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Originally Posted by lightonthehill
SilverMax_04 - You were clearly more astute than I back in the 1950s. I did not remember which GM makes used hydramatic and which used dynaflow.
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You give me too much credit. It was the guys you hang around with as a teenager that made the difference for me. We were all GM fans. GM had hydromatic trannies on Cadallac, Olds, and Pontiac. The dynaflow was only on the Buick. Chevy was the last to get an auto trannie. The powerglide (I believe) was its trannie, which was kind of like the dynaflow. Without a doubt the hydromatic was the best of the bunch with four speeds obtained through two sets of planatary gears coupled to a fluid drive. The automatic shift from 2nd to 3rd was the roughest because one planatary gear set went from low to high and the other set went from high to low. In 3rd and 4th gears the fluid drive was bypassed (it was only needed to allow the trannie to stay in gear when the car was stopped). Rolls Royce used that trannie for years, even after GM stopped using it in the 60s. It was one of the strongest auto trannies GM has ever built. Most of their newer auto trannies suck.
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Originally Posted by lightonthehill
And why was a blown tire so dumb? Because there was no tread left on the tire, and it had blown through the center of a football-shaped worn part of the tread where every one of the standard (at that time) four plys was worn thru. The effect looked like four footballs within each other.
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I had a similar experience with my father's 55 Olds. It was parked next to a church and we were loading for a Boy Scout trip. Then one of the rear tires started losing air. While it did not blow (like yours) the tread was worn through the plys. That was when I found out that my father was not very good at taking care of a car and I took on that job for him. I was 16 or 17 at the time (started driving at age 15).
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Originally Posted by lightonthehill
I could be wrong, but I can't help but feel my experiences with cars back in that era make me so very appreciative of the wonderful reliability I am getting in every Maxima I have ever owned. And that brings me back to the thread: Considering looks, performance, interior room, amenities and overall comfort, my '04 SL is easily the best car I have driven in my 56 years on the road. I absolutely love it.
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My only Max certainly has been very reliable -- much better than the 1998 Olds we had before. My two Toyotas were quite reliable, but Consumers Reports suggested that GM had built a better Olds with the 98 Intrigue -- wrong. My favorite car has to be my 65 Corvette with a soft and a hard top. It was not that reliable, did not get good mileage, had to have premium, but it was quite a car. I bought it new at age 25 for $5,500, and put chromed wire wheels on her. I was married 3 years later and sold her when we had our second child at age 33. We could squeeze one child behind the seats (no child car seats then), but not two. Bought a used 62 Pontiac, which was more reliable than the Corvette and had room for 4. Nothing like the 04 SE, but what a large trunk. Last summer I hit 50 years on the road.