Tj,

   As Gary said, it's a four speed. First three gears are the same ratios as the C6's 2.40/1.40/1.0 and a overdrive fourth gear of .7. They can be very strong, I had one behind a 351 Windsor in a ford Ranger that would go 11's. Yet was perfectly streetable with the OD. Used it for trips as well as Every day transportation.  

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Jeez , the old mind is really working tonight .......I could look for a 57 Meteor Rideau 500 ........you guys are going .." a what ??? "

In Canada we used to have Meteor ...looked like a Ford but different trim ( uglier ) ....we also had Mercury and Monarch ( different trim ) ....and to really confuse everyone there was a Pontiac version of the Chevelle called a Beaumont . It was great fun going across the river to Detroit and laying some story how we " customized" our Ford/Merc/Chevy etc ...the B.S. usually worked .

Anyhow ...a 57 Meteor would go for a lot cheaper than a Ford .....I could get Ford grille , sidetrim etc ...you get the idea . It may be a plan ...trouble is , it will probably be a rust bucket being from up here .

T

Thanks for cluing me on the AOD . I would definitely lean toward the Y , for many reasons after doing a lot of reading up on them thanks to you guys and the sites you provided .

By reasonable price ...a 55-56 pickup in turnkey condition is 25-30 k range ( and up for a show truck ) from what I can see . I haven't seen a 57 hardtop near that unless I want to do a bunch of work .

Honestly ....I'm really liking the 49-50-51 shoeboxes much more than I used to from what I've seen done up ....I'm just thinking out loud here

I agree , the car would bring more $$ than the truck down the road but I'm looking at it as more fun for me rather than an investment .,,,,much to think about , atleast I've made SOME progress

T

TJ: Finding a solid 56 F-100 cheap may be a tall order. As for a 57 Ford, a solid one may seem expensive now, but the collector car market is unlikely to get any cheaper than it is now. Prices have dropped considerably, since the economy went south in 2008..

Paul

From an economical standpoint I would go with the Y and over drive, the FE you will get around 10 MPG, the Y you can get upwards of 20 +, figure that savings into the cost of the build and the Y will come out ahead after a couple years of paying gasoline prices.

55 Vicky & customline

58 Rack Dump, 55 F350 yard truck, 57 F100

59 & 61 P 400's, 58 F100 custom cab, 69 F100, 79 F150, 82 F600 ramp truck, 90 mustang conv 7 up, 94 Mustang, Should I continue?

I would call the AOD a four speed, it has 4 forward gears.

-Gary Burnette-

I take it the AOD is a 3 speed ?

I think the Merc/Monarch is out of the picture . More realistic ( price for what you get ) would be a 55-56 F1 or F100 ...whatever they called them at that time ...even a Merc pickup if they were still being made .

I really like the 57 Ford hardtop but think it will be too pricey in good condition ...just the way the market is . I'm too old for a project car ....been there and done that in my yoot

T

Your top end will be well over 100 with an od assuming the engine has the power and if you are going to swap to a transmission that doesn't "bolt up" there is no sense in doing anything other than an od transmission.


Lawrenceville, GA

TJ, Remember the AOD is an overdive unit. The effective top gear is going to be multiplied by the OD ratio in the transmision. In the case of the AOD it's .7. So the 4.10 gets multiplied by the .7 and you wind up with a 2.87 ratio. You get the advantage of the 4.10 in the lower gears with a reasonable highway gear in Overdrive.

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Chuck , any racing I would do would be serious for that moment , but the car has to be streetable . A 4:10 would be my limit ....ran a 409 Chevy with 4:88 gears on the street when gas was cheap back in the day but , really , it was too much .....top end was only about 100mph but it got there in a hurry ! Ate plugs like no tomorrow .

I saw that somebody had a "C2" in a 57 Ford ...never heard of it , maybe a typo ? , or is that what they called their old 2 spd auto ?

T