First AutomaticTransmission: Hydra-Matic - "Motorings Magic Carpet" 1941 Oldsmobile (Patreon)

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1941 Oldsmobile theatrical advertising produced by Jam Handy. The last pre-war Oldsmobile rolled off the assembly line on February 5, 1942.

Originally a public domain film from the Prelinger Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmobile

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobiles produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Olds Motor Vehicle Co. was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. It produced over 35 million vehicles, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory. During its time as a division of General Motors, it slotted in the middle of GM's five divisions (above Pontiac but below Buick), and was noted for its testing of groundbreaking technology and designs, most notably the "Rocket V8" engine. In 1985, over 1 million Oldsmobiles were sold, but by the 1990s the division was tasked with competing with import brands. When it was shut down in 2004, Oldsmobile was the oldest surviving American automobile marque, and one of the oldest in the world, after Peugeot, MAN, and Tatra...

Starting in 1941 and continuing through 1999, Oldsmobile used a two digit model designation. As originally implemented, the first digit signifies the body size while the second represents the number of cylinders. Body sizes were 6, 7, 8, and 9, and six- and eight-cylinder engines were offered. Thus, Oldsmobiles were named "66" through "98".

The last pre-war Oldsmobile rolled off the assembly line on February 5, 1942. During World War II, Oldsmobile produced numerous kinds of material for the war effort, including large-caliber guns and shells. Production resumed on October 15, 1945 with a warmed-over 1942 model serving as the offering for 1946...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydramatic

Hydramatic (also known as Hydra-Matic) is an automatic transmission developed by both General Motors' Cadillac and Oldsmobile divisions. Introduced in 1939 for the 1940 model year vehicles, the Hydramatic was the first mass-produced fully automatic transmission developed for passenger automobile use...

Design

The Hydramatic used a two-element fluid coupling (not a torque converter, which has at least three elements, the pump, turbine and stator although Roto HydraMatic has a fluid coupling and a fixed stator) and three planetary gearsets, providing four forward speeds plus reverse. Standard ratios for the original Hydra-Matic were 3.82:1, 2.63:1, 1.45:1 and 1.00:1 in automotive applications, and 4.08:1, 2.63:1, 1.55:1 and 1.00:1 in light truck and other commercial applications. The Controlled Coupling HydraMatic used 3.97:1, 2.55:1, 1.55:1, and 1.00:1. Roto Hydramatic 375 a three speed, four range automatic has a 3.56:1, 2.93:1, 1.56:1 and 1.00:1. Roto Hydramatic 240 a three speed, four range automatic has ratios of 3.64:1, 3.03:1, 1.57:1 and 1.00:1 The Hydramatic was fitted with two pumps to pressurize its hydraulic control system and provide lubrication of internal components. The front pump was a variable displacement vane unit driven from the fluid coupling housing, which meant oil pressure would be available immediately upon starting the engine. A relatively constant pressure was maintained by moving a slide inside the pump, which had the effect of changing the pump's displacement and therefore the volume of oil being delivered...