On this Chrysler Continuation Page 6:
    Gyról Fluid Drive and
    M4 Vacamatic and M6 Prestomatic Semi-Automatic Transmissions
    1930 Chrysler Pickup Truck!
    1929 Chrysler Pickup Truck!!!   (24 Jan 08)
    Odd 1940 Chrysler   (19 Feb 08)

On separate page - 1949 Chrysler 8 C-46 Owner's Manual

Does anyone out there know what the acute accent on the "y" stands for in "Gýrol"?  Langworth and Norbye consistently confuse Fluid Drive with semi-automatic transmissions in their history of Chrysler (see References, on continuation page 2).  The second car I bought, as opposed to those I inherited, was a 1941 Windsor that had Gýrol Fluid Drive and a standard 3-speed, column-shift transmission.  Dodges had this arrangement for several years into the Powerflite era.  Acceleration in 3rd wasn't anything to write home about but you could put it in 2nd and stay there quite comfortably all day in New York City traffic.

It must be emphasized that semi-automatic transmissions were not required with Fluid Drive but the reverse is not so; you HAD to have the Fluid Drive coupling to have an M4 or M6 transmission.

The M6 Powermatic transmission was the workhorse of the late-'40s and early-'50s cars.  It was electro-hydraulically operated and succeded the pre-war M4 Vacamatic, which was operated by engine vacuum (when the vacuum diaphragm wore through, you could get a neat underhood explosion if vapors ignited!).  Both transmissions were, in effect, four-speed in that they each had a LOW RANGE and a HIGH RANGE and a LOW GEAR and a HIGH GEAR.  You used the clutch to shift into low or high ranges and reverse and the accelerator pedal to shift between low and high gears.  The normal shift pattern was to just put the car in high range and start off (in 3rd gear), "tip-toe" shifting above 15mph (I'd forgotten! - I never remembered to open up the '49, dig out the manual, and update this) by momentarily releasing the accelerator, whereupon (usually) the transmission went "CLUNK" and you were in high gear (4th).  For better low-speed acceleration, the drill was to put the car in low range, starting off in 1st gear, "tip-toe" shifting above 7mph (ditto) by momentarily releasing the accelerator, waiting for the "CLUNK" (2nd gear), accelerating to around 25mph, and manually shifting to high range, which left you directly in high gear (4th).  Later versions of the M6 were called "Prestomatic", "Fluid-matic", "Fluidtorque", and "Gyrotorque" (Dodge), all euphemisms for a lousy excuse for not catching up with GM's Hydramatic (which Chrysler finally did with a vengeance with their 1953 Powerflite transmission, which could handle the full output of the big hemi engines).  Admittedly, there were, and are, better way to shift an automobile!

Now, I've added crude sketches trying to help explain all this; first the Fluid Drive coupling and next the column-mounted shift pattern:

(29 Jul 2005 sketches by and © 2005 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

Here's the shift pattern illustration from my old 1949 C-46 Owner's Manual:

(1949 Chrysler sketch scanned by and © 2007 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnailed image - click on picture for larger image]

Downshifting in a range was accomplished simply by flooring the pedal to engage the "Kickdown Switch"; in low range this could have somewhat dramatic results!  One of those was the occasion of my first automobile accident; I broadsided a perfectly innocent driver as he crossed directly in front of me as I was slowly edging out of a parking lot.  I anticipated the slow lurch forward in high range and accelerated before the guy passing across in front was fully past; the kicker (quite literally) was that I was in low range (1st), not high range (3rd) and my mom's 1952 Imperial hemi (not her 1948 New Yorker straight 8, as previously reported - no wonder I overdid it) flew forward into the poor guy's door!

If you were a teen-age hotshot driver (now to whom could I be referring?), you could also force the shifts to get full 4-speed performance; you did the usual low range start and, as you manually shifted to high range, you floored the pedal at the same time, engaging the kickdown switch and thus arrived in 3rd gear instead of 4th.  Done correctly, this gave rather brisk performance, but it was a wee bit of a strain on the tranny!  No, I don't do it now on my current '49!  The last attempt at this was on my dad's '50 New Yorker as I drove it to the dealer with a fairly sick tranny (not through any doing of mine!) for trade-in on his new '52 Imperial; it sure worked, but it sure didn't sound very good!.  Even today, though, there is a nostalgic satisfaction to a good M6 start and that soft, heavy "CLUNK"; sort of like the bank-vault sound when closing that huge coupé door.

* - I do recall, however, that one of my Dad's '41s, either the Royal or the Saratoga, did NOT have a higher gear in low range (perhaps it was merely locked out).

Now, here's one of the wildest old Chryslers ever, a 1930 Model 77 PICK-UP truck!  It's for real; the only thing wilder is the story behind it.     (30 Aug 06)

(04 Aug 06 photos courtesy of E. G. Dubill, Sr. - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnailed images - click on pictures for larger images]

(cropped from 1954 photo by and © 1954, 2006 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

[This matter of the louvres is disputed - I will report back.]   (19 Feb 08)

Further, the license plate on the front is the original Eritrean plate that was issued for the truck when it was sent to Ethiopia in the '40s (Eritrea was a province of Ethiopia then, but today is a separate country).  Dubill's driver used to run the truck down from their base of operations for the Army Security Agency at 14,000 feet to sea level at the port town of Massawa on the Red Sea; the truck made the commute with no problem, once a week, without any adjustment to the carburetor and that was in 1971 - he's had the truck for these 36 years.

I had assumed that this was a Dodge, Plymouth, or Fargo (or some such) pick-up body grafted on to a 1929 Chrysler 77 coupé chassis and body but Ed Dubill notes that Chrysler Archives advised that this would not have been a Fargo nor a Dodge truck bed, but that Chrysler dealt with three companies for custom boxes.  One of these was probably the Budd Company in Philadelphia (which is the port from which the truck was sent to Germany in 1930.  Does anyone out there have any more information on this exceedingly-rare and most-unusual truck?

If you think the '30 Chrysler 77 truck (above) is wild, I received a letter in mid-Jan 2008 from a gentleman in Idaho who has another one!!!  Really!  He writes that it was repainted in 1960 and is titled as a 1929:   (24 Jan 08)

(04 Aug 06 photos courtesy of owner - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnailed images - click on pictures for larger images]

Again, does anyone out there have any more information on either of these exceedingly-rare and most-unusual trucks?

Speaking of unusual and seeking info (above), here's a seemingly-innocuous photo of a 1940 Chrysler that adorned my 2008 birthday card from my sister (see the '41 Royal photo with her as a little girl on the preceding page); she recognized the car instantly after all these years (that's MY sister!):   (19 Feb 08)

Again, does anyone out there have authoritative information on this "unusual" (to American eyes) Chrysler?