What is a 3 speed Powerglide?

[Geoff C.]

[Joe R.]

Re: What is a 3 speed Powerglide?

I think the guy that told you to go figure it out was just being a wise guy. You are probably correct that he was including reverse.

All Powerglides had two forward gears. I believe the successor to the 2-speed Powerglide was the Turbo 400, followed shortly by the lighter duty Turbo 350 version (I may have the sequence reversed). These were both 3 speed automatics, but they were never called Powerglides.

[Robert Willis]

Re: What is a 3 speed Powerglide?

Back in the late 60s or early 70s there was a Powerglide with a lock-up torque convertor. There was a switch and a couple of small wires that went down to the trans. I have only saw one of them (in 1978)and that was on a 69 or 70 Olds Cutlass and I'm not sure it was original to that car.

Maybe this is what he has ??????

Bob .

[Mike M.]

Re: What is a 3 speed Powerglide?

Bob,
I think what you saw was a Turbohydro 30) only used in BOP intermediate cars. It did not have a lock-up converter but a switch pitch converter (as did the early BOP TH 400's). A switch on the throttle linkage controlled the pitch setting. GM cut this feature out in the late 60's, supposedly for cost reduction. But it worked great. In the late 70's, Keene-Bell offered beefed-up switch pitch TH400 converters for drag racing.
Mike