Re: Shifting from "low" to "high"

Posted by Rusty O\'Toole On 2010/9/15 14:13:12

Back then the "holy grail" of transmission design was to make a gas engine car as easy to drive as a steam or electric. Eliminate all the skilled footwork and hand shifting, eliminate the clutch pedal, make a car that will start off and accelerate smoothly to its top speed without shifting of any kind.

The torque converter made this dream come true. All the original torque converter transmissions were made to do practically all their driving in high gear. This includes Chevrolet Powerglide, Buick Dynaflow and Packard Ultramatic. Ultramatic had the additional refinement of a lock up torque converter.

All these transmissions included a reverse gear, and a low gear but the low gear was for taking off on a steep hill, or driving slowly through deep snow, sand or mud. It was not meant to be used all the time. If you use low gear too much you will wear out the transmission.

Later models of Ultramatic were revised to allow starting in low on a regular basis.