Driving an old genuine Hydramatic

Has anyone ever driven a car with an actual Hydramatic transmission in
it. The first ones that didn't have a torque converter and that had
two fluid clutches? If so, what did the "shifts" feel like? From
what I read, they shifted at least partly by filling and emptying the
fluid couplings.

"Ashton Crusher" > schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
> Has anyone ever driven a car with an actual Hydramatic transmission in
> it. The first ones that didn't have a torque converter and that had
> two fluid clutches?

They actuated clutches not only by fluid. In the past they used vacuum
provided from the intake as well and various types of semiautomatic.

Regards,

Ralf

"Ashton Crusher" > wrote in message
...
> Has anyone ever driven a car with an actual Hydramatic transmission in
> it. The first ones that didn't have a torque converter and that had
> two fluid clutches? If so, what did the "shifts" feel like?

As I recall, they shifted quite firmly, when correct. Often when
rebuilt--to factory specs--the customer would complain they shifted *too*
firmly. But as it began to wear..... s

On Feb 14, 11:40*pm, Ashton Crusher > wrote:
> Has anyone ever driven a car with an actual Hydramatic transmission in
> it. *The first ones that didn't have a torque converter and that had
> two fluid clutches? *If so, what did the "shifts" feel like? *From
> what *I read, they shifted at least partly by filling and emptying the
> fluid couplings.

In the 1950's cars I owned with hydrmatics the shifting was solid if
the box was in good shape. I'm not the least bit nostalgic about
those old transmissions though. Compared to modern elecronically
shifted transmissions they are truely inefficient dinosaurs.

First car I ever owned was a 1950 Dodge I bought in 1964 for $75.00 from
a used car lot in Saint Louis,Missouri.The car didn't have a Hydramatic
transmission, but it did have an automatic transmission.Sort of
anyway.As I remember it, I had to manually shift into first gear.
cuhulin

> wrote in message
...
> First car I ever owned was a 1950 Dodge I bought in 1964 for $75.00 from
> a used car lot in Saint Louis,Missouri.The car didn't have a Hydramatic
> transmission, but it did have an automatic transmission.Sort of
> anyway.As I remember it, I had to manually shift into first gear.
> cuhulin
>
Was it what we called a "click-a-matic" where you had to let off the
accelerator for it to shift to subsequent gear(s)with a distinct 'click'?
And was the starter button like under the accelerator or was it under the
'clutch pedal' used for 1st gear? (Not from memory--just
images/visualizations!) sam

On Feb 19, 7:49*am, "sdlomi2" > wrote:
> > wrote in message
>
> ...> First car I ever owned was a 1950 Dodge I bought in 1964 for $75.00 from
> > a used car lot in Saint Louis,Missouri.The car didn't have a Hydramatic
> > transmission, but it did have an automatic transmission.Sort of
> > anyway.As I remember it, I had to manually shift into first gear.
> > cuhulin
>
> * * Was it what we called a "click-a-matic" where you had to let off the
> accelerator for it to shift to subsequent gear(s)with a distinct 'click'?
> And was the starter button like under the accelerator or was it under the
> 'clutch pedal' used for 1st gear? *(Not from memory--just
> images/visualizations!) *sam

That was probably a so-called semi-automatic stansmission. It
combined a fluid coupling, regular clutch and a transmission that was
shifted from 2nd to third as you describe, by letting off the gas.
For normal starts you used those two gears. When the extra power of
first or reverse gear was needed the clutch was depressed for
engagement. Looking backward 60 years it seems like a Rube Goldberg
invention. At the time automatic transmissions were still very much
in their infancy and it was not at all clear that the car buying
public would buy sufficient numbers of transmissions that were fully
automatic. Chrysler had a second variation of the fluid drive. A
fluid coupling and regular clutch connected to a manually shifted
three speed transmission.

The Buick Dynaflow was another oddball that used variable vanes in a
torque converter to match engine and car speed. Also known as
Dynaslow when connected to a Buick straight 8 motor it offered the
driver a low range for taking off on a hill.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/dodge3.htm

I guess my 1950 Dodge car had a Gyro-Matic semiautomatic transmission.I
remember going foward I only had to use the clutch pedal to go in first
gear.

I haden't thought to look under the car before I bought it.At the time I
was in the Army at Scott Air Force Base,Illinois, sometimes at the Nike
Hercules Missiles base about eight miles from Pacific,Missouri.

After I bought the car, I started driving on I-44 (I think it is I-44)
West back to the Missiles base.It wasen't long untill the car engine
started wheezing and I saw steam coming out from under the hood.I got
out of the car and I looked underneath.

Somebody must have ran the car over something.Right in the bottom middle
of the radiator was a piece of wood somebody had put there to hold the
radiator water inside of the radiator.
cuhulin