Turboglide 3-speeds in Stockers???

[bill dedman]

Thanks, Bruce. I appreciate the kind words.

Jack,

I am a really "old" guy (12/20/'38) and was a tech guy at my local drag strip (Carlisle, Arkansas) classifying Stockers on a monthly basis, and eventually was given the Stock Car Classification Guide and was provided with all the NHRA Tech bulletins through the USPS on a weekly basis. Dale Ham asked me to serve as an "Area Tech Advisor" (an un-paid position) in about 1960, which I did for our local strips (Little Rock, and Carlisle) until I moved away in 1964.

I took that position VERY seriously, and paid a lot of attention to the "job", as it were.

I remember vividly, watching 1957 Chevrolet 283 V8s that came equipped qith Turboglides as they struggled to run the quarter-mile in a competitive fashion. That transmission eventually earned the moniker "TROUBLEGLIDE" since its reliability was not very good in the beginning.

I do remember that the '58 348-engine Turboglide cars, when equipped with a 4.56 rear gear and Atlas Bucrons, would run pretty quixk (mid- to high-14's at the time.)

I have to disagree with Jack, though; there were several Turboglide '57's in competition as OEM-equipped, though they usually eventually had manual transmissions swapped in for serious racing.

It would seem to me that '59-'61 small block cars running in Stock, could claim a Turboglide as the original transmission, and simply swap a Metric 200 into its place.

This may or may not "fly", but I'd say it makes sense from where I sit...