Reply To: High Speed Gears or Overdrive

[Anthony Costa]

I once owned a 1911 Hudson torpedo touring. The restorer had

doubled the horsepower and added a manual overdrive without a

neutral. In 1968 he had it air freighted to New York and toured

back to S.F. with 50 other pre ’15 autos. He had a lead foot and

65MPH was his cruising speed(75 was about tops, but it was

comfortable at 65MPH).He had upgraded his brakes with ’55 Chevy

hydraulics and he robbed a Cole V8(twice the weight of the Hudson)

for its contracting manual emergency brakes. The overdrive made

that car rapid(6 speeds forward).

I once sold a 1913 M4 Franklin because every one I had toured

with was a dog in the hills and cruising speed was wanting. The

guy I sold it to took me for a ride after he had restored it and

put in an overdrive. I was amazed at how flexible the car was. On

his maiden voyage, he joined the 1976 Bi-Centennial Portland to

Philadelphia Tour and cruised at 50-55MPH(it was 6 cyl.,240 cu.

in.). The moral is: changing the gear ratio takes something away.

Adding an overdrive only improves the car. If you are a purist,

leave the car alone.