Good explanation. The three speed manual here is the most rare type of Fluid Drive. Very easy to teach someone how to drive a manual with this system. Cab and city driver's generally just left it in second gear, going from traffic light to traffic light. It took a load off from the constant clutching and shifting. It was a welcome marvel in it's day. The other version of Fluid Drive was more automatic. It had two ranges, a Low Range and a High Range. Normal driving was done in High Range. With that version there were two gears in each range, and once you had started off to shift into the higher gear you just lifted your foot off the gas pedal and waited for a Click sound indicating that it had shifter to into the higher gear and then reapplied the gas pedal.

I, pretty much, learned to drive on a '48 Dodge D-24 with Fluid Drive. It was a hand-me-down car from my grandfather to my older brother. I had already mastered a standard 3-speed manual '53 Pontiac, earlier. But, to actually get out on the road and drive, the '48 Dodge was the one I learned to drive with. Among the many things you could do with the Fluid Drive, you could also upshift without depressing the clutch. You could stop on an upward grade and, thanks to the fluid torque converter, start without the car rolling backward if you kept the clutch out. Plus, while rolling at speed, 50-60-65, the ride was smoother than other cars, since the Fluid Drive absorbed the vibration from the engine, and subsequently, the ride was quieter. That old '48 had factory turn signals, a nice-sounding radio, and when driving at night, the lighted speedometer would change colors with increasing speed. 0-35 green, 35-60 white, over 60 red. The heater and defroster were excellent, and the windshield wipers were electric. One thing that puzzled me, in those days, was why Chrysler products used a positive ground for the 6-volt electrical system? Found out, later on, that the electrical system worked better that way, with fewer problems with the voltage regulator. For the money, those Dodges were very nice cars.

So it has a clutch, but you don’t have to use it! That’s cool! I am surprised they don’t have something like that now!

It must be a satisfying driving experience

I recently acquired a 1947 DeSoto S11 sedan with Fluid -Drive in similar original condition to the Dodge shown here. I had to familiarize myself with this feature. I had always thought Fluid-Drive was kind of a glorified standard with a few automatic-like features, but was surprised to learn that it is much more automatic than I expected. The DeSoto has three gear positions, essentially reverse, forward low, and forward high. In addition, it has a feature marketed as "Tiptoe Shift", which allows two speeds for each of the forward gears. As Lookey Who describes, you can shift in each of these positions by momentarily letting up on the accelerator and then pressing down again. At stops, you do not need to depress the clutch or release it when moving forward again, and can take off in whatever gear you were in when you stopped. The original owners manual still present in the glove box advises that in normal conditions the driver can take off in the high gear position. What this means is that once I get the car backed up, I can shift to high, release the clutch, and go on down the road, upshifting to fourth gear by releasing and reapplying the accelerator. I drove all around our small town (many stops) in such a manner without ever touching the clutch, although it took some restraint to keep my foot off of it. As the presenter advises, it's not quick, but it gets the job done.

It's true, most people driving today have never seen a 3 speed, column mounted manual trans car. Even fewer have seen a 4 speed on the column. Yup, they existed. Friend's father had a early 60s Ford with a 4 speed on the column.

In the sixties, my father had a '49 Dodge coupe as a 'work car'. It had Fluid Drive and I can remember as a child how smooth it was, compared to his older Rambler w/3 speed and OD.

When I was 18 in 1970 I acquired my Grandad’s ‘51 1/2ton B series pilothouse pickup with Fluid Drive (the fluid coupling, just like the car in this video, not Torque Drive). In snow, mud, and off-road, it was an amazing feature. I loved that truck, and foolishly sold it when I had a job transfer and couldn’t take it with me. Of all the cars and trucks I have had and sold since, that PU with the Fluid Drive is the only one I truly regret selling and wish I had back! When I talk to car guys about it, maybe 1 in 100 have any idea what I’m talking about. Thanks for a great video.

I remember a VW commercial on TV about 1970, where they showed a guy shifting it like a 4 speed. Then a woman got in & put it in 4th gear, & drove it like an automatic. I can remember if it had a clutch or not. I don't recall them showing one. Just the guy driving it hard, jamming gears, then the lady driving slow & sensible.

Dodge advertised the fluid drive as a suggested option for their delivery vehicles. A milkman could put a truck in second gear, drive from house to house without shifting, and just set the massive parking brake after stopping. Car owners could drive in town in stop and go traffic in second and avoid shifting, too. But the early successful automatic transmissions forced Chrysler to develop the -flite series of transmissions, which were great.

This brings back early childhood memories. I remember riding in a black car which I learned later was a '46 Dodge. My dad got it as a hand-me-down from his parents, and traded it in for a blue '51 Dodge Wayfarer 2D sedan, and both cars had the same engine and transmission as the one in this video. I was only 3 when the new car came along, and it was a few more years before he could explain the mechanics of the car so I could understand it.

Under normal conditions Dodge recommended you only use second and third gear starting in second and only having to make one shift. First gear in a fluid drive was only recommended for steep hills towing and conditions of mud and gravel.

The Mopar "fluid drive" of "the era" was a slow, MAYBE cumbersome transmission that WORKED FOREVER! Repair shops would have GONE BANKRUPT waiting for this to fail! They were simple, NOT fast, BUT THESE ALWAYS WORKED!

Why didn't this become a standard for all manual cars??? BTW, I'm 62 and I've not seen the three on a column shifter since I was with my grandma back in the early 60's. Love it!!!!!!

This is the original Fluid Drive introduced about 1940. As this shows Dodge stayed with this in their post war cars. Dodge eventually also offer this with the 4 speed semi automatic gearbox , a combination they called Gyromatic Fluid Drive in early 50s cars . In order to get better acceleration they introduced a variable vane torque converter in place of the fluid coupling when the V8 engines came into use. They called this Fluid Torque Drive.

I had a 1950 Dodge with the 3 speed Fluid Drive. Like the one in the video, not the more sophisticated drive that was available. To say it was slow, is an understatement when starting in third. Dead slow. You couldn't merge with any kind of traffic flow when left in 3rd. Maybe adequate 70 - 80 years ago. I drove it as a 3 speed and it was OK. Thanks for the video.

This is an interesting video on a car transmissions that most people have never heard of. I had not heard of a three speed column shift with a torque converter and clutch pedal before this. Since I was born in 1951 I saw a number of cars that had the regular three speed column shift with clutch pedal and no torque converter.

We had one of these when i was a kid, i never knew what fluid drive was other than written on the back bumper. Thanks for teaching me in a clear easy to understand video

I had a number of these normally you only used second and third gears first was for starting on hills. You would bring it to a stop in 3rd gear shifte to second and take your foot off the clutch you then started out in second gear and only had to make one shift this was Chrysler's recommended usage for this transmission. First gear was not used 90% of the time.

Love those old Dodges. When I was a young boy (16) our neighbor had a four door Dodge Cornet. A beautiful little car. Best I can remember, you could push in the clutch and start off in high gear or maybe low but... Once you got the car to going you let off on the gas pedal, you would hear a clicking sound and it would shift into high. When that happened you never had to use the clutch again. It was supper fun to drive. Wish I had that old car. She was a beauty, a beautiful lady. 😊

Very cool!! My first car was a '47 Dodge 4 dr sedan. Same drive line!!

I used to put it I. Second gear and leave it in the city .. for stop and go traffic .

That was very interesting!

Very interesting this transmission, good demonstration and video.

This was helpful - I just bought a 52 with fluid drive - good info!

The Fluid Drive had a hydraulic coupling that was the predecessor to the torque convertor, in that it did not multiply torque. IIRC the later ones did use torque convertors.

It's crazy (to me) to think that the Model T from 1909 through 1927 had a planetary gear set that used bands to apply it's two forward speeds, or reverse. Why then did we move away from planetary sets for the better part of 30 years only to re-establish them in "modern" automatic transmissions? In the interim years, nobody thought about coming up with a column-shifted, planetary drive? With a fluid coupler, there would be no need for a clutch. The shifter on the column would apply either via linkage, or even hydraulics to apply whichever band or clutch the driver required similar to the Model T. There would be no gear clashing since everything would remain in constant mesh. Eventually, they would have devised a way to shift the unit automatically, thereby giving birth to the modern "automatic" transmission.

Thank you for demonstrating this technology .. keep going bro

A very interesting video. Sixty-six years later my ‘12 Chrysler 200 Touring convertible has the 62TE transaxle with the autostick feature which allows some manual shifting as well if desired.

A few years ago we worked on a 1950 with fluid drive. Had a blown engine and the guy I worked for had one that was new yes I said new. We took it apart just to put new rings in it because from sitting so long with oil in the cylinder got a sticky. It turned out that the engine used a different crank and had to reuse the original so we took it apart again but in the end we got everything working like new. It was quite an experience to say the least

I had a 54 Dodge with fluid drive. You could put the car in first gear with the brake on and let the clutch out keeping your foot on the brake. You could then accelerate normally and when the rpms got too high, just let off the gas and it would shift into second gear. Would work this way in second gear as well. The car you are driving would work the same way but things are forgotten over the years.

I believe turn signal were required on all new cars in the United States starting in 1954.

"THREE ON THE TREE"..that's the slang term for it

The Bruno Drive is a modern interpretation of the concept. It allows the adaptation of a torque convertor to a manual transmission in drag racing applications

I keep thinking the transmission like this with the shifter on the floor would be great for bracket racing.

QUE BELLOS RECUERDOS, MI PADRE COMPRÓ UN DODGE 46 EN 1970 Y LO DISFRUTAMOS MUCHO TIEMPO, VIAJES, PLAYA, CINE,... ÉRAMOS NIÑOS Y CABÍAMOS TODOS, HASTA NUESTROS CUATRO PERROS, YÁ ÉRA UN CARRO VIEJO PERO PARECÍA NUEVO.... AHHH, NUNCA NOS DEJÓ TIRADOS..!!!

That was fascinating!

Road to school in a fifty four Dodge that had this system in it, and it worked fine

My first car was a 46 DeSoto with hy-drive 2 speed with high and low range on the accelerator pedal.

I really wish they would bring back the fluid drive transmission it’s in between manual and automatic like it’s not to hard and not to boring it’s just right and you can have it gear 1 and there is no need to put your foot on the clutch and it won’t stall at all and can shift into gear two with putting your foot on the clutch and the only time you need to put your foot on the clutch is when you are changing into gear 3 and that’s it so please bring it back it may be what we need to make things not so boring in the world

I have a 1947 Dodge. Do you know where I can get the semi-fluid torque rebuilt? Thank you.

There was no torque advantage to fluid drive it only slipped at low rpm. I owned a 47for three years. 83 mph was as fast as it would go down hill you could put it in second and drive it in stop and go traffic just using the gas and brake

In 1970 I inherited my grandpa's 1941 Chrysler Windsor that I had ridden in all my life, and drove it for years. This video does not show starting up in low gear, lifting the foot from the accelerator so as to prompt the transmission to automatically shift to the higher gear, the whole idea of Fluid Drive! For quick starts, I would start up in 1st, lift my foot going to 2nd, then use the clutch to shift into high (4th?). If I started out in 1st and immediately clutch-shifted to the other range, it would go to 3rd, allowing me to lift-pedal and auto-shift to 4th. More relaxed, I would sometimes stop in high gear, and let the car start up from 3rd gear, lifting my foot to auto-shift to 4th. I might have been wrong, the two lever positions might have represented 1st-2nd and 2nd-3rd (never could tell if the lower-high gear was the same or different from the higher-low gear). But the final method shown in the video, where the car starts from stop in 3rd gear and continues with no further shifting doesn't look right. I recall always going through at least 2 gears, possibly 3, on the way to cruising. Was the shifting method changed from '41 to '46?

What name of the company who rebuild the fluid couplings

If a transmission clutches by fluid coupling, what is clutch pedal stands for?

I would bet my paycheck those Miles are actual. Bear in mind people and cars back then simply did not drive 100,000 miles.

Does anyone know what the shift pattern would be on 53 Plymouth hy-drive. I just bought a car with one and I’m struggling to understand the function fully

In Australia we Called the gear Shift A Three On The Tree 5:20

Who rebuilds them

1942 M5 US light tank ... Twin Caddy V8s w/ Hydra-Matics

What is that thingy on top, in the middle of the dashboard? Some kind of defroster vent?

Had a 52 dodge pu worked great in town I'd use 2nd

I had a 48 dodge with that tranny. Took a bit to get used to letting my foot off the clutch while in gear at stop lights.

What is that knocking sound when you first take off?

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ppOnmayj2by5nZ8.html in this video it shows her not having push clutch the fluid drive but I know you have to do that to engage it in first

I was telling a guy about this transmission and this video.. He said that he had heard that cars with this transmission do not have a "Park" function, like other cars, and that you REALLY have to remember to put your parking brake on because the tranmssion has no park to help hold the car. Is that correct?

Do you know what fluid to use in the fluid drive I have a 1942 d22 and I have never found anyone with that knowledge

I have. But I’m 72yrs Old huh haaaa

The steering wheel is crooked even on a straight road.

How does that work on a hill or an incline?

good condition except for the exhaust system.

Do the old cars need to go in 2nd before 1st

The steering is really crooked

Fluid coupling was just that..no torque multiplication whatsoever.check ur specs 🤪

I MUCH PREFER the "fluid drive" to ANY "modern electronic system"! These WORKED FOREVER! The "electronic wonders" NEVER WORK FOR VERY LONG!

Massive buffer,buffer,buffer UNWATCHABLE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!