Re: Manual versus Automatic (ULTRAmatic), post-war

Posted by Rusty O\'Toole On 2015/6/12 16:00:16

Packard is very different from any modern car or English car with manual trans. Unlimited torque at all engine speeds, you can easily idle down in high gear to below 10 miles per hour, and accelerate to 100 without a buck.

Very little shifting required in normal driving. Once the car is warmed up you can easily start off in second and shift to high as soon as you are moving.

Tom McCahill, ace car tester at Mechanix Illustrated, reported in 1952 that Cadillac refused to sell cars with manual trans, then said their customers "demanded" automatics. He regarded this as an arrogant move on their part. He felt that a manual trans was better than automatic in many ways as it offered better control of the car, better mileage and better performance.

Packard's response was that they would continue to offer manual trans on all models as long as their customers wanted them.

McCahill applauded Packard for treating their customers like "free thinking Americans" not "prestige buying stooges".

So, if Packard sold a lot of manual trans cars it was because their customers bought manual trans cars, even though automatic was available on all models, and standard equipment on the most expensive.