What was the first car to NOT have a manual transmission as an option?

[Hawkwind]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

I figured it would be a luxury car, but I'm amazed it was that early... I kinda wondered if Packard had lasted long enough to offer automatics.

I'm sure they went the route that Studebaker did. Sourced their transmissions from Borg-Warner or some similar named company.

Packard: Ultramatic

Studebaker: Flight-O-Matic

First car in high school was a 1966 Studebaker Cruiser with auto. Shift quadrant was, PNDLR.

The dealer was still in business and the head mechanic told me they were "Ford" transmissions...

[init4fun]

Originally Posted by Hawkwind

....First car in high school was a 1966 Studebaker Cruiser with auto. Shift quadrant was, PNDLR.....

I had a 1961 Cadillac that had PNDLR and then a 1964 that had the normal PRNDL , so for Cadillac the changeover must have been 1962 or 1963 . the 61 had what they called a "Dual Coupling Hydramatic" whereas the 64 had the "Turbo Hydramatic 400" .