VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 Automatic transmission dependable?

I'm looking for a 1951 or 1952 chevy coupe and was wondering how dependable the automatic transmission was providing its serviced when it should be? This would be with the stock six.

The powerglide transmissions are reliable with many still operating properly. They are relatively simple and still a few mechanics that understand them. The improved aluminum versions are sought after by drag racers. They can take the torque and horsepower that destroy lesser automatic transmissions.

It will be as dependable as any other part on a 60 year old car.

Note that the early models (1950 -1952) started out in high gear. 1953 was the first year they started in low and then shifted "automatically".

So rebuilding one would be a wise move.

Thank you for that information. One article I read (because of what you wrote) gives me the impression these transmissions through 53 were problematic.

Sluggish off the line causing the drivers to have a tendency to leave the transmission in low gear too long( little confused which year there) From what I'm reading doing this would damage the internals.

At this point I'm just learning but spend a lot of the time confused and only coming up with more questions.

Which is the great part of learning.

My goal would be to purchase a car that is an automatic and keep it original with the 6 but I have a feeling I'm going to have to swap out the motor and tranny.

Nah, don't do that. I have a 51 Styleline Deluxe 235 powerglide I bought two and half years ago. The car had sat for ten years. Filled the transmission to the proper level and have put over 6k miles on it since. That includes sometimes starting out in low and manually shifting it to drive when you want more oomph (on a hill for instance). Starting out in Drive just takes a little longer to get up to speed, but I didn't buy an old stovebolt to get anywhere fast