My dad's first car with automatic was a '53 Pontiac (with Hydra-Matic, of course), which he got used in '56. He was a buttoned-up guy who didn't usually gush. But for weeks after getting the car, he was telling people, "You just step on the gas, and it goes! You step on the brake, and it stops!"
My dad was class of 53 and his first real car was a 63 Chieftan, I think he also bought his in 56. His only complaint is the automatic park in reverse. If you are leaning out of the car with the door open to back up and the motor stalls, which it can when it is cold, the rear wheels will lock and the door will try to take off your head.
It's interesting to note that the U.S. Military had a role in the development of Hydra-Matic. Back in the 1930s, tanks steered with levers, and with the manual transmission, the tank operator had to let go of the levers to shift gears. Hydra-Matic, in combination with Cadillac engines, allowed tank operators to keep both hands on the steering levers while the transmission shifted automatically. Our government obviously had a keen interest in this technology, and encouraged GM to complete it before the war. Note that the automotive version of this transmission came out at the very beginning of WWII.
In a tank they used 2 engines and two Hydra-Magic’s and I believe they were dependable even in a heavy tank. I know they had cast iron cases, they must have been heavy.
The main use of the lower drive range was for going down a steep hill or mountain road in third gear to get engine braking. This would keep the car from going too fast down a hill and also save the brakes, just as truckers do when they downshift on a long hill. The car would probably have to be under 60 MPH to shift down from fourth in the high Drive range to third in the lower range.
Yes, it's dual range. The arrow to the right holds it in 3rd gear which was intended for traffic and stop and go driving. When you got on the road you would move the lever to the left arrow and the transmission would shift to 4th gear.
The story, as I recall back in the '50s, is that the Cad div of GM was reluctant at first to use such a major leap in technology because if it should become problematic, Cad's reputation would suffer and or course GM's flagship couldn't have that. The Olds division however was convinced that the Hydramatic was a proven trans (works in Army tanks ! ) and went with it. My father had a 1948 Pontiac with the 4-speed Hydramatic which he ran for several years and had not one problem with it; not so with the damn straight 8 which went bad when loose piston pins scoured all the cyl walls and then went south. Buick never did adopt the 4-s Hydramatic due to the obsolete-design torque-tube drive-shaft they used which essentially bolted the trans to the rear axle; this hammered the car & occupants every time the trans shifted. Buick's Dynaflow (Dyna-flush we called 'em) had various fluid couplings and I think only shifted once so they were happy with that until the Turbo-400 came into use around 1964. Had a friend that had a mint two-tone '53 Catalina HT back in 1962 and was traveling at speed on an LA freeway when the locking PARK pawl broke locking the trans in PARK; the car skidded to a stop and of course was rear-ended, totaling his mint Catalina. We were going to put an Olds V-8 in this car as he liked how my '51 Catalina performed with a '56 Olds and Packard trans with overdrive in place of the straight-8 dinosaur. Olds V-8's were the ticket back in those days, plentiful, powerful and cheap ($250 or so for a good bone-yard engine). Another friend had a "53 Ford Vic HT with Henry's flattie in need of more beans so it got a 345" Olds with a 4-s Hydro, dual AFB's, Jans pistons, Isky cam, balanced etc. This package promptly trashed the weak rear end so it was off to the bone-yard where we found a Ford station wagon with some kind of BIG rear axle and found that it bolted right in to the '53 Victoria. A few years later we realized this was the first of the now famous Ford 9". With this problem solved, the Olds V-8 was allowed to shine; the Hydramatics had a very low first gear and this Ford would almost lift wheels off the line. The car looked stock and many street rodders with their factory "muscle cars" didn't know what hit them... ah the good old days swapping parts and doing what you liked without big bro or anyone else getting in your face.
Dynaflow did not shift unless it was shifted manually. Having owned a few Buicks with the Dynaflow I know. they were smooth running good cars. There was no hammering as you state. The Hydramatic transmission factory burned down in 1953. Dynaflow's were used in Cadillacs till that factory was rebuilt.
I love the visceral, 'mechanical' nature of the Hydra-Matic. I had a couple of '63, and a '64 Grand Prix', and the Roto-Hydramatic in those cars paled in comparison to the 4-speed hydro. The only advantage they had was a significant reduction in weight, but that hardly made up for their delicate, failure-prone character. They also had a horrible lag in the 1-2 shift, as the fluid coupling drained to apply the 2nd-gear front clutch. The 2nd to third ratio spread was so great (2.93 to 1.56), that combined with 2nd being in full manual lock-up, it caused the engine to lug, and even with the best gas, the engine would momentarily ping. (At WOT and less.) One had the choice of the ping or retarding the timing down to a performance-robbing setting. I'm particularly fond of the '62 to '64 GP's, but would only have a 4-speed manual were I to own another. Thanks for the great overview of this game-changing piece of automotive history.
Cris...thanks for your comments. I have always been a fan of the early GM hydramatics. Oldsmobile used the letter S to indicate the 4th gear lock out. S stood for "Super". Come take a ride in my Pontiac hydramatic !! Thanks again. Jim
Nice presentation of the old Hydra-Matic transmission. My grandfather had several Pontiacs in the 50s, all Hydra-Matic. I remembered him showing me the 4 speed feature for highway and 3 speed in town. "Low" was useful driving in snow.
In 1956 the Hydramatic was updated and called Jetaway in the Oldsmobile - not sure of the others. This updated transmission had a real park position. From my understanding this updated version at first had some "teething" problems. By the way even though the Dynaflow and Powerglide did not have the performance of Hydramatic they were both very reliable. Had 3 Dynaflow Buicks and loved them especially in the winter with better traction.
Parkis Waterbury My first car was a 1970 Chevy Bel-Aire with powerglide. I think that was the last year the full size Chevys had Powerglide. After that they went to Hydramatic as the standard automatic transmission on all GM vehicles except some of the compact cars of the time (?)
The big drawback of the early dynaflow transmissions was that they provided very slow acceleration from a standstill. Once they got up to approximately 20 mph the acceleration was acceptable.This was especially true when they were paired with the straight 8 engines.The fuel efficiency was also quite poor,at least on the early models.
Something not mentioned was that the position between drive (4th gear) and L, low gear, was 3rd gear called "Super". It was your passing gear when you really tromped down on the throttle.. Also not mentioned was the ability of the transmission that allowed the car to be push started in "L" by pushing the car with another car, like a standard shift. So the sequence was from left to right.... Neutral, Drive, Super, Low, Reverse/Park. My parents were GM dealers in the 1940's through 1960's and we had several dealerships which included all GM products except Chevrolet plus many lines of imported cars.. A total of 24 different lines of cars.
Chrysler products with TorqueFlite made before 1965 could also be push started because they had a rear pump. Later models no longer could do this and I am not sure about the PowerFlite offered from 1954-1961.
Only Chevrolet had the 2 spd Powerglide transmission. It was a torque converter type of automatic based on Buick's Dynaflow, which also was a 2 speed torque converter transmission. Cadillac, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac all had the 4 speed Hydramatic back then.
Yes. Reverse had a kind of lock of wheels, same purpose of a "PARK" position. Probablely Hydramatic was earlier than "PARK" position as creators staff. I think this position maybe an "improvement" of system. Who knows perhaps it was not difficult to built-in this mechanism to the gear system. But it was posteriorly.
It seems strange that most divisions would offer a 4 sp. automatic while others have a 2 sp. automatic. Why do you reckon that was? I would think that a 4 gear ratios would provide a more relaxed cruising and better fuel economy.
The four speed Hydramatic had a fluid coupling to get the engine power to the transmission. A fluid coupling does not multiply torque like a torque converter does. The first torque converter automatics were either single speed (Dynaflow or Ultramatic) or 2 speed (powerflite, Ford-o-Matic, Merc-o-Matic. When Chrysler brought out Torquflite, it was a gamechanger.
Ford/Merc o matics were 3 speeds that started in 2d gear, unless floored or shifted to L. GM was an aspirational corporation; if you wanted anything more than a bare bones 2 speed 6 cylinder Chevy, at least thru 1954, you had to go to Pontiac. Again, if you wanted a V-8, prior to 1955, you had to move up again to Olds. My Dad was right in the middle, a Pontiac man.
My parents had a 1953 Buick Special and the way you started it was you would turn the key to "On" then step on the accelerator pedal which started the engine. It also was the last year Buicks had an in-line "straight 8 " engine. I believe they went to v-8s in 1954.
You are quite right. My dad bought a 1954 Buick Special 2-door sedan with Dynaflow. I learned to drive on this car and eventually drove it to college every day. It had a 100 mph top speed. I really think Dynaflow transmission was vastly superior to the original Hydra-matic transmission, which didn't even allow you to downshift manually from fourth to third gear on a steep downhill to get engine braking. I'm amazed that with all the Hydramatics sold by GM on Cadillacs, Oldsmobiles, and Pontiacs in the 1940's that nobody ever complained about this serious defect in the Hydramatic. Didn' t people downshift on a steep downgrade in the 1940's to keep their brakes from failing going down a steep mountain? With Dynaflow you could simply shift the gear selector from D to L to get a lower gear and engine braking on a steep hill, I did it many times with the 54 Buick. Dynaflow was also much smoother and more reliable than Hydramatic. My grandfather had a 1949 Pontiac Chieftain 6 with Hydramatic, and although it was a very nice car, I didn't like the Hydramatic in it at all. Under full throttle all hell would break loose on the shift from first to second.
It's interesting that Hydra-Matic, being the first successful fully automatic transmission, was also the best right up into the mid-50's before the three speed torque converters came into being from Chrysler. It provided for both great economy in gas mileage through minimal slippage of the fluid coupling, plus excellent acceleration due to the positive effects of the gears, especially behind the V-8s, and a powerful passing gear. In the 50's, the hash mark to the right of drive on Pontiacs was represented in Oldmobiles by "S" or Super gear. In the 60's, "S" was also used on Pontiacs. I always thought it odd that Pontiacs locked out first in Lo, which was not the case in Oldses or Cadillacs. Another component of the new design in '52, called Dual-Range, was the use of a very low 3.07 axle ratio which was equivalent to the overdrive gears of the day and gave very low engine reves, about 2,100, at 60. Sadly, a brand new plant to build the new Hydra-Matics burned in August, 1953, when some fluid was ignited. Oldses and Cadillacs had to be quickly jerry-rigged for the Buick's Dynaflow and Pontiac with the Chevy PowerGlide, both the opposite of performance enhancers. In fact, the 3.07 axle ratio in Cadillacs with Turbine Drive, as it was called, was replaced with the older 3.36, I don't know about Olds or Pontiac. To clear up a couple of other misconceptions: Dynaflow never had a gear start or passing gear capability, only the manual selection of a gear-set through Lo range. Chevrolet's PowerGlide was essentially the same as Dynaflow from 1950-1952, but from 1953 on was given a low-gear start and thus became GM's main two-speed automatic. To give the Dynaflow the semblance of a kick-down gear for passing, starting in 1955 the stator blades of the torque converter were made to mechanically switch their pitch from low stall to high stall upon the accelerator being floored, permitting the powerful V-8 to rev to a higher RPM until the accelerator was released. It was appropriately called Switch Pitch Dynaflow. This feature was so successful that it was adapted to the two-speed units of the 1964 and 1965 Buick and Oldsmobile intermediates. Then, it was adapted to the new Turbo Hydra-Matic 400 transmissions from 1965 to 1967 in all the big block engines in Olds, Buick and Cadillac, but never in Pontiac or Chevrolet.
I can still remember the Hydra-Matic GMC trucks that became available first during the 1953 model year.These had several drive ranges, like 1-4, 2-4, 2-3, etc, and these were displayed as such on the shifter indicator.
@@rayfridley6649 I remember seeing some of those, too! The quadrant was a big, fat square affair that sat on top of the steering column instead of inside the speedo nacelle or an attractive arrangement like on Pontiacs.
Cadillac, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac offered the 4 speed Hydramatic transmission since 1948 (Oldsmobile since 1940, Cadillac since 1941). Chevrolet had the 2 speed Powerglide since 1950, and Buick had 2 speed Dynaflow available since 1948.
NO! Having reverse next to low made it easy to rock the car if you were stuck in mud, snow, or gravel. It was intentionally designed to make the easy and possible.
It also took a whole new design to add the D2 or S to get from 4th to 3rd gear in a Hydramatic car. I can't believe the original Hydramatic wouldn't allow the driver to shift from 4th to 3rd to get engine braking on a steep downhill so you wouldn't lose or wear out your brakes. Rolls-Royce, as soon as they leased Hydramatic from GM in 1952, added a 3 and a 2 to the gear shift quadrant to "allow the driver to be able to shift the transmission to any gear in order to get engine braking on a steep downhill."
It's interesting that the shift indicator is called a "quadrant". No doubt that's because the original one had four positions, i.e., N D L R. So, when D3 or S was added, they continued calling it a quadrant even though the number of positions had increased from four to five. The name "quadrant" caught on and was used for other automatic transmissions, including ones with P R N D 2 1, which had six positions. Perhaps the terms "hexant" and "sexant" should be used when there are five or six positions, etc.
Beautiful '53...my dad used D1 in our '54 Super 88 around town and for compression breaking on long hills. Lo was usually too slow for compression breaking. Many owners did not know about the engine off R double click park and it is still often said to this day that the original TH's had no park..
Contrary to what is commonly believed, cars do not have compression braking. From the following quotation, note what actually does cause the braking: "In its simplest form, engine braking occurs in a petrol engine when the throttle is released. When the throttle pedal is actuated, a butterfly valves opens at the engine’s intake, allowing air to enter the intake manifold to be mixed with fuel for combustion. So when the throttle is released, this butterfly valve shuts, allowing only a very small amount of air through to the engine. "This sudden closing of the airway forms a vacuum within the intake manifold which produces an opposing force to the pistons reciprocating within the engine. Imagine placing your finger over the end of a football pump and then trying to move the plunger upwards - a large opposing force formed by a vacuum within the cylinder will mean that the pumping piston won’t shift much at all." It is from the following that I copied the above quotation: www.carthrottle.com/post/the-ins-and-outs-of-engine-braking/ But actually, if one thinks about it, that should be obvious. Sure it takes power to push the piston up against compression, but that power is recovered on the down stroke which follows.
A 2-speed auto is very cheap and easy to implement, is the thing, and there's little to go wrong - it's basically a Model T tranny with a torque converter and some control hardware bolted on. If you're willing to accept some compromises over the available gearing you can achieve it with a single epicyclic ring. 3, 4 or more-speed automatics, just like manuals, need additional parts to give the other ratios. More cost, weight, and potential points of failure.
YouTubing under “1953 Green Pontiac Chieftain”, I’ve seen scores of different colors. My mom had one and I hated it because of the shade of green. Being in the auto paint business, we could have but we never painted it. This video is the only version that is the same shade of green that I’ve seen. Thanks, a fun video.
My father's '53 Chieftain had Hydramatic. He referred to fourth gear as "overdrive" while Pontiac called it "cruising gear." It wasn't a true overdrive since the gear ratio was 1:1.
While that has been the case for the last 40-50 years, it was not always so. Bodies were similar, but engines and some transmissions, like the HydraMatic, were different for GMC.
That has the dual range Hydramatic which was a big improvement over the previous version of the Hydramatic. It has two drive positions: D4 is the mark to the left of D and D3 is the mark to the right of D. D4 uses all four speeds; D3 uses only the first three speeds unless, perhaps, you go too fast for third. The addition drive position provided the driver which greater control. On some Hydramatic versions, the positions were N D S L R where S was the same as D3 and stood for Super.
So, the same positions as most American market (and elsewhere) vehicles with 4sp autos into the 2000s. Just with R at the opposite end, and P on a separate control.
@@nthgth Actually, until 1956 when the "Jetaway" Hydramatic with two fluid clutches was introduced, the Hydramatic had no separate Park position. When it was shifted into reverse it locked the output shaft when the engine was shut off. That served as Park. I've driven several cars (Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles) with that transmission. It's interesting that the spelling checker does not like "Hydramatic". It does not line Dynaflow, Powerglide, Powerflite, and the names of some other automatic transmissions either.
@@frankeggers4024 ah I see. Very interesting. So the only way to idle the engine without driving the wheels was to apply the parking brake and shift to N? (Which I do today when getting out of a car temporarily)
@@nthgth Yes, that is correct. In 1956 two versions of Hydramatic were made. One was the old one. The knew one, which was made from 1956 to about 1962, was called the Jet-away Hydramatic. It had two fluid clutches and, on the selector, separate Park position to lock the output shaft. About 95% of my driving has been done with manual transmissions. However, I now have a car which does not have a transmission or, depending on how one thinks about it, a one speed transmission.
I had a 1952 Oldsmobile 88 with Hydramatic® . My father had a book about cars enginering (I always though he never read it) and I lern mechanics cars thanks to my Olds and the book. It explained detailly about 1952 dual range shift position, (1951 cars had not this extra selector). In "S" (Dual Range) the car offered 3 speeds with purpose to drive in the city congestion of freeways, bad roads, basically it avoided to pass fourth gear, protection for the system and for the driver.Cris Stgo Chile
I can not answer "why" GM did not put a PARK position in this transmission. The procedure was...press on the brake, turn the engine off and then put the shift lever in REVERSE. There was a locking gear in REVERSE and it was the same as PARK.
Probablely R was at end thinking in case of sand, snow or wet ground the stick can be used alternately between L and R, L and R, until you can run away from the difficult surface.
I wouldn't think so. It just seems like a strange place to have the gear selector when parking a car. I would think Neutral or Park if it's available. In either position, one would use the parking brake to keep the car from rolling in either direction.
In the snow belt back in those days you did not use the parking brake during the winter, it was common for the parking brake cables to freeze in the "on" position.
If you parked on a hill and set reverse without setting the parking brake, could that cause torque lock like in newer designs that use a park pawl? It doesn't actually sound like the hydra-matic changed too much for decades. Most GM cars had 4 speed auto boxes until just a few years ago.
The Hudson Motor Car Co., makers of fine automobiles such as the Hudson Hornet, offered the Hydra-Matic starting in 1951. The duel range Hydra was also offered later when that became available.
Some of these "dual drive" Hydramatics had the gearshift quadrants 4-1(left drive), 3-1(right drive) and 2-1(Lo). In the lo position, it should start in 1st and shift to 2nd. The 1st to 2nd shift happens very soon after the car starts moving and the upshift is almost imperceptible.
There's also the matter that, at the time, it was thought that a torque converter alone would be sufficient to give good driving performance, when mated to a suitably powerful engine. The early 2-speeds didn't even auto-shift; the idea was to leave the drive in "Hi" most of the time and let the converter take the strain, only shifting to "Lo" when you needed greater than normal starting/hill climbing torque or engine braking Suffice to say, this idea proved a sadly unrealistic one quite quickly
Not sure how they did it but my guess was the engineers came up with a way to engage two gearsets at the same time thus "locking" the transmission from allowing the shafts to turn.
Remember, this transmission was designed in the 1930s for introduction in the 1940 Oldsmobiles. No one ever had an automatic before & people were simply used to parking their cars in gear, typically often in reverse, so the Hydra-Matic engineers followed the custom & designed it so you switched off the engine & shifted into reverse & that's how you parked.
www.autotran.us/TheGreatHydraMaticFire.html Copy and paste this website...great article on the 1953 fire. Pontiac used Powerglide and Cadillac and Olds used Dynaflow for a while.
Without oil pressure from the engine running selecting "R" probably engages two gears at once, when the pressure of the oil pump is present there must be an oil passage that prevents one of the gear selections used for "park" to engage.
@@slicksnewonenowThe "new" Roto-Hydramatic of 1961 was actually a 3 speed although GM didn't like to openly say that. It was a smaller, lighter, less expensive transmission in 2 versions. The smaller model 5 bring made specifically for the new-for-'61 Olds F-85 compact line. The larger model 10 went into all full-size Oldsmobiles & the shorter wheelbase Pontiacs. (Catalina & Grand Prix) while the long W/B Pontiacs got the latest iteration of the "real" 4 spd unit, then billed as "Super Hydra-Matic". The smaller model 5 also saw export use by GMs European divisions, Opel of Germany, Vauxhall of England & the Australian Holdens. The Rotos were used in the full-size cars through the 1964 model year in the above mentioned cars & Caddy continued with the Super H-M also through '64 only in the entry level Series 62 model. Starting in 1964, full-size Buicks & upper level Caddys got the new Super Turbine 400. The precursor to Turbo Hydramatic 400. The Rotos were not one of GMs better transmissions and were not very well liked. Many people today replace them with something else when doing restorations that don't need to be "letter perfect". The Rotos still did not use a torque converter but used a sort of hybrid fluid coupling that had a "torque multiplier" (sort of a stator) that gave only a small amount of multiplication through a very limited speed range to assist take-off. The standing starts were further assisted by using a 1st gear that was unusually low for a 3spd automatic, though not nearly as low as the 4spd units. The gap between 1st & 2nd was unusually large & didn't make for very good performance or particularly nice shifts. Also had numerous leak problems, mainly due to higher internal fluid pressure required in the Rotos. As I said, not well liked & finally were replaced across-the-board in '65 by the THM400.
Some 1953 Pontiacs came with a Chevrolet Power glide transmission due to a fire at a Pontiac assembly plant! So if you see one with park, it is a unique one!
You are correct. In addition some Cadillac and Oldsmobiles were fitted with Buick Dynaflo. If you haven't seen it there is some good information on Google..."The Great Hydramatic Fire".
The fire was at the Hydra matic plant in Livonia Mich.(Worst industrial fire in history). Powerglide and Dynaflow transmissions were installed in their place until the new plant was built in record time. Independents (Kaiser, Nash, etc) that were using Hydramatic were out of luck. GM purchased the Willow Run former bomber plant and were making Hydra matics in not time at all.
My 58 Buick Roadmaster was a V-8 with hydra matic . park was neutral and pull the emergency brake handle. Start was in neutral and press the gas pedal to the floor. OR - lift the hood and short across the starter cylanoid with a screw driver--- key on in neutral with emergency brake lever pulled.
58 Buick Roadmaster & Limited came with flight pitch dyna-flow transmission. Not hydramatic. I had a 58 Buick Super with a variable pitch dyna-flow. The Flight pitch was available in the Super at an extra cost for 1958. The gear selection was from left to right. P R N D G Park, Reverse , Neutral, Drive, G. (Grade)
Fascinating that a four speed automatic had been developed way back then. Then they went to the two speed powerglide, and finally the three speed turbohydramatic. And then after that, FINALLY back to four speeds again! Did these early transmissions employ a fluid coupling instead of a torque converter, making more ratios necessary?
1952 - 1954 Lincolns used the GM Hydra-Matic also, until they managed to design enough strength into the Ford-a-Matic.... The Ford auto trans would not stand up to the torque of the new overhead valve engines....They didn't particularly like to admit that they were using GM parts.... Rolls-Royce also used this transmission until they developed one of their own....
Ah! Ok. I've never owned or driven a car of that vintage. The oldest car I drove was a 1978 Toyota Celica, and it had a 5-sp manual shift transmission.
Was the Cadillac ever released? Even by early 41 we were making a lot of planes and tanks and so forth and certainly by early 42 most of the automotive manufacturing was going towards wartime efforts. Do you have information on that?
I'm a little confused - does the upper "DR" range use all four gears, or just 2-3-4 (and the lower range use 1-2-3, separate from LO locking into 2nd) ? Neither the voiceover, description or poster makes it too clear. It sounds like it might be two different 3-speed ranges for different purposes, to avoid scaring the change-averse public with too much difference all at once :) (sort of like having a 3-spd manual and quite mild 2-speed axle). Not much changes tho, does it, from the look of this!
My recollection, from the HydraMatic in my 53 Catalina when I got it in '75 (still driving the car, but with a TH700R4, and don't miss the cast-iron-case HydraMatic one bit!) is that the right hand D position just kept the trans from making the third upshift, into fourth. The 1-2 upshift always seemed too early, and the 2-3 too leisurely and mushy. I had, maybe still have, the Kaiser Frazer HydraMatic shop manual, and had the special tool used for band adjustment through the hole in the tunnel also used for dipstick access. I couldn't see much improvement after adjusting it.
@@nthgth No, not quite. The HydraMatic fourth gear wasn't an overdrive. Another difference is that it used a "fluid coupling", not a torque converter, the distinction being (as I vaguely understand it) that the torque converter provides torque multiplication, but the fluid coupling doesn't. As to the 2004 Crown Vic, did it use a switch on the gear selector to engage/disengage OD? So if it is left "On", the trans automatically upshifted to OD at appropriate speed/throttle conditions? If that's the way of it, wouldn't placing the selector in D or OD do the same thing, without a switch?
My first car was an Olds 88 1952 with Dual Range, and R of reverse is too a sort of P of park being the car stop engine off. You can hear a clik sound, then wheels are now locked. Carburator Quadrijet, fiiring order 18736542 (never I forget it), Rocket V8 engine. Chris, Santiago, Chile.
. Olds was the technology leader of GM so got the most advanced things first... followed quickly by Cadillac, of course, if the thing was actually any good and actually desirable... the Hydramatic was 4 gears... the fluid coupling may have only been in 1st and 2nd gear, mechanical above that... in Drive, it started off gently in 2nd for good MPG and slippery conditions... pull it down into Low and it dropped down into 1st for taking off pulling a trailer, but you couldn't hold 1st in early 1950's, it eventually shifted to 2nd and no higher, for holding back going down long hills to save the brakes... 1st gear very low for a V8/straight8, top speed only 30 MPH, 2nd only 50 MPH... pretty good jump to 3rd and 90 - 100 MPH, 4th maybe no faster, but lower RPMs, maybe 110 - 120 MPH in early 1950's vehicles depending on HP... later 1950's maybe 130 -140 MPH with more HP by then... selector changed to P N D S 2 1 R ... S = Super (3rd gear for passing)... Buick tended to invent and use overly complicated, undependable, poor MPG solutions to simple problems back then, and the other divisions didn't want them... Ford/Lincoln and Chrysler/Imperial/Desoto bought the GM Hydramatic for their big luxury cars... Hydramatic factory burned in 1954 and most GM cars got 2-speed Powerglides for a year...
There's a web site out there called "Ate Up With Motor" (sounds goofy, I know). The guy has dozens of articles about automotive history. One is titled "Don't call it Hydra-Matic". It's about Rolls and their use of the trans. They licensed it from GM, built it on their own and never got to actually use the Hydra-Matic name. They simply referred to it as "the Automatic Gearbox". When they first started with them they had tried to "improve" them by, in typical RR fashion tightening up some of the tolerances within the transmission. Didn't work. Caused more problems than it solved! Over the years they produced several versions and eventually did come up with some ingenious ways to help smooth the somewhat rough shifts of the earlier types that even GM had never employed.
Buick tried a 4 speed transmission in 1938 and had all kinds of problems with it. During WW II Buick developed a torque-converter transmission for tanks and in 1948 put it in their cars. The reason was complicated and had to do with the way the Buick driveshaft worked as compared to Cadillac, Olds and Pontiac. 2 speed Dynaflow was very smooth but sluggish. Chevy's Powerglide was also a 2 spd. torque-converter based on Dynaflow which improved by 1955 with 2 turbines with variable pitch stators.
The Hydramatic was extremely complex and expensive to produce. You want long-winded, read up on the moving parts and how power was transmitted internally through the gears.
@@jasoncarpp7742 ,, & That's OK. There are a few different variations of the PRNDL/ PRND21/PRNDLS, if you pay attention over the years you will notice this, Doyou ever go to classic car shows? There you will see some of the different ones. In the early and mid sixties there were Fords that had PRN and then a D position and then a another D position with a green dot, then L., just as an example.
***** I would like to see ALL forward gears listed on the shifter! So what if u have 9 gears & first gear is almost in the backseat! I want them all on the shifter:)
I agree! Give the driver control of all gears. However, when the number of forward gears becomes greater than four, it would be awkward to have them all in line on the selector. There are ways around that, such as by having up and down buttons to shift from one forward position to another and having a digital indicator.
My dad's first car with automatic was a '53 Pontiac (with Hydra-Matic, of course), which he got used in '56. He was a buttoned-up guy who didn't usually gush. But for weeks after getting the car, he was telling people, "You just step on the gas, and it goes! You step on the brake, and it stops!"
My dad was class of 53 and his first real car was a 63 Chieftan, I think he also bought his in 56. His only complaint is the automatic park in reverse. If you are leaning out of the car with the door open to back up and the motor stalls, which it can when it is cold, the rear wheels will lock and the door will try to take off your head.
It's interesting to note that the U.S. Military had a role in the development of Hydra-Matic. Back in the 1930s, tanks steered with levers, and with the manual transmission, the tank operator had to let go of the levers to shift gears. Hydra-Matic, in combination with Cadillac engines, allowed tank operators to keep both hands on the steering levers while the transmission shifted automatically. Our government obviously had a keen interest in this technology, and encouraged GM to complete it before the war. Note that the automotive version of this transmission came out at the very beginning of WWII.
Very interesting piece of hydramatic history. Thank you.
Interesting how many items we use every day that the military had first!
In a tank they used 2 engines and two Hydra-Magic’s and I believe they were dependable even in a heavy tank. I know they had cast iron cases, they must have been heavy.
@@justcallmejohn2833 Those Hydramatics were VERY heavy. Somewhere I read that they weighed 500 pounds. In 1956 they went to aluminium.
The main use of the lower drive range was for going down a steep hill or mountain road
in third gear to get engine braking. This would keep the car from going too fast down a hill and also save the brakes, just as truckers do when they downshift on a long hill. The car would probably have to be under 60 MPH to shift down from fourth in the high Drive range to third in the lower range.
Yes, it's dual range. The arrow to the right holds it in 3rd gear which was intended for traffic and stop and go driving. When you got on the road you would move the lever to the left arrow and the transmission would shift to 4th gear.
A once proud Industrial Empire toppled by greed and corruption.
very nice informative video about the dual range hydra-matic.
i also have a 1953 pontiac chieftain custom catalina.
The story, as I recall back in the '50s, is that the Cad div of GM was reluctant at first to use such a major leap in technology because if it should become problematic, Cad's reputation would suffer and or course GM's flagship couldn't have that. The Olds division however was convinced that the Hydramatic was a proven trans (works in Army tanks ! ) and went with it. My father had a 1948 Pontiac with the 4-speed Hydramatic which he ran for several years and had not one problem with it; not so with the damn straight 8 which went bad when loose piston pins scoured all the cyl walls and then went south. Buick never did adopt the 4-s Hydramatic due to the obsolete-design torque-tube drive-shaft they used which essentially bolted the trans to the rear axle; this hammered the car & occupants every time the trans shifted. Buick's Dynaflow (Dyna-flush we called 'em) had various fluid couplings and I think only shifted once so they were happy with that until the Turbo-400 came into use around 1964. Had a friend that had a mint two-tone '53 Catalina HT back in 1962 and was traveling at speed on an LA freeway when the locking PARK pawl broke locking the trans in PARK; the car skidded to a stop and of course was rear-ended, totaling his mint Catalina. We were going to put an Olds V-8 in this car as he liked how my '51 Catalina performed with a '56 Olds and Packard trans with overdrive in place of the straight-8 dinosaur. Olds V-8's were the ticket back in those days, plentiful, powerful and cheap ($250 or so for a good bone-yard engine).
Another friend had a "53 Ford Vic HT with Henry's flattie in need of more beans so it got a 345" Olds with a 4-s Hydro, dual AFB's, Jans pistons, Isky cam, balanced etc. This package promptly trashed the weak rear end so it was off to the bone-yard where we found a Ford station wagon with some kind of BIG rear axle and found that it bolted right in to the '53 Victoria. A few years later we realized this was the first of the now famous Ford 9". With this problem solved, the Olds V-8 was allowed to shine; the Hydramatics had a very low first gear and this Ford would almost lift wheels off the line. The car looked stock and many street rodders with their factory "muscle cars" didn't know what hit them... ah the good old days swapping parts and doing what you liked without big bro or anyone else getting in your face.
Dynaflow did not shift unless it was shifted manually. Having owned a few Buicks with the Dynaflow I know. they were smooth running good cars. There was no hammering as you state. The Hydramatic transmission factory burned down in 1953. Dynaflow's were used in Cadillacs till that factory was rebuilt.
what i like about these old cars is that they have gauges not those dummy lights like cars have today.
I love the visceral, 'mechanical' nature of the Hydra-Matic. I had a couple of '63, and a '64 Grand Prix', and the Roto-Hydramatic in those cars paled in comparison to the 4-speed hydro. The only advantage they had was a significant reduction in weight, but that hardly made up for their delicate, failure-prone character. They also had a horrible lag in the 1-2 shift, as the fluid coupling drained to apply the 2nd-gear front clutch. The 2nd to third ratio spread was so great (2.93 to 1.56), that combined with 2nd being in full manual lock-up, it caused the engine to lug, and even with the best gas, the engine would momentarily ping. (At WOT and less.) One had the choice of the ping or retarding the timing down to a performance-robbing setting. I'm particularly fond of the '62 to '64 GP's, but would only have a 4-speed manual were I to own another.
Thanks for the great overview of this game-changing piece of automotive history.
Thanks!! Just bought a 1960 Pontiac and we were looking for info on the transmission. This was helpful!
Cris...thanks for your comments. I have always been a fan of the early GM hydramatics. Oldsmobile used the letter S to indicate the 4th gear lock out. S stood for "Super". Come take a ride in my Pontiac hydramatic !! Thanks again. Jim
Nice presentation of the old Hydra-Matic transmission. My grandfather had several Pontiacs in the 50s, all Hydra-Matic. I remembered him showing me the 4 speed feature for highway and 3 speed in town. "Low" was useful driving in snow.
In 1956 the Hydramatic was updated and called Jetaway in the Oldsmobile - not sure of the others. This updated transmission had a real park position. From my understanding this updated version at first had some "teething" problems. By the way even though the Dynaflow and Powerglide did not have the performance of Hydramatic they were both very reliable. Had 3 Dynaflow Buicks and loved them especially in the winter with better traction.
Parkis Waterbury My first car was a 1970 Chevy Bel-Aire with powerglide. I think that was the last year the full size Chevys had Powerglide. After that they went to Hydramatic as the standard automatic transmission on all GM vehicles except some of the compact cars of the time (?)
The big drawback of the early dynaflow transmissions was that they provided very slow acceleration from a standstill. Once they got up to approximately 20 mph the acceleration was acceptable.This was especially true when they were paired with the straight 8 engines.The fuel efficiency was also quite poor,at least on the early models.
Something not mentioned was that the position between drive (4th gear) and L, low gear, was 3rd gear called "Super". It was your passing gear when you really tromped down on the throttle.. Also not mentioned was the ability of the transmission that allowed the car to be push started in "L" by pushing the car with another car, like a standard shift. So the sequence was from left to right.... Neutral, Drive, Super, Low, Reverse/Park. My parents were GM dealers in the 1940's through 1960's and we had several dealerships which included all GM products except Chevrolet plus many lines of imported cars.. A total of 24
different lines of cars.
Chrysler products with TorqueFlite made before 1965 could also be push started because they had a rear pump. Later models no longer could do this and I am not sure about the PowerFlite offered from 1954-1961.
Only Chevrolet had the 2 spd Powerglide transmission. It was a torque converter type of automatic based on Buick's Dynaflow, which also was a 2 speed torque converter transmission. Cadillac, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac all had the 4 speed Hydramatic back then.
Yes. Reverse had a kind of lock of wheels, same purpose of a "PARK" position. Probablely Hydramatic was earlier than "PARK" position as creators staff. I think this position maybe an "improvement" of system. Who knows perhaps it was not difficult to built-in this mechanism to the gear system. But it was posteriorly.
It seems strange that most divisions would offer a 4 sp. automatic while others have a 2 sp. automatic. Why do you reckon that was? I would think that a 4 gear ratios would provide a more relaxed cruising and better fuel economy.
The four speed Hydramatic had a fluid coupling to get the engine power to the transmission. A fluid coupling does not multiply torque like a torque converter does. The first torque converter automatics were either single speed (Dynaflow or Ultramatic) or 2 speed (powerflite, Ford-o-Matic, Merc-o-Matic. When Chrysler brought out Torquflite, it was a gamechanger.
@@janlabij7302 Fascinating.
Ford/Merc o matics were 3 speeds that started in 2d gear, unless floored or shifted to L. GM was an aspirational corporation; if you wanted anything more than a bare bones 2 speed 6 cylinder Chevy, at least thru 1954, you had to go to Pontiac. Again, if you wanted a V-8, prior to 1955, you had to move up again to Olds. My Dad was right in the middle, a Pontiac man.
My parents had a 1953 Buick Special and the way you started it was you would turn the key to "On" then step on the accelerator pedal which started the engine. It also was the last year Buicks had an in-line "straight 8 " engine. I believe they went to v-8s in 1954.
You are quite right. My dad bought a 1954 Buick Special 2-door sedan with Dynaflow. I learned to drive on this car and eventually drove it to college every day. It had a 100 mph top speed. I really think Dynaflow transmission was vastly superior to the original Hydra-matic transmission, which didn't even allow you to downshift manually from fourth to third gear on a steep downhill to get engine braking. I'm amazed that with all the Hydramatics sold by GM on Cadillacs, Oldsmobiles, and Pontiacs in the 1940's that nobody ever complained about this serious defect in the Hydramatic. Didn' t people downshift on a steep downgrade in the 1940's to keep their brakes from failing going down a steep mountain? With Dynaflow you could simply shift the gear selector from D to L to get a lower gear and engine braking on a steep hill, I did it many times with the 54 Buick. Dynaflow was also much smoother and more reliable than Hydramatic. My grandfather had a 1949 Pontiac Chieftain 6 with Hydramatic, and although it was a very nice car, I didn't like the Hydramatic in it at all. Under full throttle all hell would break loose on the shift from first to second.
My parent's '53 Buick Special had a 3 speed manual gearbox. Wasn't Dynaflow similar to Chevy's Powerglide?
Packards started the same way, at least through 1953. In 1955 and 1956, they had a key start like most modern cars.
It's interesting that Hydra-Matic, being the first successful fully automatic transmission, was also the best right up into the mid-50's before the three speed torque converters came into being from Chrysler. It provided for both great economy in gas mileage through minimal slippage of the fluid coupling, plus excellent acceleration due to the positive effects of the gears, especially behind the V-8s, and a powerful passing gear. In the 50's, the hash mark to the right of drive on Pontiacs was represented in Oldmobiles by "S" or Super gear. In the 60's, "S" was also used on Pontiacs. I always thought it odd that Pontiacs locked out first in Lo, which was not the case in Oldses or Cadillacs. Another component of the new design in '52, called Dual-Range, was the use of a very low 3.07 axle ratio which was equivalent to the overdrive gears of the day and gave very low engine reves, about 2,100, at 60. Sadly, a brand new plant to build the new Hydra-Matics burned in August, 1953, when some fluid was ignited. Oldses and Cadillacs had to be quickly jerry-rigged for the Buick's Dynaflow and Pontiac with the Chevy PowerGlide, both the opposite of performance enhancers. In fact, the 3.07 axle ratio in Cadillacs with Turbine Drive, as it was called, was replaced with the older 3.36, I don't know about Olds or Pontiac. To clear up a couple of other misconceptions: Dynaflow never had a gear start or passing gear capability, only the manual selection of a gear-set through Lo range. Chevrolet's PowerGlide was essentially the same as Dynaflow from 1950-1952, but from 1953 on was given a low-gear start and thus became GM's main two-speed automatic. To give the Dynaflow the semblance of a kick-down gear for passing, starting in 1955 the stator blades of the torque converter were made to mechanically switch their pitch from low stall to high stall upon the accelerator being floored, permitting the powerful V-8 to rev to a higher RPM until the accelerator was released. It was appropriately called Switch Pitch Dynaflow. This feature was so successful that it was adapted to the two-speed units of the 1964 and 1965 Buick and Oldsmobile intermediates. Then, it was adapted to the new Turbo Hydra-Matic 400 transmissions from 1965 to 1967 in all the big block engines in Olds, Buick and Cadillac, but never in Pontiac or Chevrolet.
Great information!
JP Deal Glad you enjoyed it!
I can still remember the Hydra-Matic GMC trucks that became available first during the 1953 model year.These had several drive ranges, like 1-4, 2-4, 2-3, etc, and these were displayed as such on the shifter indicator.
@@rayfridley6649 I remember seeing some of those, too! The quadrant was a big, fat square affair that sat on top of the steering column instead of inside the speedo nacelle or an attractive arrangement like on Pontiacs.
Cadillac, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac offered the 4 speed Hydramatic transmission since 1948 (Oldsmobile since 1940, Cadillac since 1941). Chevrolet had the 2 speed Powerglide since 1950, and Buick had 2 speed Dynaflow available since 1948.
Glad they changed the configuration of the indicator to "Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive, Low."
It took a whole new transmission design to do that.
NO!
Having reverse next to low made it easy to rock the car if you were stuck in mud, snow, or gravel. It was intentionally designed to make the easy and possible.
It also took a whole new design to add the D2 or S to get from 4th to 3rd gear in a Hydramatic car. I can't believe the original Hydramatic wouldn't allow the driver to shift from 4th to 3rd to get engine braking on a steep downhill so you wouldn't lose or wear out your brakes. Rolls-Royce, as soon as they leased Hydramatic from GM in 1952, added a 3 and a 2 to the gear shift quadrant to "allow the driver to be able to shift the transmission to any gear in order to get engine braking on a steep downhill."
I have never seen an actual Rolls Royce automobile, believe it or not. I've only seen pictures of them either on TV or in magazines.
It's interesting that the shift indicator is called a "quadrant". No doubt that's because the original one had four positions, i.e., N D L R. So, when D3 or S was added, they continued calling it a quadrant even though the number of positions had increased from four to five. The name "quadrant" caught on and was used for other automatic transmissions, including ones with P R N D 2 1, which had six positions.
Perhaps the terms "hexant" and "sexant" should be used when there are five or six positions, etc.
Beautiful '53...my dad used D1 in our '54 Super 88 around town and for compression breaking on long hills. Lo was usually too slow for compression breaking. Many owners did not know about the engine off R double click park and it is still often said to this day that the original TH's had no park..
Contrary to what is commonly believed, cars do not have compression braking. From the following quotation, note what actually does cause the braking:
"In its simplest form, engine braking occurs in a petrol engine when the throttle is released. When the throttle pedal is actuated, a butterfly valves opens at the engine’s intake, allowing air to enter the intake manifold to be mixed with fuel for combustion. So when the throttle is released, this butterfly valve shuts, allowing only a very small amount of air through to the engine.
"This sudden closing of the airway forms a vacuum within the intake manifold which produces an opposing force to the pistons reciprocating within the engine. Imagine placing your finger over the end of a football pump and then trying to move the plunger upwards - a large opposing force formed by a vacuum within the cylinder will mean that the pumping piston won’t shift much at all."
It is from the following that I copied the above quotation:
www.carthrottle.com/post/the-ins-and-outs-of-engine-braking/
But actually, if one thinks about it, that should be obvious. Sure it takes power to push the piston up against compression, but that power is recovered on the down stroke which follows.
Frank Eggers thank you
A 2-speed auto is very cheap and easy to implement, is the thing, and there's little to go wrong - it's basically a Model T tranny with a torque converter and some control hardware bolted on. If you're willing to accept some compromises over the available gearing you can achieve it with a single epicyclic ring.
3, 4 or more-speed automatics, just like manuals, need additional parts to give the other ratios. More cost, weight, and potential points of failure.
But would get better fuel economy
You have to put the gear shift into "N", which is neutral, to start this car. You
couldn't start the car in "R", for the reason you just mentioned.
YouTubing under “1953 Green Pontiac Chieftain”, I’ve seen scores of different colors. My mom had one and I hated it because of the shade of green. Being in the auto paint business, we could have but we never painted it. This video is the only version that is the same shade of green that I’ve seen. Thanks, a fun video.
My father's '53 Chieftain had Hydramatic. He referred to fourth gear as "overdrive" while Pontiac called it "cruising gear." It wasn't a true overdrive since the gear ratio was 1:1.
Hydro-Matic was also a popular option on GMC trucks as well.
I think I read on another blog that GMC was simply a knock off of the Chevy truck that was to be sold at GM dealers that didn't sell Chevys.
While that has been the case for the last 40-50 years, it was not always so. Bodies were similar, but engines and some transmissions, like the HydraMatic, were different for GMC.
I remember hydramatic on a small GM omnibus that occasionally took the place of our regular yellow school bus.
That has the dual range Hydramatic which was a big improvement over the previous version of the Hydramatic. It has two drive positions: D4 is the mark to the left of D and D3 is the mark to the right of D. D4 uses all four speeds; D3 uses only the first three speeds unless, perhaps, you go too fast for third. The addition drive position provided the driver which greater control. On some Hydramatic versions, the positions were N D S L R where S was the same as D3 and stood for Super.
So, the same positions as most American market (and elsewhere) vehicles with 4sp autos into the 2000s.
Just with R at the opposite end, and P on a separate control.
@@nthgth Actually, until 1956 when the "Jetaway" Hydramatic with two fluid clutches was introduced, the Hydramatic had no separate Park position. When it was shifted into reverse it locked the output shaft when the engine was shut off. That served as Park. I've driven several cars (Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles) with that transmission. It's interesting that the spelling checker does not like "Hydramatic".
It does not line Dynaflow, Powerglide, Powerflite, and the names of some other automatic transmissions either.
@@frankeggers4024 ah I see. Very interesting. So the only way to idle the engine without driving the wheels was to apply the parking brake and shift to N? (Which I do today when getting out of a car temporarily)
@@nthgth Yes, that is correct. In 1956 two versions of Hydramatic were made. One was the old one. The knew one, which was made from 1956 to about 1962, was called the Jet-away Hydramatic. It had two fluid clutches and, on the selector, separate Park position to lock the output shaft.
About 95% of my driving has been done with manual transmissions. However, I now have a car which does not have a transmission or, depending on how one thinks about it, a one speed transmission.
I had a 1952 Oldsmobile 88 with Hydramatic® . My father had a book about cars enginering (I always though he never read it) and I lern mechanics cars thanks to my Olds and the book. It explained detailly about 1952 dual range shift position, (1951 cars had not this extra selector). In "S" (Dual Range) the car offered 3 speeds with purpose to drive in the city congestion of freeways, bad roads, basically it avoided to pass fourth gear, protection for the system and for the driver.Cris Stgo Chile
Fun Fact: FoMoCo bought the Hydramatic from GM for use in Lincolns from 1949 to 1954.
Fascinating. Didn't most GM cars around this time have this option?
I can not answer "why" GM did not put a PARK position in this transmission. The procedure was...press on the brake, turn the engine off and then put the shift lever in REVERSE. There was a locking gear in REVERSE and it was the same as PARK.
1953 Cadillac had Dynaflow, Power Glide used in other GM models. In 1953 the fire at the Hydraulic plant created this.
You are correct, except Oldsmobile used the Dynaflow too during the event you explained. Pontiac used the cast iron Powerglide.
Probablely R was at end thinking in case of sand, snow or wet ground the stick can be used alternately between L and R, L and R, until you can run away from the difficult surface.
Yes, at some point I have seen that in GM advertising of the day.
@@boots235 then I am super clever. 😁
I wouldn't think so. It just seems like a strange place to have the gear selector when parking a car. I would think Neutral or Park if it's available. In either position, one would use the parking brake to keep the car from rolling in either direction.
In the snow belt back in those days you did not use the parking brake during the winter, it was common for the parking brake cables to freeze in the "on" position.
I still encounter car people who don't know about the reverse is park when the engine is off feature.
If you parked on a hill and set reverse without setting the parking brake, could that cause torque lock like in newer designs that use a park pawl? It doesn't actually sound like the hydra-matic changed too much for decades. Most GM cars had 4 speed auto boxes until just a few years ago.
The Hudson Motor Car Co., makers of fine automobiles such as the Hudson Hornet, offered the Hydra-Matic starting in 1951. The duel range Hydra was also offered later when that became available.
Some of these "dual drive" Hydramatics had the gearshift quadrants 4-1(left drive), 3-1(right drive) and 2-1(Lo). In the lo position, it should start in 1st and shift to 2nd. The 1st to 2nd shift happens very soon after the car starts moving and the upshift is almost imperceptible.
There's also the matter that, at the time, it was thought that a torque converter alone would be sufficient to give good driving performance, when mated to a suitably powerful engine. The early 2-speeds didn't even auto-shift; the idea was to leave the drive in "Hi" most of the time and let the converter take the strain, only shifting to "Lo" when you needed greater than normal starting/hill climbing torque or engine braking
Suffice to say, this idea proved a sadly unrealistic one quite quickly
I'm assuming that reverse and low were paired together, because they both ran off of the low clutch band?
Not sure how they did it but my guess was the engineers came up with a way to engage two gearsets at the same time thus "locking" the transmission from allowing the shafts to turn.
What I don't understand is why there's no "park" setting, just a "neutral", "drive", "lo (low)" and "reverse"?
Reverse was "park" when the engine wasn't running.
Remember, this transmission was designed in the 1930s for introduction in the 1940 Oldsmobiles. No one ever had an automatic before & people were simply used to parking their cars in gear, typically often in reverse, so the Hydra-Matic engineers followed the custom & designed it so you switched off the engine & shifted into reverse & that's how you parked.
Wasn’t there a fire at the HydraMatic plant around 1953 or so causing a shortage that required PowerGlides being installed in their place in Pontiacs?
www.autotran.us/TheGreatHydraMaticFire.html
Copy and paste this website...great article on the 1953 fire. Pontiac used Powerglide and Cadillac and Olds used Dynaflow for a while.
Without oil pressure from the engine running selecting "R" probably engages two gears at once, when the pressure of the oil pump is present there must be an oil passage that prevents one of the gear selections used for "park" to engage.
Did not know that is how the R locks. Thanks for your informatiave comment.
I have a 56 starchief and by then you had a proper park setting it was p n d4 d3 l r
Cool, almost exactly like an 05 Suburban, just with R in a different spot
Wait wait wait it had 4 forward gears? I thought it would be like a powerglide transmission and only have 2 forward gears.
Canadian Pontiac yes.... two speed automatic transmission
The Hydro was a 4 speed until 1964
@@mikedrown2721Canadian Pontiacs ran on Chevy chassis & used Chevy engines & trannys for years!
@@slicksnewonenowThe "new" Roto-Hydramatic of 1961 was actually a 3 speed although GM didn't like to openly say that. It was a smaller, lighter, less expensive transmission in 2 versions. The smaller model 5 bring made specifically for the new-for-'61 Olds F-85 compact line. The larger model 10 went into all full-size Oldsmobiles & the shorter wheelbase Pontiacs. (Catalina & Grand Prix) while the long W/B Pontiacs got the latest iteration of the "real" 4 spd unit, then billed as "Super Hydra-Matic". The smaller model 5 also saw export use by GMs European divisions, Opel of Germany, Vauxhall of England & the Australian Holdens. The Rotos were used in the full-size cars through the 1964 model year in the above mentioned cars & Caddy continued with the Super H-M also through '64 only in the entry level Series 62 model. Starting in 1964, full-size Buicks & upper level Caddys got the new Super Turbine 400. The precursor to Turbo Hydramatic 400. The Rotos were not one of GMs better transmissions and were not very well liked. Many people today replace them with something else when doing restorations that don't need to be "letter perfect". The Rotos still did not use a torque converter but used a sort of hybrid fluid coupling that had a "torque multiplier" (sort of a stator) that gave only a small amount of multiplication through a very limited speed range to assist take-off. The standing starts were further assisted by using a 1st gear that was unusually low for a 3spd automatic, though not nearly as low as the 4spd units. The gap between 1st & 2nd was unusually large & didn't make for very good performance or particularly nice shifts. Also had numerous leak problems, mainly due to higher internal fluid pressure required in the Rotos. As I said, not well liked & finally were replaced across-the-board in '65 by the THM400.
Ah! Ok. Another question is what's with the two arrows on each side of "Dr"? I've read that it's a dual range Hydramatic transmission.
Some 1953 Pontiacs came with a Chevrolet Power glide transmission due to a fire at a Pontiac assembly plant! So if you see one with park, it is a unique one!
You are correct. In addition some Cadillac and Oldsmobiles were fitted with Buick Dynaflo. If you haven't seen it there is some good information on Google..."The Great Hydramatic Fire".
The fire was at the Hydra matic plant in Livonia Mich.(Worst industrial fire in history). Powerglide and Dynaflow transmissions were installed in their place until the new plant was built in record time. Independents (Kaiser, Nash, etc) that were using Hydramatic were out of luck. GM purchased the Willow Run former bomber plant and were making Hydra matics in not time at all.
4D, 3D (aka S) and 2L ... just like yer typical modern auto, then :)
My 58 Buick Roadmaster was a V-8 with hydra matic . park was neutral and pull the emergency brake handle. Start was in neutral and press the gas pedal to the floor. OR - lift the hood and short across the starter cylanoid with a screw driver--- key on in neutral with emergency brake lever pulled.
58 Buick Roadmaster & Limited came with flight pitch dyna-flow transmission. Not hydramatic. I had a 58 Buick Super with a variable pitch dyna-flow. The Flight pitch was available in the Super at an extra cost for 1958. The gear selection was from left to right. P R N D G
Park, Reverse , Neutral,
Drive, G. (Grade)
Fascinating that a four speed automatic had been developed way back then. Then they went to the two speed powerglide, and finally the three speed turbohydramatic. And then after that, FINALLY back to four speeds again! Did these early transmissions employ a fluid coupling instead of a torque converter, making more ratios necessary?
Yes, exactly. Hydra-Matic has a super-short 1st gear to be able to take off without a torque converter.
1952 - 1954 Lincolns used the GM Hydra-Matic also, until they managed to design enough strength into the Ford-a-Matic.... The Ford auto trans would not stand up to the torque of the new overhead valve engines....They didn't particularly like to admit that they were using GM parts.... Rolls-Royce also used this transmission until they developed one of their own....
Ah! Ok. I've never owned or driven a car of that vintage. The oldest car I drove was a 1978 Toyota Celica, and it had a 5-sp manual shift transmission.
Was the Cadillac ever released? Even by early 41 we were making a lot of planes and tanks and so forth and certainly by early 42 most of the automotive manufacturing was going towards wartime efforts. Do you have information on that?
My friend Ron Cougal, here in Oxford, Maine has a 1941 Caddy 60 Special with Hydra-Matic drive.
“Drop the 88 into Super, Melvin!
I'm a little confused - does the upper "DR" range use all four gears, or just 2-3-4 (and the lower range use 1-2-3, separate from LO locking into 2nd) ? Neither the voiceover, description or poster makes it too clear. It sounds like it might be two different 3-speed ranges for different purposes, to avoid scaring the change-averse public with too much difference all at once :)
(sort of like having a 3-spd manual and quite mild 2-speed axle).
Not much changes tho, does it, from the look of this!
My recollection, from the HydraMatic in my 53 Catalina when I got it in '75 (still driving the car, but with a TH700R4, and don't miss the cast-iron-case HydraMatic one bit!) is that the right hand D position just kept the trans from making the third upshift, into fourth. The 1-2 upshift always seemed too early, and the 2-3 too leisurely and mushy. I had, maybe still have, the Kaiser Frazer HydraMatic shop manual, and had the special tool used for band adjustment through the hole in the tunnel also used for dipstick access. I couldn't see much improvement after adjusting it.
@@stephenandloriyoung5716 so it's the same as like a 2004 Crown Vic with Lo, 2, D, and OD?
Or really most any other USDM car with a 4sp auto ever?
@@nthgth No, not quite. The HydraMatic fourth gear wasn't an overdrive. Another difference is that it used a "fluid coupling", not a torque converter, the distinction being (as I vaguely understand it) that the torque converter provides torque multiplication, but the fluid coupling doesn't. As to the 2004 Crown Vic, did it use a switch on the gear selector to engage/disengage OD? So if it is left "On", the trans automatically upshifted to OD at appropriate speed/throttle conditions? If that's the way of it, wouldn't placing the selector in D or OD do the same thing, without a switch?
My first car was an Olds 88 1952 with Dual Range, and R of reverse is too a sort of P of park being the car stop engine off. You can hear a clik sound, then wheels are now locked. Carburator Quadrijet, fiiring order 18736542 (never I forget it), Rocket V8 engine.
Chris, Santiago, Chile.
Carburetor (if a 4 bbl) was a Rochester 4 Jet. Quadrajet was first introduced in 64. Just FYI.
Not if you hold your foot on the brake pedal it shouldn't :)
I never knew they were 4 speeds . Assumed 2 speeds like the power glides of the 60's .
Why did GM have two divisions making auto transmissions? Hydramatic for light vehicles and Allison for heavy and off road vehicles.
I do not know the answer to your question. Maybe someone else will see your comment and can help.
. Olds was the technology leader of GM so got the most advanced things first... followed quickly by Cadillac, of course, if the thing was actually any good and actually desirable... the Hydramatic was 4 gears... the fluid coupling may have only been in 1st and 2nd gear, mechanical above that... in Drive, it started off gently in 2nd for good MPG and slippery conditions... pull it down into Low and it dropped down into 1st for taking off pulling a trailer, but you couldn't hold 1st in early 1950's, it eventually shifted to 2nd and no higher, for holding back going down long hills to save the brakes... 1st gear very low for a V8/straight8, top speed only 30 MPH, 2nd only 50 MPH... pretty good jump to 3rd and 90 - 100 MPH, 4th maybe no faster, but lower RPMs, maybe 110 - 120 MPH in early 1950's vehicles depending on HP... later 1950's maybe 130 -140 MPH with more HP by then... selector changed to P N D S 2 1 R ... S = Super (3rd gear for passing)... Buick tended to invent and use overly complicated, undependable, poor MPG solutions to simple problems back then, and the other divisions didn't want them... Ford/Lincoln and Chrysler/Imperial/Desoto bought the GM Hydramatic for their big luxury cars... Hydramatic factory burned in 1954 and most GM cars got 2-speed Powerglides for a year...
Pnds21 what no R?
Possibly Dodge as well.
FIRE WAS 1953 OLDSMOBILE WAS THE G-M GUNNIE PIG
3@@chuckschafer942 - '54 Olds came out in '53
my 1952 chevy bel aire hard top came with the two speed power glide automatic trans
Your awesome!
* You're. if you don't mind. 😉
S I through S III RR Silver Clouds used the Caddy Hydromatic, so parts still available.
Interesting comment...thanks!
There's a web site out there called "Ate Up With Motor" (sounds goofy, I know). The guy has dozens of articles about automotive history. One is titled "Don't call it Hydra-Matic". It's about Rolls and their use of the trans. They licensed it from GM, built it on their own and never got to actually use the Hydra-Matic name. They simply referred to it as "the Automatic Gearbox". When they first started with them they had tried to "improve" them by, in typical RR fashion tightening up some of the tolerances within the transmission. Didn't work. Caused more problems than it solved! Over the years they produced several versions and eventually did come up with some ingenious ways to help smooth the somewhat rough shifts of the earlier types that even GM had never employed.
If I'm not mistaken that's only a 2-speed transmission that would be horrible for economy you would have been better off with a 3-speed manual
r is park?
Buick tried a 4 speed transmission in 1938 and had all kinds of
problems with it. During WW II Buick developed a torque-converter transmission for tanks and in 1948 put it in their cars. The reason was complicated and had to do with the way the Buick driveshaft worked as compared to Cadillac, Olds and Pontiac. 2 speed Dynaflow was very smooth but sluggish. Chevy's Powerglide was also a 2 spd. torque-converter based on Dynaflow which improved by 1955 with 2 turbines with variable pitch stators.
Ah! Ok.
Sounds to me like a very longwinded version of an automatic.
Spirited Driver just one of the first versions of an automatic
The Hydramatic was extremely complex and expensive to produce. You want long-winded, read up on the moving parts and how power was transmitted internally through the gears.
Reverse? Won't the car move backwards when you start up the engine?
The starter interlock switch prevents it from starting while in R position car can only be started in N.
@@theda850two I've never driven an automatic like that. All the cars that had auto had "P R N D 2 and L".
@@jasoncarpp7742 ,, & That's OK. There are a few different variations of the PRNDL/ PRND21/PRNDLS, if you pay attention over the years you will notice this,
Doyou ever go to classic car shows? There you will see some of the different ones.
In the early and mid sixties there were Fords that had PRN and then a D position and then a another D position with a green dot, then L., just as an example.
@@theda850two Not as often as I'd like, most recently due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But hopefully I'll be able to this summer.
What kind of mpg ?
...for a minute the intro music took me to the 1936 Olympics!!..sorry.....
I posted that some years ago...but since you mention it...does sound a bit "olympian". !!
In argentina. The drivers dont.like automátic transmisión
wow
I'm not seeing 4 gears here. This must be a 3 speed transmission.
***** I would like to see ALL forward gears listed on the shifter! So what if u have 9 gears & first gear is almost in the backseat! I want them all on the shifter:)
facepalm
Buy a new BMW. It has 6 gears but on the indicator, all it says is "D".
I agree! Give the driver control of all gears. However, when the number of forward gears becomes greater than four, it would be awkward to have them all in line on the selector. There are ways around that, such as by having up and down buttons to shift from one forward position to another and having a digital indicator.
Curby Weaver same goes for my 2011 Hyundai Sonata
This video is everything