<VV> Gearing

[Frank DuVal]

Umm, check the shop manuals of the 50s and 60s. GM and Chevrolet were 
parent and child, each division had their own transmission needs. GM had 
a four speed automatic before other makes. The original Hydromatic was 
only produced as a four speed.  Both the early (thru mid 56) and late 
(56 on) versions.

Chevy got the three speed Turbohydramatic about 1965. Both the Turbo 350 
and Turbo 400 were three speeds. Who else had a four speed automatic at 
that time? Yes, they still sold Powerglides, but Turbohydramatics were 
optional equipment.

The Chrysler Powerflite transmission thru 61 was also just a two speed, 
just like our powerglides.

Ford also had the Fordomatic two speed automatic for use in the Falcon, 
Fairlane, Ford full size, Meteor and Mercury.

So, the Falcon had a two speed just like the Corvair at the beginning of 
production (1960). Yes, later models (Falcoln was sold thru 1970) could 
be had with the three speed Cruise O Matic.

Frank DuVal

FrankCB wrote:

>     For many years GM was ONE gear behind the US competition regarding number of gears in it's automatic transmissions.  In 1961 I bought a 58 Plymouth with 3 speed Torqueflite instead of the 2 speed PG Chevrolet.  When GM cars finally got 3 speed automatics the competition was selling 4 speed automatics.  Our 89 Chevy Beretta automatic still had only 3 speeds (but that was my wife's choice).  Now some of the competition is up to 6 and even 7 gears which might be a bit of overkill.
>     The big advantage of extra gears in automatics is the possibility of very tall overall gearing enabling you to drive (and even accelerate) at highway speeds below 2000 rpm which the sophisticated sequential EFI systems can handle.  So you can get much better mileage with larger engines and heavier cars than our Corvairs can generally do.
>     Frank "likes tall gearing" Burkhard 
>airvair at earthlink.net writes: 
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