When I was asked what was the first American automatic transmission, I tried a search on “first car automatic transmission.” I did find an interesting article on how automatic transmissions work, but no answer to your question. Next I tried “automatic transmission history” and had better results. An article on the edmunds.com web site promised history, so I shifted gears and headed to the site. The main thrust of the article was, again, how automatic transmissions work, but it started off with a little history lesson.
As I learned, automatic transmission was based on technology first developed in the early 1900s by German manufacturers of marine engines. However, it was not adapted for automobiles for several decades. In 1938, General Motors developed the first line of cars to sport automatic transmission — Oldsmobiles that offered “Hydra-Matic drive.” The cars were introduced to the public in 1940. In 1941, Chrysler followed suit and introduced three different cars that offered their version of automatic drive, “Vacamatic” (later called “Fluid Drive”). Automatic transmission was a fairly common option on most American cars by 1948.
I steered over to the official Oldsmobile site to learn more about the innovative line of cars. In the History section of the site, I found an interactive timeline that offered a bit more information about Hydra-Matic drive:
It provided true clutchless driving with four forward speeds. Its fluid coupling between engine and transmission eliminated the clutch and its associated foot work. Olds made the breakthrough Hydra-Matic available on all models for only an extra $57.
Not only was GM the first to market with automatic transmission, according to Chrysler’s site, Vacamatic was really only semi-automatic. It featured four speeds and would switch automatically between the two lower or two higher gears, but the driver needed to use the clutch to switch from a lower gear to a higher gear or vice versa.
So there you have it — in this race, Oldsmobile was the clear winner. That is my answer to the question and I’m sticking with it. Enjoy more trivia on transmissions on our blog.
