1955 Cadillac update

[swestoyz]

Cadillacs....

Yes, Cory and I made the trek to Omaha in '05 in his then just recently resurrected from the dead '59 coupe deVille. He still has the old girl but last I heard the Hydramatic is slipping a bit.

I had a '61 driver condition deVille a few years back that was a blast but has since moved on. Recently a beautiful '54 Series 62 showed up in the right color and I almost bit the bullet (wife approved, too!). Thankfully my sanity came through in time, LOL.

https://barnfinds.com/beautiful-with-low-mileage-1954-cadillac-series-62/

 

[rickr]

I owned a 1961 Coupe in the early 1980's. It was nicknamed "The Batmobile" for obvious reasons. I like the green on this 54. Transmission most likely needs overhauled. If it does not move, a band tightening is not going to do it.....

 

[swestoyz]

band tightening is not going to do it.....

Yeah, a Unimatic is a piece of cake compared to a Hydramatic...

 

[kenwashesmonday]

ea56 wrote:

"and also a '63 Rambler Classic 4 dr.  the Rambler had the PRNDL setup,"

 

Ramblers of that era used Borg Warner 3-speed automatics.  The shit quadrant was

P R N D2 D1 L  

In D2, it started in 2nd and continued to 3rd.  In D1, it used all 3 speeds.

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[ea56]

Ken, I was only trying to make the point that the 63’ Rambler had “L”in the location on the quadrant that we are now used to, rather than “R” being at the lower end. The D1 and D2 designations were located where “D” is now commonly the location we’ve all been used to for years. Thanks for the clarification re: the 63’ Ramblers D1 and D2 designations.

The real point I was trying to convey was that there was originally a reason for L and R to be located at the lower end next to each other, and that drivers that weren’t paying attention could and did cause major damage by shifting into reverse when they actually meant to shift into low.

Eddie

 

[wayupnorth]

1963 was the first year for column shift automatics in Ramblers. 1962 and earlier had push buttons on the dash. My first car was a 1963 Rambler Classic 660 wagon and did have P R N D2 D1 L. You could fold both the rear and front seats for a completely flat carpeted bed. It also had the dual master cylinder braking system, introduced years before most other brands caught up.

 

[ea56]

Tim,

My Grandpa had a 62’ Rambler American Station Wagon that I drove him around in frequently and it had the automatic shift lever on the column. I think the push buttons for the pre 63’ Rambler auto trans were for the higher end models from the mid 50’s until 63’ when the went back to the column.

Nash and Rambler both had since the 40’s offered the convenience of folding the front seat backs all the way down to meet the rear seat cushions thereby creating a bed. Nash and Rambler both offered many features before other manufactures did, like “weatherized” heating that used fresh air circulation when the heater/defroster was on. And they always made a point of their high MPG and gas economy.

When I took Drivers Education, the classroom portion in 1965 textbook had information on all the various different transmissions that people still had in their cars then, from three on the tree to Fluid Drive, Overdrive, vacuum clutches and all the different Auto Transmissions that were still in use, so students would have a clue how to drive any one of these cars should the need arise.

Eddie

 

[wayupnorth]

Eddie, you are right about the American always having column shift Automatic but Classic and Ambassador finally did get it '63.

 

[vacerator]

AMC

used the Chrysler torque flight automatics. Chrysler also moved to column shift in 1965 over push buttons, at least on full sized cars.
The tooling for the first 4 speed Hydramatic was obsolete soon after the fire at the Livonia plant inm 1953. Then the Powetglide went into production. Buick retained it's Flight Pitch, and the other divisions save Chevrolet continued their versions of the Superturbine 300, slim jim, etc. until the turbo350 and 400 debuted by 1969 accross all 5 divisions.

 

[appliguy]

1963 was the 1st year for column shift automatics in Rambler

All Hydra-Matic equipped Ramblers made between 1954 and 1957 used a column gear shift lever with Nash's famous Selectro-Lift Starter. Selectro-Lift was a feature where you turned the ignition switch on and then pulled the gearshift lever toward you to activate the starter. That changed in 1958 when Rambler started using the Borg Warner Flight-O-Matic 3 speed push button automatic. Also if I am reading your last post right Mike you got the timeline a little mixed up. Powerglide appeared in 1950, the Livonia Hydra-Matic plant fire was in August 1953. Turbo Hydra-Matic came out in 1963 on the higher end Cadillac's and was available on big block Chevy's starting mid year 1965 coinciding with dropping of the 409 V8 and the introduction of the 396 V8. Powerglide remained in production until 1973 and was last offered on the Vega, and 6 cylinder and small block V8 Camaro's and Nova's as well as the 6 cylinder and small block V8 Chevelle's thru 1972. Also all 1965 Chrysler products with an automatic transmission had either a floor mounted or steering column mounted gear selector lever. PATRICK COFFEY

 

[warmsecondrinse]

That car is verging on pornographic.... or maybe that's just me.

The grands' '63 Pontiac Catalina had Reverse at the bottom, next to Low. Eddie's right; the owner's manual specifically stated it was to facilitate rocking out of snow.

If not the Catalina, another relative's car had P  N  <span style="text-decoration: underline;">' D ' </span> L  R. These were referred to 'Drive Left' and 'Drive Right'

 

Another car of my grands' family/friends had forward gears marked  D S L, 'S' was for 'Super'; the car started in 2nd gear and only shifted to 3rd 'to avoid transmission damage'.

 

Full disclosure: Some of my info on cars of this era came from the owners, some from the owner's manuals they let me read, and some from the 3 banker's boxes of mid-50's to late-60's Popular Mechanics and Popular Science mags I got hold of when I was about 14.  Tom McCahill, anyone?

 

[kenwashesmonday]

AMC switched to Chrysler automatic transmissions for model year 1972, except the big Wagoneer which used the GM THM 400.