<VV> PG - Further opinions

[Mark Corbin]

I was going to mention about the Chaparral. I recall it was no slouch on
the race course. Then you covered it with your answer to Jim Houston. But
it still puts qualifications on your analysis. But besides racing, how
often does one use that during everyday driving? Which is why I said that
to me, a manual is 90% work and ONLY 10% fun. And maybe I was being
generous?

Second point, though. You described the automatic as "low-tech". If that
was the case, then manuals are positively stone-age. At the start of auto
production, all cars had manual transmissions. It took them several decades
to develop a workable automatic trans. All a manual trans is is a bunch of
gears and a clutch plate, whereas it takes some doing to do what an
automatic does. So an automatic is anything but "low-tech".

Or were you refering just to the Corvair Powerglide? If so, you are right,
to an extent, considering that its competition (Ford and Chrysler) never
offered an automatic with less than three speeds, even on their cheapest
cars. GM hung onto the two-speed Powerglide for much longer than they ever
should have. Even the Corvette used it up until '68. You have to remember
that the Corvair was designed way back in the late '50's, and that at first
even it's manual trans had only 3 gears, and the first gear wasn't even
syncronized. About the only thing you can conclude is that the Powerglide
was cheap, bulletproof, and it worked. And the public obviously didn't
care, as long as they didn't have to screw with a clutch.

If you notice, the 4door still has a manual in it. Drove it today, in fact.
It'll probably remain a manual, for now. Until I can't push a clutch pedal.
Then it'll just be a matter of unbolting the manual stuff and bolting in
the automatic stuff. The manual stuff will be boxed up and set on a pallet,
in case the next owner wants to reconvert it back to a manual.

-Mark

> [Original Message]
> From: <Sethracer at aol.com>
> Subject: <VV> PG - Further opinions
>
> Maybe I better elaborate on why dissed the PG for performance driving. 
PG 
> cars are fine for everyday driving, with no special requirements. That is 
> the  reason Automatics are so commonplace in every car line these days.
If 
> there are  NO special requirements, the low-tech automatic is fine. And
for 
> some very  special requirements, the Automatic can be fine as well. In
Drag 
> racing, the  only thing that matters is launch off the line and pulling
power. 
> Throttle  response, strangely, doesn't matter much, you are almost always
at 
> full  throttle. In some autocross classes, where the car has an abundance 
> of power and  great brakes, a driver can learn left-foot braking and
overcome 
> the inherent  drawbacks of an automatic, poor throttle response from off 
> throttle and limited  - or no - engine braking. But in true performance 
> driving, where the throttle is  used to position the car and load or
unload the 
> suspension, the  low-tech automatic fails. Only the stick/clutch systems 
> provide the driver  with the instant feedback and response needed to
perform, 
> consistently, right at  the limit. If you try to use the throttle on a PG 
> equipped car to help position  the car in the middle of a corner, you
will be 
> sorely disappointed. Even  the most learned automatics, ones that hold
off 
> upshifts if in a corner,  match RPMs on downshifts, cannot match the lap
times 
> of the properly driven  stick - over the long haul. Now, I must admit,
there 
> is a new breed of  automatic, these twin disc clutch systems which can
shift 
> as fast and as  sure as a clutch (I am still excluding F1 technology and 
> other upper echelon  racing here -that is a whole other world). But those 
> systems are  not available to us low-tech Corvair  folks. We can barely
get the 
> PG  to shift smoothly and not shed E-clips behind our backs. Some of the 
> drag-racing  tricks, such as high stall converters and extra clutch packs
for 
> high load, have  been adapted to the Corvair PG, but those put the trans
in 
> an even more  specialized, highly strung position. That same equivalent
is 
> there for the  sticks, close- ratio transmissions and lightened clutches
and 
> flywheels will  make that car a pain to drive - except in a very
specialized 
> activity. I  actually agree with Mark, that the best use for the
automatic 
> will be to assure  that he will still be able to drive his Corvair, even
when 
> his clutch  actuation days are over. And if you want to drag-race 
> consistently, check with  Ken Arnold and Billy Bruce, their PG equipped
Vairs can run 
> fast all day. 
>  
> Enjoy!
>  
> Seth Emerson    
>