Try it today - the greatest. (2200x1486)

"RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht" (ramblininexile) 10/03/2014 at 09:33 • Filed to: None

1

6

The Hudson "Electric Hand" transmission. I thought only Cord did the "miniature shifter gate on the column" thing. I was wrong.

Cé hé sin > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 10/03/2014 at 09:39

0

Not just them:

Here's another one

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Cé hé sin 10/03/2014 at 09:44

0

Quite right - I'd heard of the Cotal before, but hadn't made the connection. Here's an Armstrong Siddeley, and they were used on Bugattis, Delages, and apparently quite a lot of the fancier steel across the pond. So, a lot more common than I'd realized, but still a very rare option in the US.

Cord:

Cé hé sin > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 10/03/2014 at 09:54

0

They used to describe the Cotal as having a "cherry on a stick" lever and you can see why.

I've been a passenger on buses with something like this. They were terrible things unless the driver carefully lifted the accelerator during gearchanges, which they generally didn't bother with.

kanadanmajava1 > Cé hé sin 10/03/2014 at 10:05

0

If I remember correctly the gearbox used in Cords and Hudsons (maybe others too) was made by Bendix.

Then there is Wilson from UK and even ZF from Germany that had a gearbox that was operated by a small lever. But not all of them were preselector boxes. Some did the clutch operation too. I don't remember which was which but I think that Cotal operated also the clutch and it was really complicated electro-hydraulic unit.

Cé hé sin > kanadanmajava1 10/03/2014 at 10:14

0

ZF had one?

Indeed they had.

These things were all variations on an epicyclic theme with different starting systems - clutch, one of the brakebands or in the case of buses a torque converter.

kanadanmajava1 > Cé hé sin 10/03/2014 at 14:51

0

These were all pretty expensive and Hudson was probably the most affordable car with them as all other were only used in pretty exclusive models. Its too bad as I really like idea how they work.

My Packard was originally equipped with an automated clutch. It's like total opposite of preselector system. Nearly all components have been removed (and lost) so it is unlikely that I will get it operating again.