Whatever Happened to: Pushbutton Transmissions

Published on April 20th, 2009

Pushbutton Transmissions I Remember JFK: A Baby Boomer’s Pleasant Reminiscing Spot

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.

32 users responded in " Whatever Happened to: Pushbutton Transmissions "

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# 1 Poppa Boner said, on April 20th, 2009 at 9:33 am

The ‘64 Dodge Dart had a great push button transmission, the slant six hauled ass.

# 2 McCullough said, on April 20th, 2009 at 9:39 am

One of my best friends first cars. A 62 (I think) Studebaker with 3 speed push button tranny. Used to be a Yellow cab.

# 3 SparkyOne said, on April 20th, 2009 at 9:46 am

My favorite was my 1961 Plymouth Valiant, an A-body with button activated auto-transmission and a slant 6.

# 4 jim said, on April 20th, 2009 at 10:56 am

They need to bring back fins.

# 5 Rabble Rouser said, on April 20th, 2009 at 12:20 pm

Yeah… try adjusting the linkage on one of those damn push button shifts! I had one in an old Valiant, and Rambler, and they were the worst POS on the planet!

# 6 Mojo Yugen said, on April 20th, 2009 at 12:25 pm

Seems like a good place to plug a Greg Brown song:

“It’s got a push-button transmission, hardtop convertible, 4-door.
It’s November of ‘63
and the brand new Dodge is a ‘64″

I mean how many other songs feature push-button transmissions?

# 7 sargasso said, on April 20th, 2009 at 12:37 pm

In Soviet Russia, you push car not button.

# 8 Old Times said, on April 20th, 2009 at 2:03 pm

My father had a 63 Dodge Polara. Push button transmission was on the left side of the steering column, the heater was on the right side.

I heard what killed the push button transmission was the Federal Government. They would not order any vehicles with the push button transmission, as the federal employees couldn’t adapt from one vehicle with a column shifter while another vehicle had a push button transmission. No federal orders = change the style to what sells!

# 9 Mark T. said, on April 20th, 2009 at 3:18 pm

The USSR diplomats has the Gaz-13 Chaika limousine. It had a pushbutton transmission:

http://tinyurl.com/d2jt7n

They showed this on the BBC show Top Gear. James May was driving and tried to engage reverse by pushing the reverse button. The button popped loose and fell deep inside the dashboard making it impossible to engage reverse. They were stuck.

So much for pushbutton transmissions.

# 10 Paddy-O said, on April 20th, 2009 at 4:47 pm

When I was about 13 my brother & I bought a Dodge station wagon for $.50 that had a push button trans. Ran great.

# 11 Niyoko said, on April 20th, 2009 at 5:01 pm

LOL I remember a recent episode of BBC’s TOP GEAR that was test driving Russian made cars. They had one with the push button and the Reverse button went through the dash, hahahaha

# 12 Blues said, on April 20th, 2009 at 5:08 pm

Modern F1 cars efectively have a push button transmission. It’s a couple of small levers mounted to the steering column just under the steering wheel. Pull up one lever to change up and the other to change down. Many high end European muscle cars come equipped with the same system.

# 13 Ron Larson said, on April 20th, 2009 at 6:29 pm

A nominate a worthy successor to this stupid idea… the BMW iDrive.
http://tinyurl.com/c3xok2

# 14 BigBoyBC said, on April 20th, 2009 at 7:23 pm

I don’t know much about cars, I was wondering that with computers in cars and modern transmission technology. Is there still a need for manual transmissions?

# 15 Mark T. said, on April 20th, 2009 at 8:20 pm

There is no real need for manuals anymore but they ARE more fun.

Personally, I am surprised that no one has managed to work out an efficient and functional infinitely variable speed transmission yet. I would have thought that the use of computers would have made it a viable option by now.

I think there have been a couple of attempts but none of them have been widely adopted. I suspect that they have very poor lifespans and that their function is too novel for people to grasp and accept.

I bet that an IVT would be ideal for an electric car.

# 16 BubbaRay said, on April 20th, 2009 at 8:49 pm

#15, A CVT (continuously variable transmission) is available today.

Newer hybrids, such as the Toyota Prius and Camry, the Honda Insight, and newer-model Ford Escape Hybrid SUVs use CVT to maximize fuel efficiency.

No transmission is required for pure electric vehicles, one motor per wheel, startup torque is nearly 100% obviating the need for a transmission.

# 17 Steve said, on April 20th, 2009 at 9:49 pm

What a great voice. I liked the applause at the end of the spiel.Just like the infomercials of today only somewhat dignified by in comparison.

# 18 brendal said, on April 20th, 2009 at 11:24 pm

Easy!

One answer: toddlers

# 19 Uncle Patso said, on April 21st, 2009 at 1:10 am

My mother had a 1953 Dodge with the first V-8 engine Dodge offered. It was nearly impossible to stall that car. The radio weighed about 40 – 50 pounds and had 8 or 10 tubes in it.

Remember the ‘54 – ‘56 (I think it was) Cadillac that had the gas tank filler cap under one of the tail lights? I always thought that was such a cool gadget! See it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Coupe_de_Ville

and scroll down to “Gallery of 1954 Cadillac Coupe deVille”. You would press that red button between the red and clear portions of the tail “finlight” and the red part would open upward revealing the filler cap underneath. (Except I think it was on the left light.)

# 20 PeterR said, on April 21st, 2009 at 1:31 am

#15: Personally, I am surprised that no one has managed to work out an efficient and functional infinitely variable speed transmission yet.

The Dutch car maker DAF (eventually sold off to Volvo) used to make excellent little cars with continuously variable transmission, called Variomatic (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variomatic). I’ve driven several and it was a neat system, once you got used to the engine revs increasing as the car’s speed decreased. The transmission is now used on some other cars (see the Wiki article).

# 21 BubbaRay said, on April 21st, 2009 at 2:23 am

#19, Uncle Patso, I used to work at my grandfather’s gas station as a “fillup guy” and I remember those well. In those days, hiding gas caps was a complete art. Behind license plates, under taillights, etc.

# 22 Thomas said, on April 21st, 2009 at 2:49 am

Now we have this site to push our buttons.

# 23 Paddy-O said, on April 21st, 2009 at 5:45 am

# 21 BubbaRay said, “In those days, hiding gas caps was a complete art. Behind license plates”

When I was about 12 I worked at a station. I hated the ones behind the lic plates because it would slosh back and sometimes shoot out the filler hole.

# 24 MotoMan said, on April 21st, 2009 at 7:22 am

For the last couple of model years, the Yamaha FJR1300 motorcycle has had an electric shift option. I’ve no idea how well they’re selling.

# 25 moss said, on April 21st, 2009 at 8:06 am

Dodge and DeSoto and Chrysler introduced their version the same time as Packard. Packard’s was driven by an electric motor – Chrysler Corp used mechanical pushrods.

The standard demo for the Desoto – since they’d come out the with DeSoto Automatic model in ‘54 – was to floor the car in reverse in a parking lot aimed for a wall, then, punch it [or shift it] into drive about 20 feet before you hit the wall and burn rubber till you changed direction to forward.

Not with your own car, of course.

# 26 SVT_Wruby said, on April 21st, 2009 at 9:56 am

the new Jag XF essentially has a PB Trans.

Dubbed the “JaguarDriveTM Selector”, its a cool knob that rises out of the console when you start the car.

Also the MB 7 Speed Trans has an odd lever on the steering column of some models that is essentually a selector switch.

Along with the increasing use of electric parking brakes, the push button transmission is here!

# 27 howzitjoe said, on April 21st, 2009 at 10:08 am

I actually took driver’s ed with a push-button Valiant. Our family car was a 57 Chevy Bel-Air 283 which you could lay rubber with if you revved the engine then dropped it into low with the automatic. Of course I never told dad…
I ended up buying a 65 Rambler Classic who’s one redeeming valve was that the front seats reclined all the way back turning it into a bed.

# 28 alphanumeric said, on April 21st, 2009 at 1:40 pm

Actually they’re making a comeback through the big rig industry.

All new big rigs are going automatic and they’re all push button.

And like back in the day they are still pieces of crap.

# 29 Luc said, on April 21st, 2009 at 4:03 pm

What the hell is “an emergency move for the horn”? I only know emergency moves for the brake and on the steering wheel. Morans who go for the horn instead of the brake deserve to die. Too bad they usually take someone else with them.

# 30 wrench said, on April 22nd, 2009 at 5:11 pm

My first car, a 56 Plymouth had a pushbutton transmission. One wild night out drinking with the boys, I found out what happened when I put it into reverse at 60mph. Sort of miss that old car.

# 31 Art said, on April 22nd, 2009 at 8:31 pm

BigBoyBC said, on April 20th, 2009 at 7:23 pm

“I don’t know much about cars, I was wondering that with computers in cars and modern transmission technology. Is there still a need for manual transmissions?”

Real men drive stick shifts (MANuals), girlie men drive automatics (said in my best Arnold voice). Show me an automatic that can downshift automatically to power thru a turn. Show me an automatic that doesn’t downshift when you accelerate slightly to get in the left lane on the freeway, revving the engine, thereby giving the guy in the middle lane, that you just swung around, the idea that you want to race. I could go on and on …

In my car, as in my office, I am in charge, not the computer!

# 32 Kris said, on April 23rd, 2009 at 9:02 am

Forget about 1950s and 60s. I rented a 2006 Taurus that had sun shades that obscured the rearview mirror and when you turned the steering wheel, you couldn’t possibly see the gear display as it was totally obscured by the steering wheel. Came in handy when parking…..

And the previous generation of Citroen C5, circa 2006, had a handbrake operating FRONT wheels, handy in emergencies…..

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