Was this ever a factory option for these years ?? Was '55 the first year for the overdrive option ?? Thanks, Steve
I think I might have seen a picture/article on a closed drivshaft OD - might have been Ford instead of Chevy........I also might have imagined I saw it....
overdrives were available for Chevrolets even earlier than 1949 from at leats 2 manufacturers. I have a brochure for one.
That Truckstell OD has gotta be one rare bird. Safe assumption that Chevy didn't offer OD as a factory installed option '49 - '54 if the aftermarket stepped in offer it. Thanks for the info. Steve
back in the day many options were dealer installed. you didn't buy a package of options from the factory like you do today. you picked them out of a book at the dealer and they put them on. 35 years of owning a 1949 I have never seen or even heard of a 49-54 that actually had one in it. back then you didn't need one since there weren't many freeways. people didn't drive very far or very fast.
It was way to keep up with Fords on the top end-most of the Chevies had 4.11 gears; the Fords 3.78. Never forget the farm kid in my area who had one in a '51/'52 Chevy, along with several other types of goodies including headers and wicked pipes. At night he'd close the Rustic (teen age bar in Ohio) and head for home-right down Second St where I lived. He'd stop at the Stop sign at the edge of town-from there to home was nothing but miles of county road. From that stop sign it was 6 gears as hard as it would run-I could hear him for what seemed like an eternity.
the Truckstell aftermarket unit is the only OD for the Chevy torque tube drivelines that I've ever heard of. Chevy never offered it.
saw one in a 50 Chevy,on a trailer, for sale at Pomona swap meet about 10 years ago....couldn't believe what I was seeing....didn't know they even made such an animal....wished I'd taken a picture....looked cool amid the closed driveline.
The first years GM installed an overdrive in their Chevrolet, Pontiac and Buick motor cars was 1955. That was also their first year with a 12 volt system. Many of the car manufacturing competitors like Ford, Mercury, Packard, Hudson and Nash had an OD system before WWII. Normbc9
I may be full of it, but weren't Caddy, Olds and Buick 12 volt in '53? With Pontiac and Chev staying with six volt until '55. Or is the senility setting in? Also, I don't recall any Buick torque-tube trannies with OD. Frank C.
the address on the trucksteel catalog is a bank building in downtown cleveland, maybe the columbia overdrive company trying to market under a new name as by then there ford overdrive units were falling out of favor? comments
I am curious about the similarity of names between the "Truckstell" OD in the ads on this thread and the Model T era "Ruckstell' axles assemblies which, I believe were two speed units (a form of OD)........Seems too much a coincidence the names were so close.......anyone know anything about that? BTW, I've been around old Chevys for many years and have never seen ne of these units and, to the best of my knowledge there were no factory option OD's until '55 models. Ray
Truckstell also manufactured truck axles, tandem axles, live front axles, hubs and T-cases for 4 wheel drive conversions.... Here's an older HAMB thread about the overdrive http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=262785
Truckstell and Ruxtel were not related and Columbia made a similiar torque tube overdrive for Ford. I had a Truckstell overdrive. They didn't hold up well. If an inexperienced driver put it in reverse while still rolling forward it would destroy the planetary gear roller bearings, which usually meant it got pulled out and replaced by a stock torque tube.
The torque tube o.d. was in a Rambler. G.M. first offered o.d. in 55 in cars and maybe a couple years later in light trucks. I don't remember any other G.M.'s with o.d. Studebaker and Packard had it before WW 2. I think Ford first offered it in 49.
I have a 1953 210 that has a three on the tree and a pull out overdrive lever under the dash. It's planned to be a future project. I know nothing about it though, I may have to do some research.