Post below got me to wondering

flying belgian · Jul 1, 2017

What year and make car had the first automatic trans? What about trucks?

Bruce from Can. · Jul 1, 2017

I wish they hadn't bothered.

chuck2015 · Jul 1, 2017

(quoted from post at 10:25:26 07/01/17) What year and make car had the first automatic trans? What about trucks?

i think it was the 1939 oldsmobile that had the first automatic or semi-automatic.

Goose · Jul 1, 2017

Wasn't it a Cadillac in the late '30's? GM's first auto was a Hydramatic, but I'm not sure of the year.

I had a 1950 Lincoln that was automatic.

P I Pete · Jul 1, 2017

In 1951 Ford came with auto. trans, first one for Ford. Chrysler corp. had fluid drive in late 40's.

Pete

used red MN · Jul 1, 2017

I suspect you are in the minority. Goggle says the Hydramatic was introduced in '39 by Caddy and Olds for the '40 model year.

old · Jul 1, 2017

I agree i hate automatic transmission and do not own one single running car with one. I have a number of cars that may run but do not drive and they have auto in them

RBoots · Jul 1, 2017

I guess I don't know if you'd consider it a true automatic, but my cousin has a 1914 Model T. It has essentially a friction drive transmission, however, no clutch and no shifting gears, so I guess it could be called an automatic. I myself love my standard transmissions.

Sprint 6 · Jul 1, 2017

GM Hydramatic was the first truly fully automatic. It was four speed with reverse. As said below, Cadillac and Olds had it first before the war, then Pontiac in '48. The Hydramatic also saw use in the military duck trucks, and in early tanks equipped with the Cadillac flathead V8. Lots of manufacurers used the Hydramatic, including Lincoln and Packard.

Chrysler had the fluid drive, but it only allowed stopping, starting, and shifting without the clutch. Going from neutral to drive or reverse required the use of the clutch, but then the clutch could be released and the car could take off from a stop. Made it easier to teach stick driving to uncoordinated folks.

Most people who don't like autos don't understand how they work, so they unknowingly abuse them. As a person who works on them, I'm glad people think there is magic in there.

BobReeves · Jul 1, 2017

Sticks are a real PTA in traffic and on hills haven't owned or driven one in 30 years and don't miss it a bit.

Goose · Jul 1, 2017

Come to think of it, I had a '50 Dodge with a "Kerplunk" transmission.

It was nicknamed that because to shift gears, you didn't have to clutch it, just let up on the gas, move the shift lever, and it would go "kerplunk" into the next gear. You still had to clutch it to start and stop.

Goose · Jul 1, 2017

Thinking on is some more, I recall when I was in a jet fighter squadron in the late 1950's, a buddy of mine had a '49 Buick with a Dynaflow transmission. (Nicknamed "Dynaslow"). It was a true automatic.

We, including the guy who owned it, joked that it took off like a jet fighter plane. To start from a dead stop, you ran the engine up to 100% and let off the brake.

Leroy · Jul 1, 2017

Next door neighbor had a 38 Olds that had the automatic. Don't know about Caddilac. Buick did have problems with the 49 but by 50 they were a very good transmission and I have not yet found a transmission to beat that Dynaflow. Dynaflow was used in Caddilac for a while after the hydramatic factory burned. My first car was a 48 Buick with stick And I only had one other stick since and it was a 67 Rambler American that was given to me ehen it was 12 years old and wrecked for the 3rd time but with only 31,000 mile. In my time driving only had 3 stick cars and 2 stick trucks and that is 57 or 58 years.

wolfman · Jul 1, 2017

The first automatic trans truck that I saw was a 1955 Chevy.

Billy Shafer · Jul 1, 2017

I think the 1932 Studebaker President had a semi automatic. I know some of the 1940 Fords had them. I think 1938 was the first year for GM products

jimg.allentown · Jul 1, 2017

NO, no, no!!! Packard NEVER used a hydramatic. They designed and built their own automatic called the UltraMatic. Nash, Hudson, Lincoln, and Studebaker are among those makes that used the HydraMatic. Packard was not.

jimg.allentown · Jul 1, 2017

Dynaflow was used in Cadillac and Oldsmobile cars in 1953 due to a shortage of HydraMatics. It was either a fire or a strike at the HydraMatic plant that caused the shortage.
DynaFlow was a good transmission, but it was not really automatic in the sense that it did not shift. The torque converter did all of the work. There were also several variations on this transmission.

jm. · Jul 1, 2017

Old you should just go down to your FORD or chevy dealer and drive on of the new 10speed automatics. You never know when they shift .. Know we can,t change you at this point in life but the new ones are pretty slick..

old · Jul 1, 2017

Drove a 2017 Mustang not long ago and well you can keep it I'd sure NEVER own one. Drove it as a thing to help a school out other wise I would not have even thought about sitting in one let alone drive one. First thing I ever rode was a motorcycle and it had a clutch and I'll keep using a clutch till I cannot longer drive PERIOD

ss55 · Jul 2, 2017

It was a fire at the Hydra-Matic Division of GM that caused the shortage of automatic transmissions in 1953. Company folklore was that someone was welding and sparks started a fire. The flames spread to the oily drip pans under the monorail conveyors. The conveyors traveled through the fire walls, so did the flames and the building could not be saved. Hydra-Matic then moved to the vacant Ford B-24 bomber plant at Willow Run, MI.

Tool rooms, and machine design departments though out GM and equipment vendors worked overtime for over a year to rebuild any production machines that could be salvaged (mostly frame castings) and to design and build the new tooling and equipment to get production running again.

Copperhead don't play · Jul 2, 2017

[
My neighbor has a 1951 Chevy pickup with an automatic. I think is a two speed.

jr1983 · Jul 2, 2017

The percentage of sticks on the road is actually on the rise. Fact is most of the working population would rather not have a manual but no one in that group can afford a new one because you can't buy a utility vehicle. It has to have tpms and power everything. Can't get an affordable truck so only demand for a new one comes from people who should be driving a car. In the end my 1984 f150 has 419,000 and the old four speed has never been touched. Automatic will not do that. For work purposes an automatic is a pain. Can't lug it down in low traction situations soins out in snow to easily. You can have all the automatics you want. I'm with old.

GVSII · Jul 2, 2017

(quoted from post at 15:15:07 07/01/17) Thinking on is some more, I recall when I was in a jet fighter squadron in the late 1950's, a buddy of mine had a '49 Buick with a Dynaflow transmission. (Nicknamed "Dynaslow"). It was a true automatic.

We, including the guy who owned it, joked that it took off like a jet fighter plane. To start from a dead stop, you ran the engine up to 100% and let off the brake.

Neighbor bought a brand new '49 buick with the dyna flow X/mis.said it would do 60 MPH in neutral.The fluid drive was neat.You could start out in high gear but acceleration was dead slow.
I don't dislike auto. x/mis but I prefer to do my own clutching and shifting.I'm 75,just bought a '17 Mustang with a 6 spd.manual.My '06 F 250 is a 6 spd. manual as well.Wife's 2 cars are both autos.

SparepartsTN · Jul 3, 2017

Certainly not the first, but my second car was a 1951 Chevy Deluxe convertible with auto. Third car was a 1955 Dodge with auto, push buttons on dash, I pushed Reverse by mistake one time at about 25 mph, glad I was on a dirt road. In the Army in Germany in 1968 I was in the back seat of a Mercedes taxi with a four speed manual shift on the column. I watched the driver shift through all four gears, up and down, couldn't feel him shift, very smooth, very good driver.

Everything I have is a manual shift, I like doing it myself.

oldtanker · Jul 3, 2017

I always get a huge laugh out of these "auto's are evil" threads. Thing is fellas is that NASA taught a chimp how to fly a rocket with a couple of lemon drops. I figure you can toss a pack of lifesavers in a car with a manual with an idiot and they can figure it out themselves.......

SO you "only manual" guys are in trouble.......even semi's are going over to autos........ :lol: :lol: :lol:

And yea, I can drive both, don't make me special........remember that chimp....... :lol: :lol: :lol:

Rick

Post below got me to wondering

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