Projects Is the flight-o-matic the same as the ford-o-matic/cruise-o-matic?

Title says it all. Are these transmissions the same?

 

I don't know. But, Ford used the Ford-O-Matic & Cruise-O-Matic names for years on different automatic transmissions.
There might be similarities to the Studebaker transmission, but I'd be surprised if there was much, if any parts that would interchange.
-Dave

 

Thanks.

I found this bit on Wikipedia: "When Studebaker ran into financial difficulty in the mid-1950s, Studebaker turned to Ford and licensed the less expensive Ford-O-Matic, rebranded it as the Flight-O-Matic, and dropped the DG transmission from its line-up."

But I haven't been able to confirm if they are mechanically the same or not. Might be looking for a floor shift for one if so.

 

Here's a page out of a 1966 Hollander interchange book.

In the late 70's Just out of high school I worked in a trans shop, Now that was a long time ago but I thought these were made by borg warner and sold to different carmakers

 

The early (through '58) Ford-o-matic and Cruise-o-matic were essentially the same trans. Both were three speeds, with the major difference being the Ford-o-matic started out in 2nd gear (unless the throttle was fully mashed from a standstill), otherwise low gear had to be selected manually. It had PRNDL detents. The Cruise-o-matic had an additional detent (D1) that caused it to start in first. The D2 detent started in second, with low still manually available. Detents were PRND2D1L. With the addition of 'Select Shift' (Detents of PRND21) it became the FMX. Externally they all looked almost identical, featuring cast-iron main cases, with early versions having cast-iron tailshaft housings/Bells, the later ones switched to aluminum.

In '59, Ford replaced the 3-speed Ford-o-matic with a 2-speed version. This version used an aluminum case IIRC. Replaced by the C4 in '64, although it carried over part way into '65 before finally disappearing.

 

Somewhere along the line they made a Merc O Matic. Probably the same as the Ford one. I remember a salesman telling my father it had a Merc O Matic, but it was a Mercury.

 

I seem to recall that Toyota used this transmission too.

 

From 1956 up the cast iron Studebaker trans is pretty much the same as the Fordomatic or Mercomatic transmissions, almost all parts are identical

 

The way I heard it Studebaker developed their own automatic in cooperation with Borg Warner. Ford wanted to buy it but Studebaker refused. I believe they later made their own version, or bought it from BW.

The BW transmission was used by Studebaker and AMC in the US, and was practically the only auto trans in Britain in the fifties and sixties and was used by Jaguar, Austin, and others.

It would be interesting to know how similar these are and if parts interchange. The above Hollander manual seems to indicate they do. Flightomatic was Studebaker, Flashomatic was AMC, Cruiso Merco and Edsel are self explanatory, does anyone know who used Turbodrive and Multi - drive? Could Checker be in there?

 

Turbo-Drive was Lincoln and the other is 'Multi-drive' Merc-O-matic