Hot Rods Hydramatic in a 56 Chevy.

Friend of mine bought a 4 door 210 56. Says the engine has been changed, but the trans looks factory, the car has a column shift with the hydra shift pattern indicated. Any info, experience, etc. about this? He said there was no linkage, I dont know if he means carb or trans. Thesde are the pics he sent me. Thanks.

 

that's a cast iron powerglide

 

What's he got for an engine?

 

hydromatics were installed in chevy and gmc pickups around that time. i think jimmies had pontiac engines.

 

Belair, your friend is an IDIOT! That is plainly a cast iron powerglide. I...er... I mean, HE should have looked closer, and maybe stick to Fords!

 

Well, he tries hard, anyway.

 

Thanks guys, false alarm.

 

Not the first person to believe their cast iron Powerglide is a Hydramatic, and that includes in the trucks, and won't be the last. I've seen the cast iron Powerglide advertised as a "rare Hydramatic" on CraigsList.org/Seattle Area. It's just like anything else, things get misidentified, by people that don't know any better, or by what they've been told. But, apparently those folks don't know how to read, because it say,"POWERGLIDE",casted right in, on the top of the main case. Might be hard to see while the trans is in the car/truck, but with a mirror, it should be obvious.
I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Maybe he's confusing Powerglide with Turboglide, which would be an aluminum case.
P N D L R, Powerglide and P R N D Gr, Turboglide.

 

I appreciate all of the justification from all of you, but I still think that I... I mean... BELAIR's friend is just an idiot!

 

Turboglide was a 57 thing, I don't know how a shift indicator for one of them would get into a 57, the dash is all different.

 

To add further confusion, a '55-'59 pickup dual range hydro could be bolted into a '55-'57 Chev passenger bodied NHRA lower class stocker & raced as "factory optional." HRM did a tech feature on the conversion.

 

As Squirrel said, it´s a cast iron powerglide.... the difference between this and a hydramatic is probably 100 lbs of iron. An iron PG is a heavy sob, but hydromatics sometimes have their own planets circulating around them and they can change the tide being driven close to the coast.That´s how big of a mass they are, hahahaha

 

Yes I remember that too..

 

The Chevrolet Hydro Junior Stock/NHRA deal, was only with the Sedan Deliveries. Sedan Deliveries were built, licensed, and titled as "trucks". Because the Hydra-Matic was a "truck option", NHRA allowed them in Deliveries, even though they never came with them. But in 1971, they rescinded that, and outlawed them. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.