What is a "Cruise O Matic"?

[Chaseman]

Ok so I've looked up "Cruise O Matic"s and I'm getting conflicting answers. Some say the cruise o is a c4 while others say it's like a 3 spd ford o matic. My car has a cruise o with the 289 and the pan is different then a C-4 and the tranny has done stuff that would've killed a C-4. Plus I hear of "Cruise O Matic"s being behind 390's in Galaxies which would not be a C-4 duty.

[papabug71]

Hope this helps. Im not a big fan of automatic transmissions, so I am no expert. I believe this is where the term "slushbox" came from.

VIA WIKIPEDIA:

Ford-O-Matic was the first automatic transmission used by Ford Motor Company, designed by Borg Warner Corporation. Introduced in 1950, the 3-speed Ford-O-Matic evolved into the Cruise-O-Matic in 1958 (and a 2-speed Ford-O-Matic in 1959) and the FMX in 1968. This line continued in production until 1980, when the AOD was introduced. Like Ford, variations of this same Borg Warner design were used by other automobile manufacturers as well, such as AMC, International Harvester, Studebaker, Volvo and Jaguar, each of them having the necessary unique adaptations required for the individual applications

The original Cruise-O-Matics use a torque converter and planetary gearset, providing three forward speeds plus reverse. In some applications, Ford offered a dual-range option allowing the driver to start in either first gear or second gear.

Ford dropped the "Cruise-O-Matic" tradename during the 1970s; in the 1950s and early 1960s promoting the automatic transmission as a feature was a standard practice among automakers as they were relatively new. By the late 1970s most cars had automatics as standard equipment and there was no reason to especially call attention to them. The transmissions were marketed as the Merc-O-Matic when installed in Mercury vehicles, and Mile-O-Matic in Edsel vehicles.

[MaxKlinger]

I never understood why Ford had three or four concurrent 3-speed RWD automatic transmissions in production. The C4, C6, and FMX.

[FORDification]

Keep in mind that the term "Cruise-o-matic" isn't a specific transmission....originally ALL Ford automatics were called Cruis-O-Matics. However, in the present-day transmission industry, ONLY the cast iron FX/MX/HX is referred to as a "Cruise-O-Matic". The rest are called by common names like C4, C6, FMX, and 2-speed Ford.

Also, to expand on why they had several different transmissions at the same time....normally Ford didn't just suddenly start substituting one piece for another, there was often a phase-in period, an overlapping time-frame in which one style that was being phased out would still be used as another was being phased in.

[mmerlinn]

Ok so I've looked up "Cruise O Matic"s and I'm getting conflicting answers. Some say the cruise o is a c4 while others say it's like a 3 spd ford o matic. My car has a cruise o with the 289 and the pan is different then a C-4 and the tranny has done stuff that would've killed a C-4. Plus I hear of "Cruise O Matic"s being behind 390's in Galaxies which would not be a C-4 duty.

Originally all Ford transmissions were marketed as Cruis-O-Matics. That stopped around 1967 or so.

Now days in the transmission business only cast iron Ford transmissions with the exception of the FMX are referred to as Cruisos. The rest are referred to as Ford 2-speeds, C4s, C6s, etc.

[fordman]

heres an interesting link about ford transmissions.

http://www.fordmuscle.com/forums/c4-tra ... ost1408597