Your Automatic Choice (Ford Zephyr & Zodiac) - 1961 

Automatics are brilliant.

Hard to accept that such beauty inevitably fades.

And look what happened to Rolf Harris- Jake the peg......

Hahaha

Good at playing a grand piano, a foot for every pedal.

Paris Hilton could not formulate that sentence and would have no idea what any or it meant.

priestpilot Not anymore - very high number of autos in U.K. now...

Don't you believe it! Most who can afford it go for auto in the UK these days. I wouldn't be without it and adaptive cruise control. Why cripple your legs before you reach 60?

@Empire Entertainment Maybe, but they'll all have bad legs before they are 70!

Apart from the lock-up torque converter, the gear spread and differential ratio play an important role on this matter.

@@zOiNhUh True! It always depends on how well it's designed and built.

@@tamer1773 The Continuously Variable Transmission in the 1300cc Honda Brio is an absolute joy to drive, even under heavy accelleration, whereas the three speed auto transmission of the 1500cc Honda Jazz is rather surprising when accelerating, as it will desperately swap down to first gear if pedal pressure is too much.

Many people block change upwards on a 5-gear manual, so an auto (especially modern 8-ratio) is much more efficient.

Not really. Better to fall asleep driving manual than automatic!

as it should be.

Floor-mounted dipswitch

David Fraser My grandad used to wear a shirt and tie to do the gardening

It was normal then James, my Dad wore a tie just watching the TV, and my Gran didn't possess any trousers. Times have changed, sort of miss how things were.

My nanna was the same. She was always in skirts.

James So did my Grandpa. I have seen a photograph of a professional gardener wearing a shirt and tie to cut the grass of a big house. Christ it must have been hot during the summer.

Seems they always dressed up more in the UK than in the USA, maybe partly because there was less central heating there in those days.

A well known fact. YOu only had 3 speeds anyway. I drove my Dad's subaru auto thats was 5 speed and was pretty much on par with the manual. YOu need to be in the "norghties" to have that though.

The autos at that time slipped, which would have sapped power and economy. The 'lock up' torque converter didn't arrive until the 1990's

@@railtrolley Packard and Studebacker were selling lock-up torque converters in the early 1950s, and Studebaker used the Borg Warner DG series, which is, according to Wikipedia, the same transmission used in the Zepher and Zodiac, so I'd guess that Ford UK would have ordered them with lockup converters, given fuel prices over there. The one reason they might have skipped them was that the early BW-DG lockup clutches tended to kick in if you revved the engine in Park or Neutral, which could cause damage. There was a move to "simplify" automatics toward the mid 1960s, in which things like the GM 4 speed Hydramatic gave way to an industry standard of 3 speeds and a non-locking converter; even GM's beloved "switch pitch" converters were gone by 1968, so there was sort of a race the the bottom. It was not until the early 1980s that lockup converters and 4 speeds became the standard arrangement for larger American cars, and I guess they put off that change a little longer for the smaller models of that era.

@@pcno2832 I didn't know that. Studebaker often surprises by being ahead of the game - even though they did not have the resources GM does. I only knew about lock- up converters when the Turbo TH700 auto came out. I had one on a car back in the day: 1990 VQ series Holden Statesman V8. I could get 31 mpg out of the 5 litre V8 cruising at 60mph (100kmh). Tall gearing, and only 1500rpm at 60.

What about the 60' time?

Or a young Brian Clough at 4.39 .

At least in Europe. It was hard to buy a large car in N. America with a manual transmission from the early 1960s on.

10:53 whereas that smile could give me very sweet dreams.

A lot of early automatic cars from GM, ford and Chrysler didn't even have a park position as you just put the car in neutral and set the parking brake.

Some right hand drive cars in UK have/had the gearstick on the right hand side of the column back in the 50s & 60s,in that case the gear arrangement was the same as in most left hand drive cars. Column change has been rare on European cars since the 60s,especially manuals. The only one i can think of sold in Europe in the late 90s & into the 21st century with a column change was the Austrian built Chrysler Voyagers....the autos had column sticks on the right hand side in Britain & Ireland on the right hand drive vans,the manuals were floor mounted gearsticks in Europe on Voyagers....i don't think the said generations had manual as an oprtion in North America....perhaps the 80s Voyagers & Caravans there did,i can't remember. 🤔🤔

jmurray01 YEs and why? One of the only things the Americans got right in life. Automatic rules.

Yes, but that is because the early ones were not always reliable, many early auto drivers f*cked up the gear box by using kickdown too hard and too much, plus they were (and still are) too much of an expensive extra when buying a new car. More recently, some were (and still are) unreliable, especially on Fords. Nowadays, the MPG issues are less of a problem though, and many drivers these days wouldn't be without automatic and intelligent cruise control.

I will tell you one thing that they got right even then. You can get in, light up an cigar and relax with an automatic ..... (7G-tronic is amazing, I would never go back to manual, to be like a slave of car).....

I think that's pretty much true worldwide. I know it used to be economics, not sure if there are other factors.

@@bokhans I do like driving automatic but it's not really driving unless it's a manual

Even with the manual transmission there were problems, mainly with the hydraulich clutch!

I have a 1958 Zephyr Farnham automatic

+jmurray01 back in the 60's when this film was made, a lot of people still drove cars with non synchromesh gearboxes (synchromesh became standard around 1965) which meant you had to double clutch and rev match for downshifts.

colj001 True, but even then it is a skill that you can acquire and becomes natural after a while.

Nothing wrong with a column gear change. I passed my test on a Hilllman Minx with a column shift. This film just happens to use two Ford models that did have a column change.

It's the feeling of being in greater control driving manual for me!

Mersey Merlin. All the women were beautiful in this film ❤️

Stunner at 9:02 has no problem negotiating traffic even though the wolf whistlers on the back of the lorry. 😘

I believe it was in 1950 or 1951. Ford used a transmission that was from Borg Warner who built and sold automatic transmissions to Ford, Studebaker, Nash, Rambler, and many others independent automakers. The Ford Ford-O-Matic transmission was a 3 speed but started out in 2nd which stumps people into thinking it’s a 2 speed when it is a 3 speed. First gear on the Ford-O-Matic was activated when shifting it to the L or Low position on the gear selector. One feature the Ford-O-Matic had was a neutral safety switch where it wouldn’t start until the gear selector was shifted into the N position, probably was intended if someone was going to push or bump start if the battery was dead or starter got hot and no longer working.

Friction clutches in places where starts on steep hills are frequent, probably need to be changed often. A good argument for a torque converter automatic, maybe.

Easy Goin Sales of automatics in England have risen massively over the least 20 years though...

very rare in America today, I have a older Escort and had to give a visitor a ride to get groceries for his trip and he was amazed it had a 5 speed manual. with 339 k miles the 5 speed is no doubt why it still goes or at least a major reason. my other escort is a auto with 145 k and I just know it will probably have trans trouble eventually.

Interesting comment, as far as I can remember, all were 3 speed and in the USA I can recall autos were 2 speed.

Jack bassman In the 50s and 60s US automatic transmissions had 2,3 or 4 forward speeds depending on model. (although the original Buick Dyanflow technically had "none").

WAQWBrentwood Many thanks for the info, so was the buick system like the Dutch Daf belt method?

Jack bassman The Dyanflow was basically just a torque converter, Whereas some automatics used a fluid coupling (no torque multiplication) and an automatic grearbox. Most later designs (like the one in this video) combined the two. The fact that GM had multiple designs early on for automatics, spoke to a level of "real world" experimentation!

WAQWBrentwood Thanks again, you are very knowledgeable.

John Wh I would love to smell that beautiful nylon foot

Derek Hallows more and more new cars are auto now, especially in cities.

Have a look at cars sizer greater than a Golf. No manual

You mean "Lowlines"!

@@sightsounds9453 I like the highline dashboard better but the prefer lowline rear lights

These cars always looked sleek and imposing, compared to the other dumpy vehicles parading the roads (including pre-war death traps). They still look special.

It takes some discipline to do that without resting your foot on the pedal and burning the brakes up. I tend to leave my left foot on the wheel housing (it being on the left in the USA).

@@pcno2832 It's the left in the UK too!

ABSOLUTELY! What a hit-piece! Marketing can contort anything to make it unsavoury!

If the locally "Bobby" saw you doing that, you could end up in the local gray bar hotel!

Fix Or Repair Daily....

In 10 years the ICE will be a distant memory!

Early 60's when the PNDLR was replaced with PRNDL.

@@tamer1773 Thanks.

@@harrygatto YW!

1964 was the last year for PNDSLR here in the states on the big GM products with the Dual-Range HydraMatic.

@@jonathanmorrisey5771 That was also the year they banned pushbutton transmission controls. Recently, Chrysler has been selling vehicles with a knob instead of a lever, which wouldn't automatically be a bad thing, but since it operates through a the computer, the P position sometimes doesn't take, which has caused a few deaths.

Nearly-If you take a driving test in an auto- then that is all you can drive after..My Dad gave me lessons in his auto, but I had to sign with a driving school to drive manual and get the 'full' license.

That is wrong. My mother passed her test in an automatic car (Ford) in 1964. ALL cars sold in Europe of 3 litres or more are automatic and most Heavy Trucks and Semis. The only large car (Over 3 Litres) still available with a manual in the UK is your Ford Mustang.

@@anthonykeaveny8860 Not quite true.

@@tomleader7054 Mr. anthony is spinning some TALL tales!

if she is still alive...

some nice pp though lol :)

Dead as a door nail I think

These sharply focused high quality films demonstrate the Impermanence of life quite clearly. Jolly shame really.

true - too much shifting plays havoc with the legs when reaching middle age and beyond.

Autos are still boring and the engine sound is just hum hum hum so boring and sometimes it changes gears even if not necessary.

Machines can fail and won't always move when you want them to. It's manual for me!

Manual transmission is the norm here in Britain. Automatics are more popular today, but they're still a small minotity.

@@apemoon1731 it does depend where you are and the type of car. In London automatic is very popular for obvious reasons, and the vast majority of high end cars are auto.

@Empire Entertainment As an ambidextrous driver of all and sundry transmissions I can understand well entrenched preferences. However I blame the late Stirling Moss and his sister Pat Moss for creating the belief that only proper drivers use three pedals, including the double de-clutch heel and toe tap dance with associated auditory exhaust notes! And who can question their authority? . . . after all, they won the prizes for Britain.

Why?

I'd say otherwise just throw it into reverse then put it into drive. Very easy to do, makes parking easier.

It really depends on how you look at driving. If it's purely transportation, an automatic makes sense because it's the least amount of work for a driver to get from point A to point B. But a manual keeps you more engaged with what the car is doing, which is why I prefer it. The only time I don't is if I'm driving in a city like San Francisco, where there's a good chance that stopping at a traffic light means you're stopped headed up a steep hill.

Here in the UK, You take your driving test in an automatic, well thats all your allowed to drive. Not a manual gearbox or stick shift as you lot call it.

@@andisadler2897 Same in the US. Just makes sense!

@@TheOzthewiz In MA, I don't think there is such a thing as an automatic-only license. They just assume that you'll learn before taking a manual on the road.

I like driving other people's manual cars, but I've never owned one myself. Automatics are better if you like to drive with a hamburger in one hand and a drink in the center console. They are also much better in the snow, especially on hills. I also find many drivers of manual cars sort of a menace on the road: always hesitating to change gears or even worse, letting the car roll back at a light.

However, if you do city driving on a regular basis, that clutch will be pretty well worn at 50K miles, whereas an automatic (with proper maintenance) will easily last 250K miles!

Some automatics last forever and some have been absolute nightmares. Of course, some drivers are absolute nightmares for clutches and some (especially FWD and 4WD) cars can cost thousands for a clutch job.

@@pcno2832 That's about right! Bad drivers often cause bad cars, and then try to blame it on someone or something else.

Please get out.