One of my weaker subjects when it comes to automotive knowledge is pretty much anything pre-1955. Not that I’m great with anything pre-1965, but older machines and older technology just haven’t been available for me to put hands on, so like you are doing right now, I read about them and hope that I get lucky and see a vestige from the past in action. The first time I got caught off-guard by old technology was the day a high-school auto shop teacher in Colorado asked me to start his 1960 Buick Invicta. It’s a big-boy GM car, how hard could it be? The answer: frustratingly difficult for the novice teenager who didn’t understand that his particular Buick had the throttle-start switch, which required that I push the gas pedal down until the 361 Nailhead lit off. Mr. Romero thought it was a riot that one of the bigger automotive mouthpieces was stumped by this tech, but really…what sixteen year old in 1999 was going to know that unless there was such a car in their family history?!
The footage you are going to see will introduce you to another setup: the Bendix “Electric Hand”. The Electric Hand setup was designed to eliminate the pesky manual transmission shifter from the floor, opening up space for another passenger who was grateful that you weren’t banging their shin with the shift knob every time you went for third gear. Using a hydraulic unit, electrical contacts and solenoids, combined with a small “pre-selector” mini-shifter, you would choose which gear you wanted the transmission to be shifted in on the selector, then when you lifted off of the throttle or hit the clutch, the Electric Hand went for the next gear. Still not sure what this is all about? That’s okay, you’re going to hop into the passenger seat of this beautiful Hudson Terraplane pickup truck and David here is going to show you how it operates as he cruises around my old neighborhood in Prescott, Arizona. Seriously…I lived on the street with the lakefront property and had those gorgeous views all day long!
Daimler used preselect in the 30’s – a few other vehicles that used preselected units – Tucker, Crosley and Cord – the last vehicle I know of that used them was Armstrong Siddeley