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Was the Gear Start fitted to the 1954 senior cars, or was it only used on the junior models?

(o[]o)

According to Brian's 54 RPO compilation it replaced the regular Ultra in late production cars & could be found on any that had the option. He does cite a need for documentation to verify exact details.

I am curious if one could specify regular or gearstart to be installed after it was introduced or did they just completely stop production on the regular units like they did the 56 Custom Clipper when the Executive was introduced.

In composing the 54 RPO chart, know that I only had one Trade Letter to go by. It was published in '53 and specifically noted as "effective with the first shipment of 54th Series cars".

Of course, the Gear Start was not available at that point, but I decided to include an entry for it in my chart, anyway (and foootnoted as needing documentation). I based the model availabilty on parts book applications, which appears to be one-to-one with the previous Ultramatic (AT) equipment. I've never seen any documentation as to exactly when that equipment was introduced, but it seems to be generally acepted that it was very late.

My gut feeling is that the Gear Start completely replaced the original Ultramatic in regular production, but there's always a chance of an exception to any rule, by approved special request.

If anyone can provide BigKev with additional Trade Letters, I'll be more than happy to update the chart(s).

I knew two 54 Patties and a convertible with Gear start.

As the cases and machining were so different, I would not be surprrised if the GS units were made at the Utica plant instead of East Grand explaining part of their late introduction. All of the Twins were made in Utica.

Somewhere at home I have a fascinating internal memo bemoaning two quality issues they had with the older units. The first was minute machining debris left in the cases getting stuck in the governor--my experience also is that those governors have no tolerance for dirt at all. The second is that the aluminum convertor half would split open under pressure. That I have only seen once when a 52 Patty that drove OK on Monday afternoon dropped all 11 quarts in the driveway on startup on Tuesday morning. OOg.

Anyway, if I recall the memo mentioned having 10,000 Ultras in stock in early 54--enough as it turned out to get them quite a ways through that horrible sales year. Will post it when I get home in March.