<VV> PG - Further opinions

[frankcb at aol.com]

Mark,
One of the reasons I wanted a 58 Plymouth was that I could get it with a THREE speed automatic (Torqueflite) even though most of the used Plymouths of that time had the TWO speed automatic.? It was amazing how many people didn't know which trans they had so I asked them to tell me how many buttons were on the transmission control pad.? If they said only 4, then I knew it was the?two speed, whereas if they said 5 then?I knew it was the 3 speed.? That extra gear made a?BIG difference in the performance of the car, especially after I adjusted the trans linkage so it would stay in 2nd gear until 70 mph.? And friends who were used to the Chevy PG or other 2 speeds always over-accelerated taking off from a stop in the lower?1st gear that I had.
So Chrysler, for one, DEFINITELY had a 3 speed automatic?even in the 1958 Plymouths.? And I STILL think having the pushbuttons?makes more sense than what we have today!!
Frank Burkhard?





-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Corbin <airvair at earthlink.net>
To: Sethracer at aol.com <Sethracer at aol.com>; virtualvairs at corvair.org
Sent: Sun, Jun 6, 2010 5:42 pm
Subject: Re: <VV> PG - Further opinions




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 
     
   
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