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#72 of 74 Re: Andre 1969 Question re: 57 DeSoto [Mr_Shiftright] by texases

Jan 25, 2008 (3:39 pm)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Jan 25, 2008 3:31 pm)

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• Mr_Shiftright (Jan 25, 2008 3:42 pm)
• andre1969 (Jan 25, 2008 7:44 pm)

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#73 of 74 Re: Andre 1969 Question re: 57 DeSoto [texases] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

Jan 25, 2008 (3:42 pm)

Replying to: texases (Jan 25, 2008 3:39 pm)

The very same, yes. Torqueflite 8.
 
In TV land, nothing ever breaks and the road is always clear and your wife or husband never looked better.
 
Andre, try this and let us know if it breaks.

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#74 of 74 Re: Andre 1969 Question re: 57 DeSoto [texases] by andre1969

Jan 25, 2008 (7:44 pm)

Replying to: texases (Jan 25, 2008 3:39 pm)

Hope those weren't the same trannys that Chrysler used in their '60s TV ad, the one with the car being jammed from drive to reverse to drive repeatedly at speed...
 
Well, the closest thing to tranny abuse I ever had was with my '68 Dart. It accidentally got thrown into park at about 35 mph once. The original owner of that car had no left arm, so the turn signal was rigged on an extra long stalk that still came out the left side of the column, but then, through a series of right angles, went under the steering column and came up and out on the right side, near the gear shifter. I let one of my friends drive the car, and he tried to signal left with the gearshift lever! The car stopped immediately and stalled out, but didn't seem to suffer any long-term damage from it. And that was in late 1992. That car did quit running about 9 years later, but I think it was from a bad fuel pump.
 
As for the '57 Torqueflite, supposedly you're not supposed to be able to throw it into reverse if you're moving forward more than something like 10 or 15 mph. It has a safety lockout. It also has lockouts for first and second gear. I think it's 45 mph for first and 70 for second.
 
My DeSoto has no brakes, thanks to a leaking rear wheel cylinder, and needs a carburetor rebuild. However, the engine and transmission have never given me a bit of trouble. But then, this car never was a daily driver for me. I've had it since September 1990, and I doubt if I've put 5,000 miles on it. As far as I know, it's the original engine/tranny.
 
I never saw the commercial where they were throwing the car back and forth between drive and reverse but yeah, it would've been the same basic transmission most likely...a Torqueflite 727. There was also a lighter-duty version called the 904 that was introduced for the 1960 Valiant, but eventually was used with bigger cars and engines. My Dart has a 904, and I think my '79 New Yorkers have something called an A998, which is a slightly beefier version of it, with the "A" standing for lockup torque converter. There was another version called the A999, which I think is what smallblock copcars mainly used. I think that's what my '89 Gran Fury had.