Early Hydra-Matic Users: Many Non-GM Automakers Bought This Pioneering Automatic Transmission

 

Although Hydra-Matic Drive was developed and manufactured by General Motors, GM’s Detroit Transmission Division also sold Hydra-Matic transmissions to outside automakers, including most of the U.S. independents and even Lincoln. Here’s a rundown of the many users of the early Hydra-Matic.

 

Because Oldsmobile was the first GM division to offer Hydra-Matic Drive (for the 1940 model year), there’s a common misconception that Oldsmobile designed and manufactured the transmission. In fact, the Hydra-Matic project began at Cadillac in 1932 and then became a corporate Engineering Staff program, led by Earl A. Thompson, the same engineer who had developed Synchro-Mesh and sold it to GM.

 

Oldsmobile did play a role in the project: Olds general manager Charles L. McCuen and chief engineer Harold T. Youngren (later engineering director for Ford) thought the concept was interesting enough that they offered to provide engineering and testing support to the small corporate team. However, Oldsmobile didn’t have a transmission plant — in this era, they bought manual transmissions from Buick, which did — nor did they have the resources to establish one for such a complicated piece of hardware.

 

In the spring of 1939, when Hydra-Matic was deemed ready for production, GM established an entirely new division to take over manufacturing, production engineering, and product development. The new Detroit Transmission Division established its initial production facilities in the bottom three floors of a building on Riopelle Street in Detroit.

 

Detroit Transmission was a supplier division, selling complete transmissions to various customers. In recognition of Oldsmobile’s role in bringing the project to fruition, Hydra-Matic was an Olds exclusive for its first year (an irregularly applied GM policy in this era). Oldsmobile received its first production transmissions in October 1939.

 

A year later, Cadillac became the second Detroit Transmission customer, offering Hydra-Matic as an option on the 1941 Cadillac line.

 

Detroit Transmission devised a modified version of Hydra-Matic for Cadillac, with various internal changes and a greater torque capacity. Civilian production shut down for the duration in February 1942, but in 1943, Detroit Transmission adapted the Cadillac version as the Hydra-Matic 250-T, which was used with Cadillac V-8 engines in various wartime light tanks and other military vehicles. Detroit Transmission also made the unrelated Torqmatic torque converter transmissions used in wartime medium tanks and tank destroyers.

 

When civilian passenger car production resumed in fall 1945, Detroit Transmission consolidated the previous Hydra-Matic iterations into a single version with many improvements based on wartime and prewar experience. Oldsmobile and Cadillac both used the revised transmission with minor changes.

 

In 1947, Pontiac decided to offer Hydra-Matic as well. It became optional for 1948.

 

In 1949, Detroit Transmission announced its fourth and most unexpected civilian customer: Ford’s Lincoln-Mercury Division, which was interested in Hydra-Matic for Lincoln and possibly also Mercury. GM agreed to supply Hydra-Matic transmissions to Lincoln-Mercury, which made the transmissions available as a factory option on the 1949 Lincoln. Advertising Age reported:

Benson Ford, vice-president of the Ford Motor Co. and general manager of the Lincoln-Mercury division, said: “To the proven quality of the 1949 Lincoln and Lincoln Cosmopolitan cars, we have added a proven automatic transmission, the Hydra-matic [sic], which is backed by millions of miles of operation.”

The statement was unique since the millions of miles Mr. Ford spoke of were put on by users of his competitor’s product, General Motors’ Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Cadillac.

There was no secret about the origin of the new Lincoln automatic, which Lincoln-Mercury marketed under the Hydra-Matic name, even proclaiming it “the world’s finest automatic shifting”:

 

Lincoln-Mercury never offered Hydra-Matic on Mercury cars, but it became optional for the 9EL Lincoln and Lincoln Cosmopolitan late in the 1949 model year.

 

The Lincoln Hydra-Matic transmission worked just like the ones in contemporary GM models, with the same NDLR shift pattern.

 

At this time, Ford Motor Company was working with Borg-Warner to develop Ford-O-Matic/Merc-O-Matic, but that transmission wasn’t ready yet. It also didn’t have enough torque capacity for the big 337 cu. in. L-head V-8 used in the 1949–1951 Lincoln (which was borrowed from the Ford F-8 truck line), or for the all-new OHV V-8 introduced for 1952. So, Lincoln used Hydra-Matic through 1954, and it was actually standard for the last two years. Total Lincoln Hydra-Matic production was 185,473.

 

In September 1949, Detroit Transmission began its move to a new and much larger plant in Livonia, Michigan. The division also began supplying transmissions to a second outside automaker: Nash, which made the GM automatic optional on the Nash Ambassador beginning in 1950 and the Statesman beginning in 1951.

 

Nash actually added external Hydra-Matic badges to cars so equipped:

 

From 1953, Hydra-Matic also became optional on the compact Nash Rambler.

 

According to Harlow Curtice, Kaiser-Frazer expressed interest in Hydra-Matic before Nash (Richard Langworth said the Kaisers had been after the GM automatic since 1947), but with many 1949 Kaiser and Frazer leftovers being reserialed as 1950 models, Kaiser-Frazer didn’t actually begin offering Hydra-Matic until 1951. It then became optional on both the Frazer Manhattan and the redesigned 1951 Kaiser.

 

The Frazer Manhattan was short-lived (it was contrived to use up leftover Kaiser bodies), but the new Kaiser would offer Hydra-Matic through 1955.

 

In all, Kaiser and Frazer Hydra-Matic production totaled 73,267 units.

 

Hudson began offering Hydra-Matic on the Commodore and Hornet in 1951 and on the Pacemaker/Wasp beginning in 1952.

 

The green Hornet pictured above, which has Hydra-Matic and Twin H-Power for its 308 cu. in. six, was once owned by actor Steve McQueen.

 

Hydra-Matic was also optional for the compact Hudson Jet in 1953 and 1954.

 

In April 1953, Kaiser merged with Willys-Overland and began plans to consolidate production in the Willys plant in Toledo, Ohio. Following the merger, Hydra-Matic became optional on the pricier versions of the compact Willys Aero line, the Aero-Ace and Aero-Eagle. It remained available through the end of Willys compact production in 1955, but Willys Hydra-Matic production totaled only 4,784 units.

 

Starting in 1953, the latest Dual-Range Hydra-Matic also became optional on GMC light trucks.

 

Introduced for passenger cars for 1952, Dual-Range Hydra-Matic was not a completely new transmission, but a new control layout that allowed the driver to limit the use of the higher gears. Despite the name, there were now actually three drive ranges, using first and second; first, second, and third; and all four gears.

 

On August 12, 1953, the Detroit Transmission plant in Livonia burned down after a worker’s acetylene torch ignited a tank of flammable rust inhibitor. The fire was an enormous disaster, resulting in six deaths and 15 serious injuries, and it shut down Hydra-Matic production for almost three months. GM arranged to lease part of Kaiser’s massive Willow Run plant in Ypsilanti, which Kaiser was now looking to dispose of, and Hydra-Matic production resumed on November 4. Less than a week later, Kaiser announced that it was selling Willow Run to GM for $26 million. GM used the plant through 2010.

 

After Hydra-Matic production resumed, Hydra-Matic also became optional on Chevrolet light trucks.

 

(I unfortunately have no production figures for the truck Hydra-Matic.)

 

Rolls-Royce had expressed interest in Hydra-Matic in 1946, but was determined to obtain a manufacturing license to build the transmission in Crewe rather than buying them from Detroit Transmission. They eventually secured a satisfactory deal, but it wasn’t until the autumn of 1953 that Rolls-Royce had its own production up and running. In the meantime, they purchased a small number of complete transmissions from Detroit Transmission Division, which were installed in 1952 and 1953 Rolls-Royce and Bentley export cars.

 

GM records indicate that Rolls-Royce purchased 633 complete transmission, 305 in 1952 and 328 in 1953. After that, Rolls-Royce and Bentley automatics (which were NOT marketed as Hydra-Matic) were made in-house. The Rolls-Royce version, though based on the Dual-Range Hydra-Matic, had a few differences, including a tail section adapted for the Rolls-Royce mechanical brake servo. The transmission received some more extensive revisions in 1964 for the early RHD Silver Shadow and Bentley T-Type before being phased out in favor of bought-in Turbo Hydra-Matic transmissions. However, the older four-speed automatic was still used in on the Phantom IV limousine through 1977.

 

Rolls-Royce also sold some of its in-house automatics to other British automakers, including Armstrong Siddeley and BMC. I don’t have any production figures for the Rolls-Royce transmission, which isn’t counted in GM production totals.

 

Detroit Transmission extensively redesigned Hydra-Matic for 1956. The new Model 315, sometimes called Controlled Coupling Hydra-Matic, was still a four-speed, but it had two fluid couplings rather than one, and many changes for smoother operation and greater torque capacity. It was smoother than the single-coupling transmission (which was still used on trucks into the early ’60s), but it was now frightfully expensive and weighed about 240 lb, limiting its appeal to outside customers. Only AMC adopted the dual-coupling transmission, which they called Flashaway Hydra-Matic, and only for 1957. (1956 Nash and Hudson V-8 cars used the Packard Twin Ultramatic, while six-cylinder models still offered the single-coupling Hydra-Matic.)

 

GM estimates that single-coupling Hydra-Matic production for Hudson totaled 171,119 units through July 1956, while Hudson production is estimated at 305,275. Those figures don’t include dual-coupling Flashaway production for 1957, but full-size Nash production totaled only 3,561 cars, while the last full-size Hudson totaled 4,108. Most of those cars likely had Hydra-Matic, but it wasn’t standard, so a few probably had a three-speed stick or overdrive.

 

Automotive Industries survey data for automatic transmission installation rates didn’t distinguish between Nash, Hudson, and Rambler, but I’d guess that at least half of the 109,178 Ramblers built for 1957 had Hydra-Matic.

 

The easiest way to tell the dual-coupling Flashaway Hydra-Matic from the earlier single-coupling transmission is that the Flashaway transmission had a separate Park position on the quadrant as well as separate D4 and D3 ranges.

 

For 1958, AMC dropped Hydra-Matic in favor of the cheaper Borg-Warner Flash-O-Matic.

During a Senate subcommittee hearing on antitrust and monopoly in December 1955, GM president Harlow Curtice had boasted that “anyone in the industry who desired to purchase that transmission was given the opportunity to do so,” adding, “We sell them quite extensively to other members of the industry, which is good for them, apparently, otherwise they wouldn’t continue to buy from us.”

 

That was true for a while: By November 9, 1957, when Detroit Transmission Division built its 9 millionth passenger car Hydra-Matic transmission, the division had sold about 800,000 of them to non-GM users. However, by 1958, GM had essentially priced itself out of the market.

 

Detroit Transmission Division officially changed its name to Hydra-Matic Division on October 1, 1963, around the time Turbo Hydra-Matic began rolling off the line for Buick and Cadillac. The THM would eventually be offered on a variety of non-GM cars, including Rolls-Royce and Bentley, Jaguar, and Ferrari, but it was never as ubiquitous as its predecessor was in its 1950s heyday.

Related Reading

Hydra-Matic History: GM’s First Automatic Transmission (at Ate Up With Motor)
Don’t Call It Hydra-Matic: The Rolls-Royce and Bentley Automatic Gearbox (at Ate Up With Motor)
Cohort Pic(k) of the Day: 1953 GMC Pickup With 4-Speed Hydra-Matic – First Year For Automatics In Pickups And Light Trucks (by Paul N)
Transmission History: GM’s 8-Speed Hydra-Matic and 21-Speed Twin Hydra-Matic For Big Trucks – Complex Dead End (by Paul N)
Curbside Classic: 1948 Pontiac DeLuxe Streamliner Station Wagon – At the Dawn of the Jet Age, a Varnishing Breed (by J P Cavanaugh)
Automotive History: 1951-53 Kaiser Dragon – Altered Beast (by Tom Halter)
Auction Classic: 1951 Frazer Manhattan Convertible – Four Doors Out Of Necessity, Not Virtue (by Tom Halter)
Car Show Classic: 1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan Coupe – Cadillac Thanks You, In More Ways Than One (by Paul N)
Curbside Classic: 1955 Hudson Hornet Hollywood – A Step, Down? (by Aaron65)
Curbside Classic: 1957 Nash Ambassador – Getting Its Kicks on Route 66 (by Jason Shafer)