An innovation that first appeared in 1956, and lasted until 1966, was the push-button transmission. I remember my oldest brother had a Plymouth from the early 60's that had it.
The pushbutton transmission was available in two incarnations: mechanical (pretty darned reliable) and electrical (extremely unreliable).
Packard introduced it with their 1956 Caribbean. It was the electrical one, and it had problems. If you parked on a steep hill, the shifting motor would lock up trying to get the car out of Park. It would trip a breaker, and you would be stuck. To make matters worse, when Packard's production ceased that year, the manufacturers of the shifting mechanism destroyed the tooling. Replacement parts became impossible to obtain.
The king of the boneheaded electrical shifters was the Edsel. Not only did the shifter have lots of problems, they mounted the buttons in the middle of the steering wheel! Guess what would would happen when drivers made an emergency move for the horn.
The most reliable shifters were in the Chryslers, Dodges, and Plymouths. They used mecahnical linkage to engage the various gears. In 1956, the Neutral button even started the car! You pushed it all the way in and it would engage the starter motor. A vacuum switch was supposed to disengage the motor contacts while the engine was running, but if it failed, you could grind your starter by pushing the Neutral button too hard.
The pushbuttons were like the Dallas Cowboys: people either loved them or hated them. Afficianados would make sure that the cars they bought had them, building product loyalty for Chrysler Motors.
The pushbutton option never really set the world on fire, though. In 1966 or thereabouts, the government's General Services Administration declared that any autos for government usage would have either column- or floor-mounted shifters. Chrysler dropped pushbuttons on the spot.
Today, pushbutton transmissions and the strange problems they would have (buttons pushed all the way into the dash assembly weren't uncommon) are a distant memory. But you can see a 1956 video introducing them to the world at YouTube.
Comments (4)
I can remember my brother owning a Edsel with a Barry Goldwater for President bumper sticker.Both losers!!
Posted by Mary Davis | February 17, 2007 1:07 PM
Posted on February 17, 2007 13:07
My dad bought a 1962 Plymouth Savoy with the push button transmission and the kids in my neighborhood had the gall to make fun of me for it! Like it was my choice not to have a cool stick shift. Like the family car was supposed to be a race car in the quarter mile or something. They labeled my dad's car the typewriter. What horrible kids. I never saw their family cars in the Indy 500 either!
Posted by russell | March 18, 2008 7:03 PM
Posted on March 18, 2008 19:03
My uncle had a blue plymouth with the push button transmission! I thought it was pretty neat. I certainly was to young to drive when these were popular. I do remember the on the column transmissions which are long gone. I seem to remember maybe my grandparents Chrysler having the push buttons. Cars with the push button transmissions are very collectable today!
Posted by Rivers End | May 27, 2009 5:27 PM
Posted on May 27, 2009 17:27
My mother got either a 64 or 66 white Dodge Dart with a pushbutton tranny in 68. Twas a nice car. the old slant 6 engine. I guess Chrysler forgot their annual bribe to key gov officials so as to incur that nasty requirement. Naughty boys!
It might appear as if we capitalists have a system of free enterprise but nothing could be further from the truth. Everything is carefully controlled and if ya don't play by those secret rules, you end up out in the cold. Just ask old man Tucker bout that one.
Posted by Scott Irv | May 28, 2009 9:39 PM
Posted on May 28, 2009 21:39