We’ve seen a lot of GM’s Advance Design Trucks (1948-1955) here over the years. But this one, posted by Eric Clem, is rather exceptional, as 1953 was the first year that GM’s Hydra-Matic four-speed fluid-coupling automatic transmission was available on GMC’s civilian ½, ¾, and 1 ton trucks. It was of course very well proven by then, given its use in armored vehicles in WW2 and in the post-war M153 2.5 ton 6×6 Army truck, never mind hundreds of thousands of passenger cars. One wonders why it took so long.
Well, it was expensive, and most trucks were bought with operational economics in mind. But GM was convinced there were advantages that outweighed the cost. And that applies not just to light trucks, but heavy duty ones as well, as they also introduced an 8-speed Hydra-Matic as well as an even more complex 13-speed Twin Hydra-Matic for heavy duty trucks. A post on them is coming shortly.
Here’s a proper look at what we’re talking about: it appears to be a 3/4 ton, 8′ bed pickup, which would have had the 228 cubic inch version of the highly regarded GMC inline ohv six.
This truck obviously had a former life (or two) as a working truck, as they almost inevitably did back then. Tree work and spraying, by A.H. Hembree—call WA·6·1246.
The Truck Hydra-Matic gear selector is just visible in this crop.
Here’s what that looked like, thanks to a shot from the web.
First again…yes, in terms of offering an automatic on a wide range of light trucks. But for the record, Ford did also offer its Fordomatic in 1953, but only on the 1/2 ton F100. Chevrolet started offering the Hydra-Matic in 1954.
But that was just for the light trucks. In mid-year 1953, GMC started offering the 8-speed Hydra-Matic, which had a two-speed reduction unit to yield the eight speeds in 4-5 ton trucks. The four speed was actually standard in the delivery van.
The basic 4-speed Hydramatic continued to be available on Chevy pickups through 1960, and GMC pickups through 1963, replaced in both by the cheaper and simpler Powerglide.
That’s the (sort of) full load on the Hydra-Matic’s utilization on pickups and light trucks, but a more detailed look at some of the exotic 8-speed and Twin Hydra-Matics is on the way.
I knew about the military applications but would have been off by a decade if asked about civilian trucks. Not to mention I would have assumed Chevy first, then GMC. And while in retrospect a 4×2 eight speed seems easy and robust, it’s a good counterpoint to the folks that grumble about modern 8 and 10 speeds as unnecessarily complex.
I’ll take the 10 speed auto all day long. To complicated, psh.
Paul I am really excited to see your Hydramatic post. I am just a little too young to have much experience with it and I have never seen one apart. I have only ever driven on once, in a 1963 Cadillac, which is my favourite American car of all time. The 1963 Cadillac is highly worthy of a CC article.
By 1963 the Hydramatic was on its third generation and last generation. Each version was substantially different from the previous one (in ways I barely understand).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydramatic
I didn’t know about the military applications – GM came up with the Hydramatic just in time to beat Hitler and win the war, since it was first seen on 1940 model cars. In those uses GM must have learned a lot about making them really heavy duty. Bulletproof, as they say.
I like the selector. It tells you the actual ranges, which were always unclear on the car selectors. (D2 might mean 1-2 or 2-3.) Just for fun I checked the address, which is more or less in the Hillyard part of town. It’s not a nursery now, but it does have this…….
I checked out the address too. Looks like that door sign is quite a survivor, as Mr. Hembree operated his nursery (from behind his home) between 1957 and his death in 1973.
There’s no ‘Park’ position? I’ve never driven a vehicle with the Hydra-matic.
In old Hydra-Matics there was a parking pawl that was engaged when the transmission was put into reverse and the engine turned off. Sort of a hidden Park position.
That sort of makes sense since I would put my manual transmission into reverse when I parked it.
I knew they were out there somewhere, but have never seen one. It makes sense that Chevrolet used it too (after GMC started) but I had never given that any thought, and would have expected the PG to be used before 1960, but it appears not.
I wonder how long it took for automatics to hit a take rate of over, say, 40% in pickups? In my unscientific observations, they seemed to mimic air conditioning in passenger cars, with few having one before 1960, occasionally from 60-66, moderately common from 67-71 and then more common than not after 1972. It would be interested to compare my recall to real facts.
The ’67 major restyle of the GM (and Ford) pickups seemed to be when they really marketed pickups as a personal, not just work, vehicle. So, automatic take rate would have gone up substantially. Factory A/C would wait for two more years.
Very rare option indeed!
In 2008 I appraised a restored 56 GMC 9300 with the automatic transmission. Only 40,629 GMC trucks were produced in Canada during 1956. The Canadian market back then likely didn’t see many people opt for automatic transmissions in their basic sedans let alone trucks. Trucks were used for work and whether on the farm or in the city, almost nobody would spend extra coin for an auto tranny.
If recall correctly the 56 I appraised had been in the family since new and was being passed along to another family member because it was remaining in the family. Hence the reason for a complete resto.
It looks a little fancy pants with the skirts, but to each their own. You’ll also note it has the rare wrap around window option.
Nice post. What’s always amazed me about the Hydra-matic was GM’s production capacity…they built enough to furnish all GM’s divisions and still had sufficient capacity to sell to Hudson, Nash, Kaiser, even Lincoln.
https://www.xr793.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/1949-Lincoln-Hyda-Matic-Transmission.pdf
The WW II-era M5 and later M24 light tanks also used two Cadillac V8s with Hydra-matics.
https://www.militarytrader.com/military-vehicles/military-vehicles-spotlight-m5a1-light-tank
That must have grated on Henry Ford II. Having to buy from arch rival GM.
I’m a Hydromatic lover too .
I owned one in my 1954 Pontiac Super Chief .
Helms Bakery Panel Trucks in Los Angeles sometimes had these, they made the perfect urban delivery vehicle .
-Nate
Some very nice artwork for a (1953) newspaper ad:
It’s my understanding that on all Advance Design trucks, the long bed on 3/4 tons was 7’3″, and on Task Force trucks, it was 7’6″ until the 8′ Fleetside beds were introduced in 1958 (also including the 3400 long 1/2 tons). Dodge had a similarly truncated long bed on their Utilines until 1965.
You’re right; the long beds weren’t 8′ yet.
In 2004, purchased a 1960 Coupe Deville. Good driver, but first to second gear had to be done manually. No one in the Atlanta area could/would have a look. Even then, the unit was 40 years obsolete.
Amazing we couldnt have automatic transmission in a GM anything until 1960,
I have a 1953 GMC 5 window with the factory automatic. Picture included, I have the rest of the parts in another garage. Still all original.
Here’s hoping it will eventually be restored to it’s former beauty / glory .
-Nate
I had one of these. It was transplanted into my ’61 Apache 30 along with a 350 hp 396 out of a ’67 Chevelle. It had a big shifter out of the floor. It turned almost 90 degrees back near the top before the knob. Didn’t know what is was and took a little time to figure out how to drive it. I paid $200 for the truck. It had been sitting for a long time. We got it to start and it was in gear. It spun the tire and spit out the cinder block holding it ! We were in front of it, nobody driving. I yanked the coil wire ! Anyway, put the shifter all the way forward was reverse, or park when not running. Pull 1 back was 1st. Pull again was 2nd, again was 3rd, Pull 1 more was all 4 automatically. But it didn’t shift until revs were way up. So very violent. I discovered, when in 4th. You could putt away, lift off the gas and twist the shifter to the side and back it would shift like butter. So really it was a manual shift no clutch.