POWER SHIFTING the Ford-O-Matic....anyone try this?

[Anonymous]

http://www.aeclassic.com/comments/fordomatic.html

"They were what I call "stealth three-speeds". Nearly lost in history is the Ford-O shift trick that allowed you to make use of all three gears. The Ford-O had only two: "low" and "drive". The only way you got low was to manually shift into it."

Out of Street Rodder mag...

 

[Anonymous]

That ones talking about the Fordos that came behind Y-blocks and FE's, which is what the FMX is based on...

The Fordo behind the 6 is different, and I think it definately only has 2 gears.

That is pretty interesting tho, my friend had a '59 Ford with a 352 and a Fordo and it did seem like it has 3 gears even tho it only had 2 on the indicator.

I think they actually id the Fordos as small, med, and large case, with the 6 one being a small case.

 

[Anonymous]

So i guess I shouldn't try drop-shifting back into L right away like it says then huh?

 

[66Sprint6]

On my 66 c4 I dropped it into L all the time, the shifter stop was rounded off so I could pull the shifter towards me and then back and it would drop shift without hitting the buttin on the shifter to shift it. It was fun, but the tranny is now dead...hmmm...not sure if that had anything to do with it, but i guarentee it didnt help Oh well, I wanted it to die anyways...can we say T5
Matt

 

[addo]

It should be able to take the abuse if there is a trans cooler. A non-kitted Fordo will probably heat up the fluid and wear the bands faster under such treatment.

 

[Anonymous]

Thats exactly how I shifted my 66 "green dot" C-4 until I swapped to a 68 valve body last fall!

I abused it hard for 3 or 4 years and never had a problem....did have a B&M transpac installed in it though...

Worked for me!!

Later,

Doug

 

[BIGREDRASA]

The 50s Fordo started in 2nd gear, unless you floored it from takeoff. Otherwise, for a 1st gear start, you dropped it into low, then tapped the shifter into Drive once you were going. That's how I drove my old '57 T-bird. (How I miss her! )
The 60s Fordo, which coexisted with the Cruisomatic, was a two speed placed behind the sixes.

 

[Falcon62]

The early versions of the Cruise-o-matic (predecessor of the C4/C6) and the FMX were three speed autos and worked like you describe, and the one behind my hopped up 292 Y-block did too!

The Ford-o-matic, and stable mate Merc-o-matic, found in 60's Ford/Mercury inline six powered cars are 2 speed autos - period. Doing as the article suggests will only put your tranny back into 1st gear.

You just can't trust what you read in the mags you know.