Cool link, Rick . . .
This explains something a friend of mine told me many years ago. He grew up here in the San Fernando Valley, and as a kid in the late '60s did some street racing. Drag racing automatics need a high-stall torque converter, which allows the engine to be brake-torqued at a high rpm - the driver basically puts one foot on the accerator and the other on the brake just before "launching" the car down the street or drag strip. This allows the engine to be in the proper rpm range to make good power. It's very rough on the torque converters, and a stock normally sized converter won't allow the engine to rev up enough anyway. Aftermarket companies make special "high-stall" torque converters which will allow this. My friend said the wealthier racers bought these, while the less wealthy went to the junkyard and found an Opel Kadett Automatic and snagged the torque converter. This must have been the Model 5 Roto-Hydramatic referenced. Because the bolt pattern was the same, the poor little Kadett torque convertor could be bolted onto a full-size GM Turbo-Hydramatic. With a 400-500 hp big block Chevy V8 up front, the Kadett converter became an instant high stall unit - it had been designed for a 60 hp Opel four after all. My friend said they lasted longer than you'd think, but when one finally died and you cut it open, "those fins were totally flat!"
