[HN Gopher] Oldsmobile Hydra-Matic Drive (1947) [pdf]
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       Oldsmobile Hydra-Matic Drive (1947) [pdf]
        
       Author : userbinator
       Score  : 17 points
       Date   : 2023-09-30 04:52 UTC (18 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.xr793.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.xr793.com)
        
       | bevenhall wrote:
       | The insanity of digging up stuff that has stored several
       | millennia of sunlight and releasing byproducts when used NOW
       | still staggers me
        
         | jareklupinski wrote:
         | i think that stuff is the only reason we have a chance to get
         | off this rock
         | 
         | what other species out there could claim a millions-of-years
         | old energy store that has been conveniently brewing right
         | beneath their feet, just ripe to exploit when they finally have
         | the brain cells to bang together and make the spark?
         | 
         | today we have better stuff to burn and imo we should move to
         | renewables anyway, but long tails and sins of our fathers...
        
       | spacecadet wrote:
       | In 2013 I purchase a 1968 Ford truck for a restoration project.
       | It had the original manual in the glove box, mind you this truck
       | was beyond beat, some how this survived... Its a glorious relic
       | of print design, so I kept it.
        
       | serf wrote:
       | the first 'real' automatic like they exist today -- was
       | eventually replaced by the PowerGlide, which yet again set a
       | whole bunch of standard practices in place.
       | 
       | Beloved by hot-rodders everywhere for their ease of install and
       | ubiquity in the field. My father has one in his project right
       | now.
       | 
       | He, being a product of marketing like this, proudly responds with
       | "No, Hydramatic!" when asked if his car has an automatic
       | transmission. Cracks me up every time I hear it.
        
       | study2australia wrote:
       | [flagged]
        
       | brookst wrote:
       | I love it that they felt the target audience wanted to understand
       | how it works, at least in broad strokes. Though I'm a little
       | disappointed that the value prop is "right hand can be in wheel,
       | left foot can be relaxed". If there's one thing I've learned from
       | Mad Men, it's that the right hand is free to hold a cigarette.
       | 
       | And wow look at all the white men, and the poor women having to
       | deal with the complicated manual transmission and have her
       | husband explain the torque converter.
        
         | Loughla wrote:
         | I think it's less that they worried about whether or not people
         | wanted to know how it works, and more that they needed to know.
         | New fancy technology is generally poo-pooed by people. Why do
         | we need fancy auto anything when a stick and clutch worked for
         | years? Well, here's some fun graphics to explain!
        
       | virtualritz wrote:
       | If you ever wanted a visual version of "mansplaining" look no
       | further than to the images on page 6.
        
       | ghkbrew wrote:
       | TIL what the first line of "Greased Lightning" means.
        
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       (page generated 2023-09-30 23:01 UTC)