A 1951 Borg-Warner design that grew into Cruise-O-Matic, FMX and the AOD, and was copied in the Soviet Union for Volga and Chaika limousines.
Built by Borg-Warner's Warner Gear division for Ford's 1951 cars, the Ford-O-Matic grew into the Cruise-O-Matic family. Its later forms were the FMX and the XT-LOD, and the design was also copied for Soviet GAZ limousines in the 1950s, with several variants built over the following decades.
The Cruise-O-Matic was a family of three-speed automatic transmissions that Ford used from the 1950s to the late 1970s, descended from the Ford-O-Matic of 1951. It was designed by Borg-Warner's Warner Gear division, and its design was also copied in the Soviet Union for the Volga and Chaika limousines.
Where did the Ford-O-Matic come from?
The Ford-O-Matic was Ford's first widely used automatic transmission. It was designed by the Warner Gear division of Borg-Warner and introduced on 1951 model year cars. In Mercury cars it was called Merc-O-Matic, and in Lincoln cars it was known as Turbo-Drive.
The design replaced a three-band automatic that Detroit Gear, another Borg-Warner division, had developed for Studebaker. Over time the Warner Gear unit evolved into the Cruise-O-Matic in 1958, and then into the FMX in 1968, with the line continuing until the AOD arrived in 1980.
A Borg-Warner design that became Ford's Cruise-O-Matic, lived on as the FMX, and was copied for Soviet limousines.
How did Ford get the transmission?
In 1948 Ford was late in offering a fully automatic transmission, and it first approached Studebaker about the DG-series automatic developed by Detroit Gear. Studebaker agreed, but insisted on one year of exclusive use, which would have delayed Ford until mid-1951. Ford decided that wait was unacceptable and went another way.
Ford engineering vice president Harold Youngren, recently hired from Borg-Warner, recommended that Ford license and build a transmission based on a design he had been working on there. Ford and Warner Gear signed a 1948 contract under which Borg-Warner would build half of Ford's transmissions for five years, while Ford built the rest or used another supplier.
Because of that agreement Ford licensed the design and broke ground straight away on its own assembly plant.The Fairfax Transmission Plant was dedicated in 1950.
What did the original Ford-O-Matic do differently?
The original Ford-O-Matic solved two problems that Ford's earlier automatics had not. Its integrated torque converter and planetary gearset let the car shift without interrupting the flow of torque from the engine, which made the gear changes far smoother.
Ford also revised the shift pattern from PNDLR to PRNDL. The new order was meant to reduce shift shock when changing gears, and torque shock when a driver rocked a stuck car back and forth.
The original unit had three forward speeds but started in second gear. First was used only when L was selected on the column lever, and if the car was floored from a standing start, it dropped into low, then returned to second and moved on to third as speed rose.
When did the Cruise-O-Matic arrive?
In the mid-1950s cars grew larger, and more powerful engines were being developed to move them. The original Ford-O-Matic served as the template for Ford's next automatics, and many of its gear sets were interchangeable with the new designs.
The new transmissions arrived for the 1958 model year, alongside Ford's new FE and MEL engines. Although they were marketed as Cruise-O-Matic, they were known internally as the MX, the larger unit, and the FX, the smaller one. Both were three-speed designs using a Ravigneaux planetary gearset like the original.
The new units moved the pump from the rear of the transmission to the front and used a different valve body, so they started in first gear rather than second. The MX was built at the Livonia Transmission Plant in Michigan and went behind the more powerful engines in Mercury, Lincoln and select Ford models. The FX was built alongside the Ford-O-Matic at Fairfax and went into midrange Ford and Mercury models.
What was the Ford-O-Matic two-speed?
Because the original unit started in second rather than first, Ford marketed it as a two-speed once the new three-speed transmissions appeared. The Ford-O-Matic two-speed was introduced in 1959 as a simplified version of the Cruise-O-Matic, and it kept the original's appeal to buyers of smaller cars.
It combined a torque converter with a compound planetary gear set. A front multiple-disc clutch provided high gear, a front band on the clutch drum gave low gear, and a band on the rear unit internal gear drum provided reverse. Falcon, Fairlane and Galaxie models used it, as did the Mercury Comet and Meteor and the Edsel, each with different converters, valve bodies and clutch plates for the engines involved.
Production of the original Ford-O-Matic ended in 1964, when the C4 took over in smaller Ford and Mercury vehicles.
What was Merc-O-Matic keyboard control?
For 1957, Mercury offered mechanically activated pushbutton controls, a response to the pushbutton controls that Chrysler had introduced on its TorqueFlite in 1956. The Mercury panel was called Keyboard Control and began with five buttons.
The long button on top was labelled Drive, and four smaller buttons sat below it, labelled Brake, Neutral Start, which let the engine start with the ignition key, Hill Control and Reverse. For 1958 the Drive button was split into Performance and Cruising and the panel was relabelled Multi-Drive Keyboard Control.
A separate push-pull lever labelled Park sat below the buttons and locked out the controls until it was pulled. The panel was installed to the left of the steering wheel, and in 1959 it was discontinued in favour of a steering column gear-selector lever.
What was the FMX?
In 1966 Ford introduced the C6 automatic, which left the company with three heavy-duty automatic transmissions and crowded conditions at the Livonia plant. Ford decided to combine the best attributes of the MX and FX, producing an improved version of the X family called the FMX.
The FMX used the stronger MX-type rotating parts inside the smaller FX-style case, which cut both weight and the number of components Ford had to make. Fairfax built it, which freed Livonia to focus on the new C6. The FMX ran from 1968 to 1979, when the Fairfax plant closed.
The FMX was phased out in the United States in 1979 in favour of Ford's Automatic OverDrive, or AOD, transmission. It remained on sale for another four years in V8 Ford Falcons built in Australia, and it ceased production when Ford Australia dropped the V8 in 1983.
What were the FMX gear ratios?
The FMX had a three-speed layout, with first gear at 2.40:1, second at 1.47:1 and third direct at 1.00:1. Reverse was 2.00:1.
| Transmission | First | Second | Third | Reverse |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FMX (US) | 2.40:1 | 1.47:1 | 1.00:1 | 2.00:1 |
| GAZ-21 Volga (Ford-O-Matic copy) | 2.84:1 | 1.68:1 | 1.00:1 (direct) | 1.72:1 |
| GAZ-14 Chaika (Cruise-O-Matic copy) | 2.64:1 | 1.55:1 | 1.00:1 (direct) | 2.00:1 |
What was the XT-LOD?
In 1962 Ford began work on a new automatic aimed at fuel economy and driveability. The design used the Ravigneaux planetary of the X transmissions, but it was designed with a fourth gear already integrated into the gearset, instead of having one added as an afterthought.
Its first three gear ratios matched the X family, and fourth gear was 0.67:1. Third gear used split torque, and the torque converter had a lockup. The project was shelved with a design that initially lacked a damper in the converter, but a damper was later added before the Job 1 quality programme.
The XT-LOD was abandoned in 1966 and revisited in 1974, when fuel prices were rising. It was renamed FIOD, for Ford Integrated Overdrive, and finally named the Ford AOD when it arrived with the downsized full-sized line for 1979.
How did the Soviet GAZ copies work?
In the 1950s the Soviet Union often based its car technology on western designs, either by buying a licence or by reverse engineering. As the GAZ plant prepared its new generation, which comprised the mid-sized GAZ-21 Volga and the full-sized GAZ-13 Chaika, both were specified to have an automatic. Borg-Warner's Ford-O-Matic and Cruise-O-Matic were selected.
The GAZ copies closely resembled the American units but had clear differences. The casing was cast from aluminium, components were adapted to metric units, and the gear ratios were changed. Both cars' handbrakes acted on a central drum between the housing and the driveshaft rather than on the rear wheels, so a parking pawl was not needed.
The Volga's version needed extra work on its air-cooled torque converter, because it was driven by a 65 hp four-cylinder engine. A column lever gave four positions, R, N, D and L. In Drive the car started in second and shifted to third depending on throttle position, with a kick-down feature, and first gear could be engaged only in Low.
The Chaika's Cruise-O-Matic copy needed fewer changes because it was matched to a 195 hp V8. Its dial-button panel offered Reverse, Neutral, Drive and a Braking position, and in Drive the car ran through first, second and third and back. Its liquid cooling was needed for the extra power and torque.
How many GAZ cars used these transmissions?
The published statistics are partial, so the total is hard to pin down. Some 3,189 GAZ-13 Chaikas and 1,120 GAZ-14 Chaikas were built, along with 608 GAZ-23 Chasers and roughly 700 original GAZ-21 Volgas.
Between 2,000 and 2,500 GAZ-24 Chasers in the 24-24, 24-34 and 31013 forms can be added. In total about 8,000 vehicles built by the plant from 1958 to 1996 used a Cruise-O-Matic-based transmission.
Many Volga buyers struggled to keep their cars running. Parts, qualified service and transmission fluid were hard to find, so many owners converted their automatics to the three-speed manual used in the GAZ-69 jeep and the earlier GAZ-M20 Pobeda. As of 2017 only six such Volga survivors were known.
What happened to the GAZ Chasers?
In 1963 GAZ introduced the GAZ-23, a Soviet-style Q-car that transplanted the large V8 and powertrain of the Chaika into the unibody Volga. It served as a motorcade escort for the KGB's ninth directive and as a surveillance vehicle for teams of the 7th directorate.
In 1970 the GAZ-21 Volga was replaced by the GAZ-24, and a V8 version called the GAZ-24-24 followed soon after. Its gearbox selector was moved to the floor because the sedan's standard transmission was now a four-speed manual. The car's engine torque was out of proportion to its chassis, which led to a short service life and demanded skilled driving.
The GAZ-24-24 was built alongside the standard GAZ-24 until 1985. The car then received a major facelift with GAZ-3102 engine and chassis parts, becoming the GAZ-24-10, while the Chaser became the GAZ-24-34 and stayed in production until 1993.
What did the GAZ-14 Chaika change?
In 1977 GAZ launched the GAZ-14 Chaika, the successor to the GAZ-13, with a 220 hp engine and a revised transmission. The central transmission brake was removed, but this car, unlike the sedan, had a parking pin.
The floor-mounted selector used the lettering P-R-N-D-2-1. Selection 1 operated first gear only, using the rear band for engine braking, while 2 locked out first and third for reduced wheelspin starts and manual downshifts. Some features, such as the rear fuel pump and brass-lined clutches, carried over from the earlier car.
Its gear ratios were 2.35:1 for the torque converter, 2.64:1 for first, 1.55:1 for second, direct third and 2.0:1 for reverse. The car was built from 1977 until 1989.
What came after the Cruise-O-Matic?
The Cruise-O-Matic family ended with the AOD, which was the final form of the XT-LOD. In the United States, the FMX gave way to the AOD in 1979, and the FMX lived on in Australian V8 Falcons until 1983.
In the Soviet Union, the GAZ-31013 Volga was built in small numbers until 1996 for the VIP security detail, with the 220 hp engine from the GAZ-14 and a transmission adapted to the Volga body.
