Before high schools had driver"s training classes(prior to about 1952-1953 or so in our area) the only way many learned how to drive a car was by having your dad, uncle or an adult take you out on a rural road to practice. Automatic transmissions were still in the minority thru most of the 1950s. So it was interesting (and great fun) to watch new drivers start in 1st gear. The motor would roar, the driver let the clutch out quickly and the gravel would fly! Farm kids had a big advantage with clutches because of spending so much time on tractors (except John Deere hand clutches).
The greatest fun was watching an older neighbor trying to teach his wife how to drive. The car was in the alley next to their big garden. The wife got behind the wheel, her husband was talking loud about what to do. She started the motor, put it in gear, revved motor to a scream and popped the clutch. That old Plymouth accelerated in reverse and she backed clear thru their garden and into the neighbors yard! She had mistakenly put the car in reverse. About 6 of us boys laughed so hard we ached.
Buick came out with their "Dynaflow" auto transmission in about 1950...no real gears like Hydramatic..and that Dynaflow slipped a lot just to get those heavy cars moving. So the motor had to rev a lot even for moderate starts. With a heavy car, their auto trans, and a huge straight 8 motor, mileage was not good.
Story went around a Buick owner stopped for gas, the attendant was pumping gas and after a while he said to the owner "Shut the motor off, you are gaining on me"!!
An old German driver told the attendant "Don"t monkey mit da caburator because you vil give me trouble for 3 veeks".
Chevy"s first auto trans. was "Power Glide"; much like Dynaflow but had 2 gears in the trans. With only a 6 cylinder and Power Glide those cars were real dogs at a fast start. That trans made many auto trannys to be called "slush boxes".
Chrysler had "Fluid Drive", still had a clutch pedal but was nearly an automatic....with lots of slip.
Ford had "Fordomatic" and Mercury had "Mercomatic"....same thing with 3 gears (I think) and was a pretty good tranny...about equal with a Hydramatic.
Pontiac used the Hydramatic and even Hudsons and Studebakers ended up with that toward the end of their productions of cars.
But Oldsmobile with Hydramatic and Rocket V8 ruled the road. I once beat an Olds with my "56 Ford in a flat out race on a lonely stretch of Iowa highway and both of us drivers were astounded. Must have been an unusually slow Olds.
My Ford had manual overdrive so that was a good combo for flat out high speeds.
I always wished I had the money to buy an Olds in those days and race any poor sucker who came along....but by the time I had the money the 1970s Olds was just another GM car.
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Today's Featured Article - Talk of the Town: How to Remove a Broken Bolt - by Staff. Another neat discussion from the Tractor Talk Discussion Forum. The discussion started out with the following post: "I have an aluminum steering gear housing with a bolt broken off in it. The bolt is about a 3/8" x 1 1/2" bolt. I've already drilled the center of the bolt out with about 7/64" drill bit the entire length of the bolt. Only one end of the bolt is visible. I tried to use an easy out but it wasn't budging and I didn't want t
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