There's a modification that I had done on the transmission of my Lincoln back in 2005.Re; shift quadrants and "Total Recall" A few of the cars in the movie were real GM show car prototypes. Until 1962. reverse was at the bottom on GM's except the Chevrolet 2 speed Powerglide and the Turboglide which had hill retard. It was a failure. The torque converter vanes moved for the correct ratio of fluid flow. The Rotohydramatic used by the B.O.P. divisions had dual pumps. They could be push started, but first gear was long and drawn out. The fluid sump had to empty to the second gear chamber which resulted in a lurching thud into second.
I learned to drive and took my behind the wheel driving test in our neighbors ‘61 Chevrolet Nomad Station wagon that was equipped with Turboglide. I never recall that the car lurched when it shifted into 2nd, it was a really smooth driving car.Re; shift quadrants and "Total Recall" A few of the cars in the movie were real GM show car prototypes. Until 1962. reverse was at the bottom on GM's except the Chevrolet 2 speed Powerglide and the Turboglide which had hill retard. It was a failure. The torque converter vanes moved for the correct ratio of fluid flow. The Rotohydramatic used by the B.O.P. divisions had dual pumps. They could be push started, but first gear was long and drawn out. The fluid sump had to empty to the second gear chamber which resulted in a lurching thud into second.
The ‘67 Buick Skylark you had more than likely had the Super Turbine 300 transmission in it which had variable stater vanes like the Dyna-Flow but had 2 speeds to make it more effective and efficient.I learned to drive and took my behind the wheel driving test in our neighbors ‘61 Chevrolet Nomad Station wagon that was equipped with Turboglide. I never recall that the car lurched when it shifted into 2nd, it was a really smooth driving car.
Our other neighbors up the road from us had both a ‘63 Rambler sedan and a ‘57 Buick Station wagon. The two daughters that I went to school with usually drove the ‘63 Rambler to school if they weren’t taking the school bus. But one day they drove the ‘57 Buick wagon instead. They were behind the bus when we reached the steepest point on Meyers Grade Road and as the bus driver shifted into second, Diane slammed the shift lever straight down forgetting that she wasn’t driving the ‘63 Rambler and threw it into reverse and dropped the transmission.
I owned a ‘67 Buick Skylark 2dr HT from ‘76 thru ‘81 and it had a two speed auto transmission like Dyna-Flow, but I don’t think they still called it Dyna-Flow then. Anyway that was by far the smoothest shifing automatic I ever drove. One Thanksgiving I was going with a friend to his cabin in Covelo, Calif. on an old dirt logging road. It was steep and muddy. Nick, who was a terrible driver said when we got to the turnoff to this road from the main highway to let him drive because he was familiar with the bad road. I said no, I’m familiar with roads like that too and learned to drive on them and just kept driving. While paying very close attention to the road and the many wrecked cars down the embankment that didn’t make it I forgot to shift down to low. That Buick just charged right up that steep, muddy grade just like it was in low because that two speed Dyna-Flow down shifted just like it was supposed to in such a smooth and fluid fashion that I couldn’t even feel the transition.
Those old GM automatics like Dyna-Flow, Power Glide and Turbo Glide were smooth as silk. Plus as Mike mentioned they could be push started if you had a dead battery. I’ve seen old Chevrolet promo films for the ‘51 Chevy when Power Glide was introduced and and the made point of how you could rock the car easily out of mud, sand or snow with the Power Glide by only having to move from Low to Reverse with one move from L to R. I think it may have been in ‘53 that Chevrolet moved R next to Park on the Power Glide equipped cars.
Eddie
I think another reason why those GM intermediates from the 1960’s are sought after is they are the perfect size, not too big, not too small, just right. A midsized car that feels like a full sized car with the room of one.Re:#66
Thanks Sean, yes the Skylark trans was called a Super Turbine 300, it slipped my mind. My ‘67 Skylark had a 300 cu in V8 and it consistently got 19 MPG. I know because for a while the gas gauge didn’t work so I always kept a little notebook in the glove compartment and recorded how many miles I’d gone from the last fill up and how many gals I’d used to compute the MPG. This is a habit that I still continue to this day. I’ve never run outta gas in the 58 years I’ve been driving.
The chassis for the mid 60’s Buick Skylark, Olds Cutlass, Pontiac LeMans and the Chevy Malibu were all the same intermediate size. These were wonderful cars to drive. They handled effortlessly and had lots of room for 6 passengers if you had a bench front seat.
My ‘67 Skylark was my most favorite car outta the 23 cars I’ve owned. If I ever found another one in reasonably good condition I’d buy it in a hot second and make it my daily driver.
I’m all for progress. But personally I have no use for complicated electronics in an automobile, touch screens or any of that other nonsense, except airbags and anti-lock brakes. Simple is just fine with me. On the old cars you could operate the controls by feel and touch without having to take your eyes off the road and your attention off of the most important job at hand, DRIVING the damn car and watching out for potential hazards ahead.
Eddie