Overdrive transmissions are a great thing. They enable you to significantly improve the gearing and acceleration of your car while maintaining gas mileage and highway cruise-ability. Unfortunately, overdrives, manual or automatic, weren’t offered in Ford vehicles until the late ’70s. But that doesn’t mean you have to be stuck with the non-overdrive C4’s. C6’s, and…
Modern Driveline
Back in the day, Corvettes with six tail lamps were a familiar sight—even though Chevrolet never officially offered such an option. Here’s the story behind this interesting Corvette non-feature. In the famous 1964 Jan and Dean song, “Dead Man’s Curve,” The illegal street race between a Corvette Sting Ray and a Jaguar XKE, are…
In 1957 Manual transmissions were limited to three-speed, column shifted units (with synchromesh in second and third gear only). The Powerglide’s shifter went P N D L R while the Turboglide’s was P R N D Hr (although the ‘Hr’ was changed early in the production series to ‘Gr’-Grade Retarder because of drivers’ mistaken belief that ‘Hr‘ meant High…
What’s the Difference Between a Ford 351 Windsor, Cleveland, or Modified Engine? There is plenty of aftermarket support for Ford 351 engines, the tough part is figuring out which engine you’ve got. Engines are often identified by their displacement, like the ubiquitous Chevy 350, Mopar 440, or Ford 5.0 But displacement alone isn’t always the…
PONTIAC SIX GM created Pontiac in 1926. The company’s first car was an inexpensive six-cylinder “companion” to GM’s more expensive Oakland brand. Ironically, Pontiac shined while Oakland faded. The Depression undoubtedly played the role of killer, as it did to so many of the mid to expensive brands. Pontiac barely survived, and the fact that…
The Pro’s & Con’s of buying a used manual 5 or 6-speed, things to look for and be cautious of.
The Ford Mustang Mach 1 A performance-oriented option package of the Ford Mustang, originally introduced by Ford in August 1968 as a package for the 1969 model year. The Mach 1 title adorned performance oriented Mustang offerings until the original retirement of the moniker in 1978, returning briefly in 2003 and 2004. As part of a Ford heritage program, the…
TREMEC Distributor Spotlight – Modern Driveline
The second-generation Ford Mustang, marketed as the Ford Mustang II, is a two-door, ( some models have a hatch-back ) four-passenger, front-engine/rear-drive pony car manufactured and marketed by Ford from 1973 to 1978. Introduced in September 1973 for the model year 1974, the Mustang II arrived roughly coincident with the oil embargo of 1973 and subsequent fuel…