas. We bought him a new TV mounted it on the wall and my sister and I took turns going to his house daily to correct whatever buttons he pressed to screw it up. Finally he got mad and busted the screen with a candle when we couldn’t get there in time. I can’t wait to get old and throw tantrums like a toddler without any repercussions.
If i remember right, the Dynaflow transmission was developed for the M24 Chaffee light tank, in the early stages of WW2
The dynaflow is a 2 speed and has a planetary gearset. It also has a 5 element two turbine torque converter. In D it will start in 1:1. In L the ratio is 1.8:1. It is incapable of automatic shifting. Buick relied on the 3:1 torque multiplication of the complex torque converter and touted the smoothness of acceleration compared to other gearboxes. The variable torque converter that you are talking about was in the ST400, also found in Buicks and predecessor to the TH400. This is all available on Wikipedia.
My 63 lesabre gets close to 17 mpg on the highway. Used to get 12 mpg with the original 2 barrel on it. I put a factory carter 4 barrel on it. It does have a 2:78 axle ratio so that helps a lot.
My brother had a 63 LeSabre 4 door sedan with the 401 4V in the late 60's. What a fine road car!
@@robertchandler2573 I love taking it on road trips. It eats potholes. It may be slow from a stand still but it really shines on the highway.
I keep coming back to this video. What an amazing car.
Interesting fact about the dynaflow, one of it's original test mules was the m18 tank destroyer made during ww2
This video makes me so happy. We have a 62 Invicta. 17.8 ft. 2 door convertible with a 401 and 3 deuces. At least it is a 2-speed!
Drink every time there’s cargo shorts on RCR
This was my first car. Given to me by my great grandfather in 1984. He was the original owner and put only 38k miles on it in 22 years. Wish I could have kept it. Thanks for the memories!
I got 7-10 mpg.
Driver when Mr. Regular says 'pinky out': "When in doubt."
Me: "Ah, I see that you too, are a man of culture."
Thank you for making the refrence to the variable pitch props. I use them all the time in aircraft and you describe it perfectly with the car.
"We'll make it so smooth that it won't even shift gears. Infact, it'll have only one gear!" I died :')))
Interesting that he swapped in an MSD and an Edelbrock, but kept the generator.
Also, side note, this is the earliest I've ever watched and/or commented on an RCR video. My dad had a '62 Wildcat for pretty much my entire life until he passed, and your assessment of the car is SPOT on.
That was the era where GM made real cars. I like it.
Same here brother.
Got that right! My Dad had a black '62 Electra loaded with power everything. Badass car powered by the 401 nailhead. Bulletproof!
I don't like 6 mpg and filling up unleaded plus. I'll take a plastic car making 35 mpg on regular today.
Oh go back to watching Mannix and don´t wind yourself up over the stuff your doughter keeps buying you.
I love your channel and the reviews they're so funny and unique. Thank you for the inspiration I got into making some basic daily vlogs about my Jeep. I’m trying to keep it consistent with the uploads but its such a struggle but I love doing it.
I think the dynaflow is often misunderstood. On my 63 lesabre 401 2bb (properly tuned) regularly get 15mgp cruising at 55mph.
My first car was a 73 lesabre I learned to drift in that worn out piece of garbage with no reverse gear but this video still brings back so much nostalgia for me. Especially the sounds of that engine. Despite how horribly it ran though ive got to say the ride in one of these is like riding on a cloud you could run over a boulder at 60mph and it would just feel like a regular road.
The first CVT transmission... without all the benefits.
I dunno, this one still works;)
My parents had a 1964 LeSabre. It had the small 8 cylinder. We drove it many times on 1000 mile trips to visit the grand parents in indiana. The car was roomy and very comfortable.
I NEED YOU HERE WITH ME NOT WAY OVER IN A BUCKET SEAT (farting, guitar diddle)
'When I'm driving in my LeSabre, its easy to get right inside her.
I say baby, scoot over please, and then shes right there on top of me'
Awesome vid. I had same car but mine was the “luxury Electra 225” 401 nailhead motor was a gem and ran excellent, dynaflow slushbox kinda sapped all its power though. The power bench seat was killer! Miss that old dinosaur 🦕
Highway 1, city 0 (in McBain voice :) )
Can you name the truck with 4 wheel drive, smells like a steak and seats 35? It drives real slow with the hammer down, its the country fried truck endorsed by a clown. Canyonero.
@@Boemel 2 yards long, 2 lanes wide, 65 tons of American pride! Canyonero! Canyonero! Top of the line in utility sports, Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts! Canyonero! Canyonero! She blinds everybody with her super high beams, She's a squirrel-squashin', deer smackin' drivin' machine, Canyonero! Canyonero! Canyonero! Whoa, Canyonero! Whoooooaaaa!
MCBAIN!
I love this guy for the way he sprinkles great gaming references.
Waiting for the jalopnik article to rip this video off
The 1962 Buick Lesabre Has the Same Type of Transmission You'd Find in a Koenigsegg Regera
Jalopnik is still too busy filming JDM imports in SWVA or making another awful "lets see what's parked on the streets of NYC" video...
Cancerous site.
Took a 401 (with Carter AFB 4bbl) out of a rusted-out deuce-and-a-quarter and put it into '67 short-box GMC (with 3.54 diff IIRC). The Dynaflow performed fabulously. 12 mpg "on a good testing day".
Thank u for making this review mostly clean so i can show it to DAAAD
Beautful song at the end.
I've seen minivans with less room than that trunk. I bet you could squeeze 12 people in this car.
In my junior year of HS I inherited a 62 LeSabre as transportation to school and my PT job. The car was a beast. It took three weeks to get up to 50 MPH but once there it cruised like a missile. It drank gas like Otis T. Campbell drank home made hooch. When you turned off the key the car burped.
The deal when I got the car was that I had to pay for license, registration, gas, and maintenance and my parents paid the insurance. I'm not sure but I think giving me this car during the mid-70's gas shortage years was my parent's secret way of discouraging me from driving except when absolutely necessary. It worked.
i had a friend owned a 62' Skylark. It always sounded like it was reving itself out very strange.
By far this is my favorite car RCR ever reviewed
"OH HEY HONEY LOOK! A BUICK! Remember when we had that used Le Saber back in 66? That was a nice caar." -Grandpa
I never give this compliment to people. But your metaphors are deep and funny.
I love my 68 LeSabre, and I still have my glass bottle, but it's empty... *cough*
1962 Buick LeSabre: it makes a tank looks like a Prius.
I need to finish up my 69 electra for you to review.
The Life Of Riley nice
When he steers with his pinky finger he reminds me when I drive my 67 imperial and why I love it.
Those cars had one of the most beautiful interiors ever, especially the hardtop models with those chrome interior window surrounds.
@@robertchandler2573 yeah thats true
I literally just got back from Crystal Cave... 😂
Ha us too 😆
You earned the like with that very last line about pools
“Did you drove to work in the Lesabre?”
“YES”
“What did it cost?”
“My Fuel Tank”
Buick was an early adopter of coil spring rear suspension. The early Hydramatic was too rough for it, so Dynaflow was invented to please the rear suspension.
My grandfather bought a pink and white 1956 Buick Special Riviera [hardtop] 4-door which I drove a lot, so I'm very familiar with Dynaflush and nailheads. He was afraid of power steering, so the gigantic white steering wheel gave leverage to the incredibly slow and heavy steering. It was like watching someone operate a windlass. And my 4'10" grandmother drove the car too. She could parallel park it!
By the way, the 3800 V6 sounds very similar to the nailhead.
12:42
It would have cost you nothing to not have said that, yet here we are
I had a '62 LeSabre hardtop for almost a decade and my older brother owned it for almost 15 years before he gave it to me. Fucking LOVED that car, still miss it. I got so excited when I saw what this episode was since most people who saw mine had NO idea what the hell it was. Most asked if it was a Skylark for some reason, the rest asked if it was an Impala. Interestingly enough, I later owned a '65 Skylark and most people asked me if it was a LeSabre ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Fun fact: the fullsize Chevys, Pontiacs, Buicks and Oldsmobiles of that era only shared parts from the beltline up; so trim, glass and the roof skin. That's it. I was having such a hard time finding parts I finally threw in the towel and bought a 2nd one just for parts. The Buick Electra, Olds 98 and Pontiac Bonneville all shared beltline-up parts with Cadillac. The cars were COMPLETELY different otherwise.
Is it bad I can hear the bouncing that would’ve happened to this car 😂
?
I had a 1966 LeSabre,we never did Christen the back seat,front seat worked just fine!! Total whore buggy?!😂😎
Nope
Dude! Thanks for reviewing a Buick Nailhead land yacht! I had a '55 Super 2 door hardtop with a 322 and the DynaFlush '53-'55 twin-turbine variant and the switch-pitch button on the floor left of the (useless) brake pedal. It's in New Zealand now. Sometimes I miss that car. Only sometimes.
1962 Buick LeSabre: the official car of man-spreading.
The Dynaflow does have a true low gear only engaged when manually shifted into L. This is separate from the huge torque converter's low which like is said, it shifts the vanes. When you floor it, the second rod on the carb runs down to the trans and shifts the angle of the stator vanes inside the toque converter. So when in L, the low band is engaged in the trans and when you floor it, it changes the TQ vane angle, so you get a double effect of torque improvement down to the wheel.
Even when track racing my s2000 at 9000 rpm I still get 8 miles to the gallon. That's just hilarious to me.
Do you realise that at 9000 rpms your S2000 is pulling the same amout of air as the 401 at 2700rpm
@@MrTheMiguelox that's definitely weird to think about lol.
Weight disto like that is good for highway cruising, keeps you heading straight and stable at speed, change of direction is undesirable then. Audi used to do it for autobahn action too. Just like a throwing dart.