1966 Calais Posted October 7, 2020 Share Posted October 7, 2020 Question regarding 1941 New Yorkers: Did the factory installed manual transmission cars, have a fluid drive badge on the trunk lid, even if not equipped at the factory with the Fluid drive ransmission? thanks Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintchry Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 Fluid drive is the coupling at the flywheel, a torque convertor that the clutch and pressure plate attach to. The semi-automatic transmission(M6) and manual transmission both used fluid drive. I had a 41 NY with a manual 3 speed and overdrive and it had fluid drive. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c49er Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 The Chrysler fluid coupling is just that... No torque multiplication is produced with the Chrysler Fluid Drive coupling sorry to say. Chrysler first came out in 1951 with the Fluid Torque Drive....a rear torque converter coupling. Excellent acceleration from a dead stop! Unlike the typical Fluid Drive equipped Chrysler cars with the M4,5 and 6 hydraulically operated transmissions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1966 Calais Posted October 9, 2020 Author Share Posted October 9, 2020 On a 1941 New Yorker, would the Fluid Drive emblem be on the car, if the factory installed a manual transmission that wasn't the fluid drive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c49er Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 Someone in the national Chrysler Club with a 1941 non FD Chrysler OD would be able to answer that question. John Meslow back east might know the answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1966 Calais Posted October 10, 2020 Author Share Posted October 10, 2020 C49er, Do you have any contact information for John Meslow? What state does he live in? I looked in the Walter P Chrysler club rooster, however its by state and hundreds of names. I did not find him listed. thanks Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
61polara Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 Fluid Drive (the coupling) was standard equipment on all 1941 New Yorkers with manual or Vacamatic transmission. Does your horn button say Fluid Drive as well or is it plain? Researching the 1941 Chrysler shop manual, it appears that the 8 cylinder cars used a three-speed transmission with overdrive. Low gear was blocked out, so they drove the same as the 6 cylinder underdrive cars. This transmission had an overdrive lockout knob which when pulled out locked out overdrive and the driver would have only second and third gear, with no automatic upshift. The normal drive position was with the knob in. Normal driving would be in the "Drive" position or third gear, starting in third and upshifting to third overdrive. The shop manual further states that if the owner desires first gear, to remove the blocking plate. This would provide a full three speed transmission with overdrive. If you have a fluid coupling, I believe the low gear blocking plate has been removed. Based on this, if your car has the fluid coupling, then having a rear bumper that says "Fluid Drive" is correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1966 Calais Posted October 12, 2020 Author Share Posted October 12, 2020 The horn button says Fluid Drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narve N Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 I believe all 41 New Yorkers had Fluid Drive and a three-speed trans with blocked 1st plus automatic overdrive giving 4 forward ranges. Compared to the 40 NewYorkers, which I have owned since 1990 and which I believe all had FD plus automatic OD and a non-blocked 1st making them 5-speed "semi-automatics". A 41 without FD would have been modified sometime in its life. Which probably is not that difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
61polara Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Bob, We're still curious...does your car have a fluid coupling, making it a Fluid Drive car? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1966 Calais Posted October 13, 2020 Author Share Posted October 13, 2020 I don't know if it has a Fluid Coupling. It is not my car. It is my friends car and I'm thinking of buying it. How would I determine if it has the fluid coupling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The 55er Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Does the clutch pedal say Fluid Drive on it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
61polara Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 (edited) I would have a large brake pedal and a smaller clutch pedal. The clutch pedal should say "Safety Clutch". Also, you could start the car, put it in third, keep your foot on the brake and release the clutch. The engine should not stall. Good luck on your purchase. They are great driving cars. Edited October 13, 2020 by 61polara (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1966 Calais Posted October 14, 2020 Author Share Posted October 14, 2020 Clutch pedal says: Safety clutch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
61polara Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 It seems that this car does have Fluid Drive with the Vacamatic transmission. Will the shift leaver move into the first gear position? If so, the first gear blocker plate has been removed. This is not a problem. The factory shop manual gives the procedure. The car can be driven as a three speed manual or as a semi-automatic buy only using the third gear position. However, the fluid drive cars used a smaller clutch than the true manual transmission MoPars. Slipping the clutch to start the car rolling will decrease the life of the clutch. It's better to release the clutch while the car is stopped and then accelerate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1966 Calais Posted October 15, 2020 Author Share Posted October 15, 2020 Thank you for the information very helpful 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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