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The '57 limited slip differential was available in the
Imperials, Chryslers and DeSotos. Like many new engineering items, they
are typically introduced at the prestigious top of the line and next are offered
to the bread and butter cars like Dodge and Plymouth. Many '57 Imperial
owners have limited slip cars. There are less Chryslers and few DeSotos (I
had an Adventurer convertible with it).
I don't know how far alternators go back but I can tell
you they were optional on the little '53 Hudson compact Jet models with the 202"
flathead six cylinder too.
Carl Kiekhaefer was more than happy to run the Power Flite
automatics and had done so starting with his 1953 Chrysler New Yorker Pan Am
Specials in the Mexican Road Race. It was driver insistence that got him
to request just ONE stick '55 Chrysler C300 to be built. The rest of the
'55 300 race cars were Power Flite equipped.
While the manual transmissions were the choice of
European racers because they had NO automatics of any consequence, American
manufacturers were in continuous development of far superior automatics to the
sticks. Just because the bootleggers driving NASCAR cars wanted sticks doesn't make them the smartest option. And
what is in today's NASCAR cars? Not "manly" by whose
authority?
There are more venues than quarter mile drag strips to
prove a point. Yes, early automatics had necessary slippage to cushion
their engagement which cut into ultimate quarter mile acceleration times
by two or three tenths of a second over 15 second runs in some
cars. But don't forget the Candymatic Mopar drag cars or all the
gassers running hydra-matic transmissions. And how many Powerglides have
been used in quarter mile trials? What is on drag strips
today?
Wayne
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