"THE VELVET GLOVE" 1951 CHEVROLET AUTOMOBILE AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION PROMOTIONAL FILM 78424
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This 1951 Chevrolet promotional film THE VELVET GLOVE, promotes the new PowerGlide automatic transmission, first introduced in 1950. The automatic transmission, which removes the friction clutch from the driver's hands, is thoroughly explained through the use of models and a "mechanical hand" in a "velvet glove." The Powerglide is a two-speed automatic transmission designed by General Motors. It was available primarily on Chevrolet from January 1950 through 1973, although some Pontiac models also used this automatic transmission after the fire at the Hydra-Matic factory in 1953. Powerglides were used extensively on Pontiacs produced for the Canadian market with Chevrolet powertrains. When introduced on upper-level Chevrolet models in 1950, the Powerglide represented the first automatic transmission offered in a low-priced automobile; in contrast, Ford did not offer their automatic transmission until 1951, while Plymouth car buyers had to wait until 1954. The transmission was simple and very durable, which satisfied customers.
The 1950, 1951, and 1952 Powerglide transmissions did not automatically shift between low and high (direct drive) which made for very sluggish take-offs and many drivers started in "Low" and shifted to "Drive" at about 30-40 mph (48-64 km/h), which was hard on the transmission. The 1953 and later units when in "Drive" started in low and automatically up shifted to high at a speed determined by the throttle opening. By the mid-1950s, more than half of all new Chevrolets were sold with Powerglide.
This film was made by the Jam Handy Corp., makers of some of the most famous industrial films of the 20th Century.
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Great documentary. And notice how beautiful even the most humble of GM cars of the time were.
Great...glad you got to see it and appreciate it.
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I was blown away years ago when I found out that early power glides and some other transmissions had dual pumps and could be push started.
It's incredible how they explain something that we think of as mundane and everyday as being revolutionary.
Another neat period film advertisement for the Chevvies of 1951!
I've been watching many of those promotional films from 40s and 50s and I find it funny how every car brand was advertising this whole "Rocking your car free if stuck in mud" thing.
There used to be a lot more dirt roads.
@@donalddoty5768 also, since having an automatic was new, this could actually be done easier. in a manual, you'd have to push the clutch in all the way and possibly come to a complete stop depending on the model and then put it in reverse which takes a couple seconds, so just the idea of rocking your car like that must have been pretty cool.
Older cars were big and heavy with almost ALL the weight over the front wheels. Was very easy to get stuck in the snow or mud on flat ground. Rocking was a way of life for decades.
When it snows, I still need to rock to get out of deep snow. Even with traction control and front wheel drive.
Back in the day my buddy had a 1950 Chev with the "no shift" Powerglide, it felt just like the DynaFlow but much slower, so slow that my Salsbury motor scooter with a belt CVT drive would beat him off the line for about a block. The later 2-gear PG made Chevrolets driveable.
U could man shift it
The narrator is pretty-much admitting
the early Powerglides would not shift
on their own. By the 1953 model-year,
Powerglides would shift between the 2
gears on their own.
The acceleration-test with the Ford is
fudged.
60 years later people are still putting these in their new Chevys. He wasnt kidding when he said future proof
One of the best explanations of the hydramatic automatic transmission system that i've never seen
THat is not hydramatic, Hydramatic was used on Oldsmobiles, Cadillacs and Pontiacs and it is totally differnet. whyle powergrlide relyes on the torque multiplication of the torque converter for smooth albeit slugish performance, hydra matic has no torque converter but a simple fluid coupling, relying on 4 gears for torque multiplication, it had better performance but it wasn't as smooth and it was quite complex.
@@MrTheMiguelox Sorry for interrupting ...Retired Automatic Transmission tech (35yrs).
A torque converter IS a fluid coupling..
This transmission was a Powerglide.
@@packingten A torque converter is a special type of fluid coupling, the torque converter has at least 3 elements, including a stator, (powerglide and dynaflow had 5 element TC's) while the original hydramatic fluid coupling is much more simple, having only 2 elements with straight blades, instead of the curved ones on the TC, it only allows slipping but no torque multiplication.
MrTheMiguelox you are very correct in your explanation.
This video makes the 2-speed PG
sound like a Dynaflow, not
Hydramatic.
"You can find a part for a Chevrolet on any fence corner "
I remember the old timers used to say .
"With this flexible control of power, we no longer need transmission gears." Hmm...that theory didn't pan out. These days automatic transmissions typically have 6 or 7 speeds.
There are a few cars that exist with single-speed automatics. The Koenigsegg Regera, I think? And some Buick from the 60's
@@specialopsdave the Buick LeSabre is what you're thinking of
@@mannequinfukr Thank you, that's exactly what it was
PowerGlides were rock solid and ohhh that whine, engine idling in PARK! All the cars in this film were 1950 models..
Except for the 1951 convertible at 1.19.
I like the old style streetlights on Warren Avenue between Greenfield Road to the underpass viaduct, east of Wyoming Avenue, in Dearborn Michigan from 1928 to 1972, which replaced by taller streetlights, fitted with Mercury vapor lamps. There are a total of 120 new streetlights within the city of Dearborn vs the old 240 fancy streetlights that contains incandescent lights that ran along Warren Avenue. They did the right thing, even if it is 18 month ahead of Energy Crisis of 1973.
But today, they installed about 60 taller old style, but replica version of streetlights along Warren Avenue from Wyoming Avenue to Greenfield Road in Dearborn Michigan in 2002.
very fun to watch! thank you periscope films
the time when cars looked good
They absoluteli looked unique.
this era never go back again.
I see the point of R at the bottom, but had a couple close calls with an old catalina when manually shifting to low gear. 63 Pontiacs had no safety to prevent you from going into reverse
Yes, the PNDLR was eventually outlawed in favor of the PRNDL; for the exact reason you state.
_[edit: fix typo]_
inthe 50s people had to relearn how to drive an automatic trans.
While the powerglide was very smooth shifting, it needed three speeds.(powerglide had two). Gas milage took a big hit as did performance. They were very reliable.
Agree w/ @dan R
Actually this Powerglide really only had one gear with a manual Low. Most people drove the around in high gear all the time as the took off in 2nd or high and had no kick down except the manual lever.
@@Dr_Reason In 50 and 51, yes it did not shift. . In '52 it it was redesigned so that started out is low, or 1st and shifted to Drive , or 2nd itself.
What really hurt these early automatics in fuel economy was a lack of a lockup torque converter. When this film was made, there was only one lockup automatic on the market. Packard's Ultramatic transmission.
@@InflatablePlane Yes. Taht is tru on the Packard Ultramatic. The poor gas mileage was also a factor of the inefficient engines with low compression. So even manuals got terrible fuel mileage. By the late 50 and early 60's the engines were very efficient. I have a '63 Buick LeSabre with Dynaflow and it gets over 27 MPG on the highway. Lock up torque converters did not become common until the early 1980's.
Revolutionary
"And what about fuel economy?"
To quote Rainier Wolfcastle: 1 highway 0 city
I'm still mad that new automatics can't be push-started with a dead battery like the old ones
when they show manual cars - women drive them, when they show automatic - men drives it
Ok.....@ 6:20, @ 7:50, @ 10:40.
Low&park have been put together for ease when getting stuck.....
Yeah and the convenient ease of reverse while running 60...lol.
Low for super get away😁
Super getaway. i love it.
At around 11 minutes and 20 seconds, yeah let’s see you rock it from reverse to forward without letting off the gas pedal over a half dozen times and still drive away without having ripped the bands out of that antique powerglide. That was the old cast-iron housing with the enclosed driveshaft with the little trunnion caps instead of universal joint caps on the tail shaft… Not intended for yanking and jerking. And yes, I know they race power glides, but that was on up in the 60s and 70s when they were much heavier and when they were aftermarket me for parts. My opinion
I took issue with that too. Then I realized the part about staying on the gas pedal must be different than what most of us are thinking. We're thinking to step on the gas pedal about half-way down or something, but I'm sure the owner's manual said to apply light pressure on the gas pedal. As in just raising the idle when shifting between L & R and R & L.
I'm still running a cast-iron power glide in my '55 Belair and it does exactly what they say in this vid. But I don't think the '51 six would be able to beat a shoebox ford with a flathead 8 with a three on the tree. Did Ford make a shoebox with a 6? I think they did, they were probably comparing oranges with oranges for their comparison.
I also have a '66 Nova and drove it with the original aluminum power glide for decades. The engine RPM at freeway speed was deafening. It's now got a 700r4 (4 speed with locking torque converter) and with the (recently rebuilt) 230 straight 6 it's truly a wonderful car to drive. It won't win any races, but we've had it for 32 years (27 as a daily driver) and now that we have a modern car I'll be catching up on all the little stuff that needs love and giving the interior an upgrade.
Curby Weaver actually the '51 Chevy 235 made more hp and torque than the '51 ford v8 (year for year the 235 made more of both).
Christopher Spencer Wow, I'm surprised to hear that! I know the flatty was limited in RPM due to combustion chamber characteristics, but by '51 it had been improved significantly over it's original design flaws. Are you sure about that?
Curby Weaver At least on paper but of course my '51 235 is limited to about 60 mph
Christopher Spencer I have a hard time believing that a shoebox Ford with a flat 8 is limited to 60 mph. My knowledge is all academic. I own 2 flat 8's, but I've never driven anything with a flat 8 in it. I bought a '53 to put in my Studebaker truck, and I have a '34 that I was going to put in a 29/32 project, but I had a murdercycle accident and don't get out to the shop much anymore.
Curby Weaver Thats what I mean. the v8 probably had a wider power band even though the 235 made higher numbers
Imagine the ride. From Detroit to phoenix
Powerglide...Chevrolet Division's el cheapo answer to Buick's miserable Dynaflow. Although GM already had the best automatic transmission in 1938 with the four speed Hydra-Matic, Al Sloan continued to push the divisions to develop CVTs, which was something of a personal crusade for him. Buick's Dynaflow of 1948 was a miniaturization of the V-Drive automatic made by the Allison Division for Army tanks and Yellow Coach and GM transit coaches. Chevrolet knew that the automatic low gear would be needed to compete against Ford's upcoming Borg-Warner design 3 speed, but, like Buick, bought into the slushy 5 element torque converter used by Allison and Buick. Nowadays, Sloan's dream of a workable CVT is reality, and 6, 8 and 10 speed step-gear automatics have largely made the torque converter irrelevant, thus proving that GM's early embrace of the hydrokinetic drive was, at best, a stop gap technology. The automaker that brought the torque converter to its most efficient form? Chrysler, with its various Torqueflites. Oh, the torque converter DID make one industry happy...Standard Oil. Torque converters negated the improved efficiency of OHV engine designs, making cars so equipped real gas guzzlers, like the '58 Buick Super in that year's Mobil Economy Run....8 MPG overall. The same Buick, special ordered with a Saginaw 3 speed stick, got more than double that. This was foretold early with the Allison V-Drive V2s with 6-71 Detroit diesels in GM's transit buses...a 35' transit coach with the standard 4 speed Spicer close ratio gearbox....7 MPG. Same coach with V-Drive...4 MPG.
Did it really matter what the early PG or Dynaflow's got for mileage? They were pretty reliable for their time and gas was 4 gallons for a buck, so at todays gas prices in the real world, with 5,6,7,8 Spd's, very competitive. Those Hydra-Matic's were great in the day, but it was like lugging around an extra motor in the car, try R&R one of those on your back. The worst of the worst GM was the SLIM-JIM!
Buick needed a shiftless automatic transmission because its torque tube transmitted the shocks of shifts to the driver--unacceptable in a high-priced car. The Dynaflow did have one huge advantage--it took it easy on the mechanicals, making old Buicks with it good purchases. Later Dynaflows did get tightened up. The early ones did have a problem in producing too much heat, though--they have ro be avoided.
@8:10 nobody would dare try that with modern cars today, with their painted flimsy plastic bumpers... Pity.
Bumpers? What bumpers? Those flimsy plastic things should not be called bumpers!
+AlainHubert Can't do that anyway with modern automatics. The trans has to have a rear pump to pull off that trick. I think everybody eliminated the rear pumps from their automatics back in the 1960s.
AlainHubert. Also the air bag could be activated too.
@@peterwiremuormsby9383 No, it can't. Airbags are triggered based on deceleration, not direct impact.
@@jamesw1659 Ok. Thanks James W
Best transmission for a lightweight high powered race car
I can dig it!
I knew that you could.
I loathe automatic transmissions, but it's fascinating to see how they were first advertised.
Stick shift is the way to go!
My late mom once drove my late dad's Chrysler Valiant auto an never again. She said straight, "this is not driving. "
I have owned 2 vehicles with powedrglide. both worked fine but were the newer aluminum ones that shifted by them selves. the old ones you had to shift the selector yourself. not a big deal. this was the 50 dollar car in 1960 when I got my license. I have converted one to stick shift by using an adapter pilot bearing and the rest salvaged from junk yard. hole in rear of crankshaft was larger if the car came with powedrglide. The 235 engine had a tiny little bit more power than the 216 that came with standard shift. the rear end made good swap into stick shift car so you could get better mileage.
In normal opperation you just left the iron powerglide in high gear, only selecting low when absolutely necessary
@@Texassince1836 I can remember my mom sometimes putting it in "L" when she was going to make a difficult left turn in heavy traffic.
It mostly has been forgotten. Ford sued GM over the that 2 speed job. The Model T Ford had a 2 speed planetary gear, operated mechanically with the 2 pedals and the brake handle. The slush-a-glide operated in a similar fashion, only hydraulic fluid made the changes. 🙄🤔
Oops,three pedals, one was the clutch
Holy cow that's interesting
What?!! Push starting was intended?? Wow
Yes. It was very common when a battery died. Cars had heavy chrome bumpers and could take it.
Had they paired the 3 speed manual with the 3.50 rear axle used in powerglide cars, and used the same higher HP 6 cylinder the powerglide got the manual would have blown the PG away when it came to economy.
The 3 speed had 411 rear gears
infinite number of gears.......... which in reality was only 2
In those first Chevys, the trans started off in high gear making pickup even more sluggish.
Infinite came later,,, I've seen Power-Glides doing 240... with a couple modifications of course. But, Still! :D
they mean that the torque converter acts as a hydraulic cvt.
Well, 2 is binary. Our computers only use two values, 0 and 1 ... maybe they were on to something?
(not _entirely_ really, I love my 6-speed manual Acura :-)
Is there a conditioner to put in won't move in forward gears
Somebody needs to show that ford driver how to slam a three on the tree!
Did they have Sync Trans in '51? :D
They did on 2nd and 3rd
@@mikeanglada742 Ford had sync on low for the three on the tree in the Total Performance models of 1963.
How many times did he say “power glide”
You’ll slip and slide with Powerglide!
you can just put it in low and push it...dont have to pop a clutch or anything. Why dont we have that today??
A lot of newer car gear selectors don't have a physical connection to the trans so if the batteries dead your sol
hey I learn something new about . the older car with power glid . never new you could have it push in when its in gear .
The powerglide at that time had two pumps, that made it possible to push start (but as the narrator said, at 15 mph). Later units and newer designs only utilized one pump and couldn’t be push started.
@Jamie Ericcon - the cast iron powerglide had a rear pump, the aluminum powerglide introduced in ‘62 didn’t have a rear pump and could not be push started.
7:16...guy comes out and looks like he gets on the cellphone.
He does appear to!
Was these 235 engines in front of the PowerGlide splash lubricated like the 216?
Chevy monte Carlo 73 automatic transmission
the cars are 1950s a 50 ford would blow the doors off a powerglide 6 cyl chevy. I'm a chevy guy but that's a fact.
+0311RFLMN Yes, but didn't Fords have V8s then? Chevy didn't have a V8 until 1955. Or are you comparing 6-cyl with 6-cyl?
xaenon yes, but the Fords were Flatheads, not Valve-in-head, which breath much better. . .
What did you expect from those early slugboxes? It's like whinging about vacuum valve computers being slow and cumbersome...
Yet others GM cars had 3 and 4 speed automatics. Not crazy about that powerglide. Preferred the hydramatic.
Slip and slide with powerglide…
*perfect smoothness is not possible with a friction clutch and gears*
Well modern clutches are alot smoother, id much rather have a manual trans.
LoL! This is fantastic! However - automatic transmissions maybe have became inferior than the first Powerglides OR the Chevrolet engineers by the time still didn't know what was allowed to do (or NOT to do) with it. That 'swinging technique' by changing quickly from D to R (and vice-versa) without step off of the throttle is simply crazy and nasty to the transmission. With the time they even changed the R near to P to avoid people keep doing it! Also the thing about push the car in L position to force engine start is also recommended that you NEVER do that. As far as I know both things are a perfect formula to damage automatic transmissions! Scary!
The cast iron powerglide was an extremely robust unit, it handled the L R L R rocking just fine, and it was designed in a way the permitted push starting (unlike moden autos)
Old powerglides had a rear pump on the output shafts that specifically allowed for push starting. Not really hard on them at all
I took issue with that too. Then I realized the part about staying on the gas pedal must be different than what most of us are thinking. We're thinking to step on the gas pedal about half-way down or something, but I'm sure the owner's manual said to apply light pressure on the gas pedal. As in just raising the idle when shifting between L & R and R & L.
So just a torque converter, no gears at all?
Most of the time; yes.
No, the Powerglide was a two speed planetary gearbox. The torque converter can transmit torque over a wide speed range, but the car had two forward gears.
@@jamesw1659 only if you put it in low until 1953 when they made it shift from low to drive automatically
@@MrRemo58 Correct, of course. Refresh my memory: if you floored the gas, would it drop into low? I have a Thunderbird with the Borg Warner 2nd gear start three speed automatic that drops to low if you open the throttle all the way at low speed. I don't remember if the early Powerglide did the same...
@@jamesw1659 they just stayed in second unless you shifted it yourself
Slip and slide with Powerglide.
Ok..."mechanical hand" was creepy...
Longtail automatic
Better gas mileage with Powerglide? I think that's a stretch.
"Economizer Rear Axle " ??
3.36:1 vs 3.91:1.
Chevy Car Porn! :D
It's not 1951. 1950 Chevrolet in the video.
At 1:07, the announcer clearly says, "And now in 1951..."
@9:30 - Koenigsegg Regera : Hold my beer. th-cam.com/video/m_s2KIBP6CY/w-d-xo.html
One speed...
Step one of the dumbing down of America. . .
I have a '51 Bel Air with a Powerglide and its pretty horrible. Can't wait to swap the t5 in
You'll have the 5th gear Overdrive, probably an open driveline (no torque tube) and I'll bet a rear end ratio of 3.55 or lower numerically. Great combo for highway driving.
@Walt Williams lazy off the line and a fuel hog.
@Walt Williams impossible
@@MrRemo58 no it not did mine had to use 57 rearend
Ladies and Gentlemen, what happens when you combine this with 3 electric motors?
The Koenigsegg Regera : th-cam.com/video/m_s2KIBP6CY/w-d-xo.html - fastest 0-400-0 by a production car. ONE SPEED.
What a way to bring back the concept.
Wow! You mean a woman can drive it?
Power glide. So simple even a woman can operate it😂
The title here says "Chrysler Fluid Drive" then the film begins and it's now a Chevrolet - who writes these things? Idiots?
Push-start an auto transmission car?
That was a thing on almost all automatic transmissions into the mid-'60s.
Poor body shop workers in does daus
The Powerglide was a good transmission in it's day but GM & Chevrolet milked it way into the 1970's , way longer they should have. Other makes had far better transmissions while Chevy had this 2 speed dinosaur in their cars. GM saved a lot of money with this turd costing their owners fuel mileage & performance.
4thstooge
They were waiting for the patent on the "Simpson gearset" to expire rather than pay the inventors fee!
and reverse didn't last on those transmissions , was a bad design,