MERCURY - 1951 Merc-O-Matic Drive (1 of 2) First Automatic Transmission
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- Опубликовано: 5 ноя 2010
- FORD Motor Company's Lincoln-Mercury Division introduces the new Automatic Transmission "Merc-O-Matic" for their new 1951 Mercury cars.
Развлечения
The first automatic transmission using hydraulic fluid was developed in 1932 by two Brazilian engineers, José Braz Araripe and Fernando Lehly Lemos; later, the prototype and design were sold to General Motors, who introduced the technology into the 1940 Oldsmobile model as a "Hydra-Matic" transmission.
Thank you for that information. I hope they sold it for a lot of money. The 1939 Olds "automatic" required just one manual shift at a certain point. Then in 1940 it was revised and was fully automatic.
There are a couple of different claims, as always.
Either way it's amazing how old the idea is. Daimler apparently already had semi-automatic drives in the 1920s! Automobile history is so fascinating, the inventors of all this tech don't get half the recognition they deserve, sadly. Pure genius
@@ramdas363 I agree.
Passed my first California driver's license test at 16...no power steering....DMV examiner was impressed how well I handled this beast...1963..Roseville, California
"So easy, everyone can start driving while drunk!"
I know, but... I wouldn't have been surprised back in those days! :)
My dad had one of those that he bought new in '51 and he drove it until 1965 with no transmission problems at all.
First fully automatic transmission was Hydramatic Drive in 1939
I remember the first time I heard someone refer to the selector indicator as "The PRiNDLe" -- mind blown!
Seen that on green acres
@@gregambrose2566 Thanks to Lisa Douglas, that's what I call it as well. :)
"Are you referring to the gearshift?" - Mr Mosbey
The automatic transmission was a breakthrough in the automobile industry. This allowed to make driving a lot easier for people who had left leg disability, and back issues. For city driving a vehicle with an automatic transmission was a terrific innovation.
Jerry Or drivers on the autism spectrum like myself. I can't fathom of shifting and stalling with debates of whether "to ride the clutch or not to ride the clutch, that is the question of what wears the transmission more.
I know the film is B&W, but the STOP sign at 2:05 is one of the old yellow stop signs!
You can tell by the brightness/contrast.
It is truly amazing how their engineering was able to make this thing
With a lot of help from Borg Warner. But in the film, they give Ford all the credit.
My dad had one of these Mercs; an improvement for my mother (I was 4-years-old). However, the most important feature, for woman drivers ... as she said ... was power steering. Before that innovation, you needed a lot of upper-body strength to park or navigate at low speeds. (I still have my father's 1956 Continental MKII ... the power steering hydraulics is "Vickers" from the British airplane manufacturer.)
The title is misleading. The merc-o-matic drive was not the first automatic transmission. The General Motors Hydramatic three-speed hydraulic automatic was. It was Introduced in 1939.
The Hydromatic was actually a four-speed automatic.
We used to call this transmission 'the neck snapper' because every time it changed gears, your neck would jerk.
@@dalemettee1147 My old Ford Taurus had a transmission like that. 😬
The beginning of doing your nails, shaving, eating, and reading the paper - and playing with yourself while driving....as you now have a hand free and off the shift lever.
MUSICOM PRODUCTIONS So you're constantly shifting on the highway?
MUSICOM PRODUCTIONS I drive a Manuel and quite alot of the time I have a free hand
The first fully automatic mass produced transmission was the GM hydramatic in 1939. This was just Ford's first one, 12 years later.
@@joshuas4228 be sure to use the free hand to text someone while driving. (loved my stick 10 years ago...). ;-) BTW Who's Manuel? Maybe use your free hand to give him a thrill...
j schindler what a dick ! Don’t listen to him
I have 2 50 Mercury's both in family since new thankfully manual transmission with Borg Warner overdrive ... driving the convertible to west Virginia on the 3rd of July ... 44 k original miles original engine just did a tune and new smithy mufflers all fluids changed. It sounds great gulling thru smoky mountains
That distinctive flathead bark ...
Cool. I don't have a car. Wanna hook me up with one of those beauties?
Good engineering is always so well thought out.
EXCUSE ME?!?!
GM had an automatic in 1940, it was even installed in a tank like weapon system (one for each track) and advertised as "Combat Tested!"
Yes hydramatic was introduced in 1940 in Oldsmobile.
@@morganbrowning867 @Scott E
obviously it means the first automatic available to the general public. You know, that way you didn't have to join the military to drive one...
@@kahvozeinsfang6953 as I said in 1940 GM offered the hydramatic in Oldsmobile. As in any regular car could be ordered with Hydramatic
Look at the title (1 of 2) first automatic transmissions
Well, it was Ford. They kept cable brakes well past their use by date, ditto flat heads, and don't even mention buggy springs and solid front axles!
Imagine if Chevrolet put out a video like this for the automatic transmission in, say, the Aveo, with as much enthusiasm as this guy
That Borg-Warner transmission wasn't bad. It was later used in AMC, Studebaker, Nissan, Rover, Jaguar, Volvo, and many other applications. Later, in the late 1950s, Ford bought the rights to build their own versions of the Borg Warner automatic transmissions, the last of which were built into the mid-1970s.
This configuration became the standard for automatic transmission gear
selectors.
Well, they said it was the "natural order", right?
Back then GM had the reverse below the low gear setting
@@jfchonors8873 THAT WAS REGULATED
its so simple that every woman that wears a hat can drive one!
As long as you're wearing clean, white gloves you should be fine.
I was wondering if that hat was going to blow off.
yet, they still can't.....
(i kid, i kid)
Mercury had great looking cars.
...but also men that wear hats as we can see at 8:50 😅
It would make no difference, people in England drive manuals and still talk and text on phones, drink coffee, eat food etc.
I mean...realisticly in city driving you're only in MAYBE 2nd or 3rd gear the entire time, and at stop lights just slam the clutch and brake, the only time a street car is going to be doing any real "shifting" is at stop lights to get back up to speed, or on track days for lap times and to keep momentum going, but with that said. i've seen people track day a Toyota Carolla 90's era on a short road course and keep toe-to-toe with a Ferrari 488. not lap times no, but the 488 is GARBAGE in the corners and every tight corner that Carolla was right up the Ferrari's ass.
@@RingoYote 488 garbage in the corners LMAO
It's universally praised by reviewers as a superb track car with great handling, the lap times that you can look up shows it too.
@Viktor Turtle no, 5 or 6 is the standard :)
@Viktor Turtle 3 and 4 speeds haven’t been common since the 60s and 70s lmao
@@wyattnyfeler7270 in manuals, but automatics are still common in 4 speeds.
The "Merc-o-matic" sounds like the name of a gun that a wannabe gangster would use.......
It was actually a Borg Warner made unit and was also used by everyone but General Motors.
@@jaswmclark Yeah, because GM was actually good enough to build their own transmission.
Or a device from "the Far Side" to gobble up jaywalkers?
Actually true though.....
Sounds like Troy McClure is narrating this.
Sounds more like Hugh Beumont.
Troy McClure! He owes me money!
It’s Captain Zap Brannigan
Borg Warner air cooled, 3 speeds but low not routinely engaged.
These were also used in other makes such as Rambler (Flashomatic) and were reliable if not abused.
I had one in a Rambler. Drove it like a demon and finally broke the torque converter. Air cooled with a torque tube. Pretty neat.
I've determined that getting your passenger car stuck in mud is much less likely than the old car films would indicate. It's like when you were a kid and assumed from watching TV that you'd be dealing with quicksand on a weekly basis.
lol, Between Gilligan's Island, McHale's Navy and Tarzan, quicksand WAS everywhere lol I think there was even quick sand in Happy Days, or was that a shark? lol
I belive I have determined you don't drive an open diff rwd much. They do get stuck on basically anything. My truck from the 90s is basically useless in the winter, stop with a wheel in the tiniest dip in the road and it's over. And the 1950 Pontiac is un godly bad even in the rain with modern tires. I have got it stuck to the point of pushing it out just by backing it in to the the little divet in the lawn next to my driveway on wet grass. You learn the finess of not getting in those situations and they can be great, but overall their actually horrendous. For the bit in this clip I guarantee there was a whole lot of trickery, concrete with some mud on top, welded diff, another car pulling it. Sunk to the diff pumpkin being buried in the mud is enough to stop some 4x4s and ye old bias plys wouldn't help it any.
There used to be a lot less roads everywhere than there are now. This is from 1951. Interstates weren't even a thing yet. Of course it's not a common thing now, but it doesn't mean it wasn't ever.
@@pontiacg445 Even before the Interstates, there were plenty of paved roads. You had the US Highway system (Route 66 being the best know, but far from only, example), you had state highways, and plenty of paved county roads.
A lot of the Interstates simply replaced existing US routes, or when a nearby Interstate was done, the US Route was "depreciated" into a state highway. For example, in California, State Route 99 was originally US 99 before I-5 was completed. But it had been paved since the 1920s or 30s.
Most roads were dirt at the time of filming
in 51-56or57 Mercomatic and fordomatic drive was built by Borg Warner for Ford motor company. The Lincoln models however were equipped in the early days with a GM Hydromatic. Low gear was seldom used or needed but available from the gear selector or by flooring the accellerator from a standstill.
Back when cars were art.
The First Fully Automatic Transmission mass produced was the General Motors Hydra-Matic circa 1940. Eleven years before Merc-O-Matic.
And yet despite all these "innovations" and "magic", manual transmissions are still very much alive
Paul Hojda it's not like you even have to think about shifting or slipping the clutch once you're used to it lol
It's quickly becoming a lost art, though...
Less than 3% of all sales is not alive
@@Alexander-jr8nw lower
its like 2% of sales worldwide, manual is dying.
and when electric cars take over, cars having more than 1 gears would be unheard of to the future generations.
just an electric motor to the wheels
The old advertisement pointed out that the Merc-O-Matic was safer than a standard transmission because 1.) It could not be started in gear, and 2.) it has a park setting that locks the transmission independently of the parking brake. Those two safety features probably convinced a lot of people to buy the automatic.
Autos are also safer in that you can't accidentally mis-shift, stall and lose power. That's why school buses switched to automatics once they became practical in their size.
@@straightpipediesel It is much easier to press the wrong pedal in an automatic though, do that in a manual and it's much less of an issue.
@@dglcomputers1498 how is it easier to hit the wrong pedal? Either way you're working 2 pedals with your right foot.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing. ;)
I love automatic transmissions with torque converter and their unique smooth feeling.
E34Benzin are you by chance a homosexual?
Fuck automatics all my homies hate automatics
All you homies in your fucking hick town in Alabama and all you town drives is fucking beater trucks
Why are y'all so mean? Let him drive what he prefers bruh
He's right... that's exactly why they haven't made a manual Rolls Royce since 1955.
I got to get one Merc-O-Matic now...
Excellent.
One of those voices narrating this film, sounds curiously like Hugh Beaumont, Wally and the Beavers Dad.
Another Ford man Ward Cleaver
i'm convinced it is indeed Hugh Beaumont.
@@gm12551 I think in one episode of Leave it to Beaver, Ward was driving a 57 Mercury. 🤔
AWESOME!!!!
Thank god for the invention of the automatic gearbox. In times where cars can do nearly everything automatically, for me it's like anachronism to shift gears. Unfortunatly people in europe don't understand that. And for me, the best AT will always be the one with a torque converter.
FirstAid1 people in Europe drive manual becomes it’s more efficient fuels a lot more expensive so economy is at the forefront of the car market
@@phantomsoldier497 Some newer CVT transmissions use less gas than a manual, and most automatics will use an equivalent amount to a manual. For a less-skilled driver, an automatic will use less gas than a manual, because the car will calculate the best gear for them instead of deferring their improper use of the gearbox. Seriously though, go look it up on any auto manufacturer's website. Practically every car has equivalent MPG values between their automatic and manual offerings, with the automatic using even less in some cases. The manuals will give you slightly more acceleration, which is fun if that's your thing, but there's virtually no difference for everyday use.
FirstAid1 Manual gearboxes are still popular because for a long time they where the symbol of performance and efficiency. It wasn’t long since the auto gearboxes got better and more efficient at transmitting power from the engine to the wheels. At the time that automatics where born, slippage was a big problem since a lot of the engine power was wasted at heat thank to the torque converter slippage. If you do more research about automatics gearbox you will learn more about it.
Well, I think I know yet something about the technique of Cars, although I'm not a technician. And I'm living in Europe. When you ask people why they don't have AT, they mostly tell you that it's a: unsportive (although the have cars with 75-90hp 😂) b: that they are not so old they couldn't change gears by themselves (like my mother) or c: they don't want to spend the extra money.
But I don't care, everybody can do as they wish. And I only drive AT, actually a Prius IV
@firstaid the best automatic will always be conventional automatic (torque converter and planetary gearsets). CVT Transmissions are equipped with torque converters but not "always will be the best".
Ultramatic was the trademarked name of the Packard Motor Car Company's automatic transmission introduced in 1949, Even then car advertisements were lying to you.
Main thing I notice is that Ford/Merc/Lincoln were smart enuf to put Reverse next to park rather than next to Low like GM (54 Buick and 58 Pontiac 62 Oldsmobile anyway).Been there!!!
6:12 Only in 1951, was the "rockability" to get out of a rut an actual selling point. lol Shows you how much more urbanized we've become, when the average person has no clue about those tricks, and does no off roading beyond Uncle Ralph's driveway. Nowadays, we have jacked up lifted $100,000 Jeep Wranglers 4wd that dont even leave the city limits and sitting in a garage during a snow storm.
i cant wait for self driving car commercials
it will just be a function on cars already made, what the fuck do you think "Lane Assist" and "adaptive cruise control" is?
Tesla
I swear Hugh Beaumont is one of the narrators.....Hugh did do a sales training video for Ford about the same vintage as this video.....
I don't know how well it worked, but this seems about a decade ahead of GM's competing hodgepodge of automatic transmissions which ranged from the 4-speed Hydramatic with only a fluid coupling, to the 2 speed Dynaflow which depended on an elaborate torque converter to make up for its meager speed choices. Not bad for 1951; I suspect that this was a Borg Warner transmission, but I don't know for sure. Some of the early BW transmissions even had lockup torque converters, but I believe they were dropped due to reliability problems.
PS: 4:36 It looks as if Mercury was pulling Citroen's suicide door trick: using almost the same door in the left-front as in the right rear and sharing the left-rear with the right-front.
Yes the 51 Mercury 4 doors had the "suicide" rear doors.
Also the film had Ford taking all the credit for the new transmission when actually Borg Warner did most of the engineering work for Ford.
It only took 70 years for the automatic transmission to almost meet these insane promises.
Shall we now go over why the woman was driving a white Mercury that is brand new in the mud?
Ha, ha, ha!!! that was funny.
I dunno about you but I always take my Grand Marquis off-roading
She didn't get the driveway paved until 1954.
spinning those wheels floor it baby floor it
It was not white. It was yellow. All 51 Mercury convertibles as far as I know came in Vassar yellow only.
I have no idea why.
Imagine how Amazing this was back then? This probably was like driving a Tesla!
I know when I was a child in the 1960's, a lot of cars still had manual steering and manual brakes, and NO AC. These features were not standard, and most of the people I knew did not have them. Oh and all the windows were cranked down, so when it was hot we just cranked down the windows and that was that. You were just hot. No one thought anything of it. If you had more money and (people I grew up with did not) you could get ac and electric seats, power steering and power brakes. Personally to me, brakes are brakes, you step on them till your car stops.
Would love to drive one.
My mom was born in 1915 she refused to drive an automatic. Said it was too complicated.
🤣🤣🤣
I want some of that 'flash' acceleration !
I KNOW this is a 10-y/o video, but haven't seen a CLARIFICATION on what is STILL THERE as title for BOTH videos...
It maybe from Ford's first A/T, but I've remembered reading (and confirmed by Googling) that GM already had a MASS-PRODUCED A/T BEFORE US INVOLVEMENT IN WWII a decade earlier.
Oldsmobile (direct competitor to Mercury) sold its' HydraMatic A/T as an option in some 1940 MY cars. After that Cadillac (don't know if on time before civilian production stoppage in early '42) and other manufacturers (those after WWII) bought those GM A/T's for their cars even before Ford got involved in 1950.
I learned to drive manual like everyone should back in the day but I always preferred automatic. Back then it was 2 or 3 speed auto with overdrive/4 coming along a little later. Manual is fun for a change but gets old after a while and the ease of automatic shines again. There were still some older cars with the 2-speed auto and "push pump" that could be roll started, had to do it that way with friend's cars a time or two.
And being stuck in a traffic jam, where you move ahead 3 inches and stop, move ahead 5 inches and stop - yep in a manual transmission, after an hour or so your leg will feel like it wants to fall off. Your clutch leg.
Makes me want to go buy a new automatic transmission car!
A Merc-O-matic one!
Yes it sounds like you have got yourself a very advance transmission system called Merc-O- Matic which can do no wrong while driving. Hooray ...! 🤗🤗
America had automatic cars before Europe even had refrigerators.
Nice
This video made me want a chesterfield
0:53
Every car company in the world after seeing this- "Yes."
1951 !!!!!!
thats pretty cool to watch. i work on final assembly line of 9hp transmissions at zf.
You could push start it! Wow! Can you even do that with a manual transmission anymore these days? I use to park my ranger on a hill when the battery was weak incase I had to roll start it. lol
I like all the people saying accedents by distracted driving wouldn't happen if we had kept manuals. Well I've always driven stuff with a stick and it's so second nature that it really doesn't prevent you from doing any thing else while you drive. On the other hand stick shift cars are way more prone to accidents. Just recently my dad got rear ended stalling his on a right turn. I've seen a corvette roll back on a hill and take someone out. Actually a few in the Harvey's drive through that has a big hill right at the window too. And the biggest one is in the snow, if your someone who is used to it, their really really good. But if your not used to it one bad downshift and it's over. Or in the case of a rwd like my truck you actually have to be aware that the compression breaking with your foot off the gas will put you sideways imediatly, it's a constant thought to keep a nice neutral coast rpm or push in the clutch when it's slippery. And sadly most people don't pick that one up all to well. Anyway I like em both ways, but it's just math that adding extra steps and potential to roll back ect... will cause more accidents.
The statistics don't really support your argument. Here in the U.K. manual cars are much more common. Driving lessons and tests are taken in them- if you pass your test in an automatic, you only get a restricted driving licence and are generally acknowledged to be a bit stupid! Yet we have far fewer road fatalities per driven mile than the US, something like a quarter. Before anyone points out that the US is larger etc please understand that that measure takes into consideration population and distance differences. Of course, the gearbox types isn't the only consideration affecting these numbers but personally I think someone who can drive a manual probably has a better understanding and control or their car.
@@spencerwilton5831 I'm aware of the stats from over there and I also live in Canada. So quite harsh winters for 8 months a year. What I said had nothing to do with statistics, just life experience seeing people drive. Also here we have 1 universal license, you can pass in an automatic and then just hop in a stick with no idea about it. Probably adds to what I've seen, especially in the snow. Now the great majority of cars I've owned have had a stick and I've never so much as been in a fender bender, had to jump some ditches to avoid idiots on the country highways tho. But the math on the whole thing just works out that there's more ways to screw up with a stick shift, so naturally people will. The fact that their usualy base models here that are a bit older and without traction control, plus people not understanding the compression breaking and generally just being jerky with them really does a lot of people in in the winter. I'm a mechanic and have a lot of buddies that drive tow trucks so I see this stuff all day long. And as far as everyone who drives a stick clearly has a better understanding of cars and driving goes... well I did a clutch on a vw golf for a lady that she just bought and it was smoked. 2 weeks latter it came back in and when I pulled the tyranny down the clutch was basically gone, like pressure plate friction welded to the flywheel bad. So obviously I phoned her up. Turns out she bought the car without the slightest idea what a manual was or how they work. She put the shifter in 4th gear the day she bought it and didn't move it once....
I never realized that Mercury's first automatic was a three speed. Was the overdrive mentioned in the film an option or was it a standard feature? It may have been an option since the narration mentioned the final drive ratio as being 1:1 which would not indicate an overdrive unit. No doubt it was much more reliable than the semi-automatic 1942 Borg-Warner Liquimatic of which there are apparently no working models in existance. To me the 1951 Mercury was the best looking of the 49 - 51 models.
Whats the liquimatic
This was, I believe a Borg-Warner design. It is a second-gear start automatic...unless you floored it or shifted into low with the lever, it starts in second, and up shifts only once. This is NOT an overdrive gearbox. Note that they refer to it as an “overdrive effect”. The high torque converter stall meant good torque multiplication for launch, so they used lower-ratio real axle gearing, for better mileage. This causes the power train to behave more like it has a conventional manual with overdrive, but it isn’t really much different from most other auto boxes. Until the early ‘80s, virtually all automatics had direct top gears, regardless of the number of speeds. This is a function of how the planetary gear sets work.
ddkoda: This transmission in "D" range normally started in 2nd gear( intermediate) from a standstart and then shifted to 3rd gear( high range). If you floored the accelerator from a standing start in D range it would then start out in first gear( low range) and it would shift to intermediate at about 35 or 40 miles an hour on full throttle. Then at full throttle it would shift to 3rd gear at about 70 miles per hour.
@@jamesw1659 The Studebaker -Packard FlightOMatic Transmission operates exactly the same way. This transmission used in AMC CARS is called" FLASHOMATIC". It also operated in the same manner used in the 1958-1962 AMC CARS.
It has to be appreciated how technically thorough these films were back then. Of course they were for dealers and service departments/repair shops but today's youtube generation can't even spell "torque converter", let alone explain its function.
Only starts in neutral makes sense if Merc figured buyers coming from manual transmissions would sort of expect that and find the transition to automatic easier. A guess on my part though.
What do they mean when the talk about the "overdrive effect"? Is that by it shifting into high gear at 15 mph if you start out slowly? I love the Ford-O-Matic that I have in my 1963 Falcon.
I was thinking the “overdrive effect” was probably because the cars were fitted with taller rear axle ratios, so when in direct drive, the engine rpm was lower than in the stick shift cars.
Yours is a different (2-speed aluminum case) Fordomatic.
@@edgarcook9607 I never owned a 2 speed Fordomatic. I just assumed the Mercury had the same 2 speed transmission. I see I was wrong.
1st automatic transmission for Mercury. GM produced the first in 1939.
Man those old cars had style. Unlike the shitbox cars of today.
So true
That is a myth. There are just as many interesting, unique designs today as there were then...and about the same percentage of boring, un-memorable cars as there have always been.
Keep some perspective...modern automobiles are superior to vehicles from this era in virtually every respect except price.
Lincoln used GMs Hydromatic for years before developing their own automatic.
Oh yes, that must have stuck in Henry II's craw!
Nothing new there. Later, when Ford engines output real power, they had a super heavy-duty automatic trans that was a garden-variety MoPar.
If the HydraMatic plant did not burn down. in 53, Lincoln would still be using them for another ten years I would guess. Using someone else's transmission is cheaper than making your own. Lincoln had low production numbers compared to Ford and Mercury.
I had a '66 ford with a ford-o-matic, I could drive that even without a hat on
Cruise-O-Matic.
First automatic transmission my butt! Maybe the first for Mercury, but my 1948 Olds had a Hydramatic Drive and it wasn't the first either!
I agree. The Chevrolet Division also had the first automatic in the low-priced field in 1950, known as Powerglide.
However it is still not eliminated completely today, they probably didn’t figure this out back then.
Cooling fins? (opens VW engine bay). I'll show you cooling fins!
1951, huh? I have a friend who owns a 1940 Oldsmobile, which he says was the first automatic transmission in a car.
Yeah. He's right.
Too bad you cant pop-start automatics on modern cars...
Everything was mechanical back then, everything past 1994 is all controlled by vaccuum hoses and a computer,
It kinda depends on the car too. This isn't quite popstarting, but I had an automatic car (with a CV transmission and a partial zero emission system). When you comes to a stop, it shuts the engine off to save gas unless the battery is low on juice and it turns the engine on when you release the brakes. Well one time I was on a downhill stopped at a light, and when I started moving again, i didn't fully release the brakes cuz the hill was pulling me down so the engine stayed off. Thing is when I got up to about 20 mph, my foot was still partially pressing the brake and the car just shuddered and started up anyways. It could've been the computer, but my theory is that my inertia might have started it since I didn't technically give my car the command to restart (fully release the brake).
@dusty. They removed the push start capability because of extra cost and electric started is very reliable.
If its pulled fast enough, it will...like 50 mph
Transmissions used to have two hydraulic pumps--one in the front driven by the engine, one in the back driven by the drive wheels. To save money, the rear pump was removed with no loss of performance or economy.
It’s a pernoodle! PRNDL lol.
So on family trips you switched from spotting out of state license plates to making up cute names for transmission gear selectors... hmmmm.
Best invention in a car. Thanks Americans 😊
Just the name "O - Matic" seems so 50's era
like chevrolets use of (motoramic) in lots of advertising.
When did Ford get automatic transmission as an option? Also why did Ford products need a different kind of automatic transmission fluid from the fluid used in other makes prior to about 1980.
Ford used better fluid. It was common to use ford fluid in GM transmissions to make them shift better
@@deansapp4635 LOL
First automatic transmission? My parents’ 1950 Chevy had an automatic trans.
Too bad 1951 Mercury did not offered a "Hollywood" hardtop just like a Hudson hardtops. Same thing applied to Lincoln Cosmopolitan for the hardtop models for 1951. Ford did offered a "Victoria" hardtop for 1951 models. Even fender skirts are fitted on a 1951 Ford Custom V-8 Victoria hardtop with two tone paint.
It wasn't until 1952 Lincoln and Mercury had a hardtop
I would be really intrested to know how the shifting device works at this time , i guess this was purely mechanic and without electronics. How did the device know when it was time to shift?
It has a tube connected to the engine manifold vaccuum. When manifold vaccuum is high it upshifts. When manifold vaccuum is low it downshifts.
The beginning of the end 😔
This and the end of the handbrake
*SOLD*
Is this Hugh Beumont?
I had a 51 Ford back in 64 it had v8 and auto trans 0 to 60 in about 3 minutes. That was quicker than a 51 Chevy with a 6 cylinder and
Auto.
I'm so happy that I just discovered that brazilians invented this.
We got them to blame then
pensei que eu era o único brasileiro aqui.
If Edsel Ford would have had his way, the '39 Mercury would have had an automatic trans option, and prototypes were built with them. Old Henry vetoed the idea for production though.
Old Henry constantly overruled his son and made his life and his work very difficult. Its no wonder Edsel developed ulcers and died of cancer at age 49.
that's right... and I watched the movie.
So why wasn't produced once old Henry died about 3 years before this?
6:35 : Jeremy Clarkson Speeeed
I much prefer the "13 operations" needed with a conventional transmission. Chevrolet beat out Ford by a year with an automatic transmission. Chrysler messed around with a "safety clutch" until 53 or 54. The independents, even Rolls Royce, bought Hydra-Matics from GM. Today shifting has become almost a thing of the past. In the 50s many people preferred the manual transmission. No one I knew had an automatic. For some reason it took Ford until the late 50s to figure out that is was perfectly "safe" to start the car in Park!
I was wondering why the car could only be started in N, it's kind of dangerous, the car can roll freely
@@demagab Set the hand brake, put it in neutral and start it. Maybe it was a throw back to manual transmission in some way. I think Ford finally woke up in 1959.
@@1940limited Or just press on the brake pedal. People used to park their manuals in first gear without applying the brake, because especially back then they could easily fail.
But really, if park is nothing but neutral with the addition of a mechanical "brake", this decision really makes no sense at all
@@demagab I still park stick shift cars in 1st.
@@demagabPARK IS A PAW LOCKS THE GEARS
And modern transmissions haven't changed much still use torque converter unless you have a CVT.
Tesla: Am I a joke to you?
How is it possible to 9:20 tow-start a Merc-o-Matic, as with newer A/T:s it is impossible if the engine is not turning to pump oil pressure in the transmission
+TehoTarve Now I read this in passing looking at ford automatics so it could be fore a C4 and not the trans in the video but what I read is the pump for the trans is near the tail shaft so it spins and creates the pressure.
+TehoTarve Two fluid pumps: front and rear.
+Teho Tarve Those early slushboxes had two pumps - one front, driven by the engine, one rear, driven off the output shaft. Later designs eliminated the rear pump as it was deemed to be unnecessarily redundant. I think the only advantage of the dual-pump design was the ability to push/tow-start, but in most cases jumper cables are more practical if your battery is dead. In any case, once the rear pump was eliminated, the only way to start the engine in an auto-trans car was electrically.
...And now we're getting to the point where to the exception of most professional racing applications, manual shift is fast becoming a thing of the past!
true, especially with the rapid adoption of transmission free electric vehicles during the next decades...
The future looks rather bleak.
We called these early inefficient transmissions "slushomatics".
THAT WAS BUICK DYNAFLOW
@@chuckschafer6728 Dynaslush.😂
I’ve lost count of how many times the narrator said “smooth”
The first automatic got only 1 shift ?
Yes it was a two speed with an emergency low. On the big old heavy Merc, take off at every stoplight was an emergency.😊
Previously, Mercury's and Lincoln could be equipped with GM's HydraMatic automatic transmission.
Just Lincoln.
@@GaryH-pw9cm Then the pre-Merc-O-Matic Mercurys I've worked on with Hydramatics are a figment of my imagination? Some dealers would install Hydramatics, as anyone could buy them, if someone wanted a fully automatic transmission in their manual shift cars.
@@automatedelectronics6062 Ok dealer installed. I got it.
I don't know much about cars, but a car with a manual gearbox can also being started by towing…
You can’t do that with present day automatic transmission vehicles. They say it will ruin the transmission.
@@glennso47 Yes that's true
you don't think about that once you've learnt how to drive in the same way you don't have to think about falling over once you've learnt how to ride a bicycle.
Myeahhh seeeee? Myeahh
The first time we see the Prindl.
70 years later and still the European market is dominated by manual transmission
Gas is much higher across the pond.
Since when is "high" (1 to 1 ration) overdrive?