1941 Columbia 2-speed axle and Borg Warner overdrive.

[Streamline Smitten]

In 1941 (the year I am targeting), you could get both the Columbia 2-speed rear axle and the Borg Warner overdrive.  In fact, you could actually get both on the same car.  Years ago, in an article by Dave Cole he mentions knowledge of at least two such 1941s.  There is a currently a red ’41 4-door for sale on the internet that claims to have both.  I suspect it is very rare to find a car with both.

 

Can the engine pull comfortably at say 60 mph with both the Columbia and the OD engaged?  That would probably result in a pretty low rpm, which would be great, but if the engine would be struggling to pull at that speed (60 mph would be my comfortable cruising speed) with both engaged then it wouldn’t be so advantageous to have both.  One advantage to having both, though, is if one failed you would still have the other.

[19tom40]

You are asking for an opinion, here is mine. I would not use both, I would remove the Columbia as they can be more troublesome than the OD transmission. The sweet spot of the V-12 is between 2000 and 2500 if I remember correctly. So I would drive it t9o keep it it that range on the highway.