almost all silvia (ik i just found it out)
sesto
maseraty fe car
Isnāt that in the era when Autos generally had the shifter sticking out of the steering column? I seem to recall getting into one or two of those old cars and thinking it was odd that it was 3 speed then noticing the olā shifting lever coming out of the side of the steering column and going āOhhhh.ā
Not always, but they did exist. Many of the bucket seat cars had a center console with an auto gear selector in the center. See pic (Buick GSX interior):
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This was also an era of 4 speeds in cars with bench seatsā¦lol. Anything was possible.
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I think Oldsmobile invented the automatic, and theyāve been automatic ever since.
And yes a lot of old school muscle cars were 3 or 4 speeds. I donāt think the 5 speed was a thing in America until after the (first) oil crisis.
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By the mid 60ās all the Olds auto and manual transmissions were GM. TH350 and TH400 autos. The original 442ās (1964) used M-21 manuals, then eventually M-22 manuals were an option. All of the 442ās built in 1964 were manuals (one of the ā4āsā in the name was for 4 speed). Once the 400 c.i. Olds engine came into play the ā4 Speedā part of 442 changed to 400 c.i.
A stranger option was the 2 speed āJet-Awayā auto (based on the 2 speed powerglide from Chevy). I had a 1967 Cutlass in high school that had that 2 speed. You had to wring out 1st gear before it shifted, otherwise you were dead in the water once it hit 2nd.
5 Speed American cars didnāt hit until the late 70ās. Mustang IIās used a 3 speed w/ overdrive (seemed like a 4 speed, but 3rd was 1:1 and 4th was .80). Chevetteās and Vegas typically had 3 or 4 speed manuals. Same with Tiny Fords. The T-5 didnāt come about in Mustangs until a few years in the Fox body platform run. Early 80ās saw a few econo-boxes with 5 speeds (Ford Fiesta, Citation, etc.) But it was still only an option, as the 4 speed manuals were the base drivetrain.
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Ok, that automatic may be the answer. But wouldnāt it make sense to have the car switch up to 4 if a person is running on manual?
Forza has never done that, The car reflects what data they were able to pull from the donor car. So if the car brought to them was a 3 speed auto. It will only have 3 gears in game no matter your settings.
Those old school V8s had tons of low end torque. I donāt think American engineers cared about efficiency, especially considering that the tires those cars ran on stock were made mostly from hopes and dreams.
Donāt think they would have gained much with a 4th gear. Though now that I really think about it Iām struggling to think of a 3 gear classic muscle. Mind you I donāt usually partake of the classic muscle, but I do have the odd one in my favourites list. A C class '69 Camaro here, a B class '65 Mustang thereā¦ definitely havenāt kept stock transmissions on them all but I feel like I did on at least some.
Well, my '66 Mustang was a 3 speed Top Loader manual w/ a 289. Iāve seen a few mid 60ās GTO/442/Skylark GS with that 2 speed auto as well as 3 speed manuals. Those cars are out there, just not the āidealā cars for Barret Jackson or any other auction, so we as the public, donāt see them much.
I do find it strange that we have a 1970 Hemi Super Bee in game. There were only 4 of them produced ever. Yet there are hundreds of thousands of them in gameā¦lol.
How many replicas though ? Lots I suspect. And my quick look trying to find a number for that proved fruitless but did pop up 42 1970 Hemi Super Bees delivered. Still very rare, the rarest in fact, but I get your pointā¦ still, itās a game, āIā own the genuine article in the game, all 42 of them lol, all those other ones are replicas 
Not sure where that number comes from, but officially through Mopar/Chrysler there were 4 total.
The rarest Hemi cars of all time are the '70 Coronet R/T convertible at 2 total, '67 R/T convertible at 3 total, '70 Road Runner convertible at 3 total, and the Super Bee at 4 total (as there were no convertible Beeās sold to the public).
Iāll trust your numbers 
After a bit of research, 42 was the total number of Hemi cars sold in 1970, across all body styles.
Itās crazy to think that in 7 years of production, only 11k Hemi cars were sold to the public. Total.
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Two-speed autos were a big thing for a while there too. The original Chevy Powerglide (as seen in the '53 Corvette and the '57 Bel Air) was only a two-speed. Ford used a two-speed Fordomatic from '59-'63, along with the 3-speed Cruisomatic/FX/MX. Pretty sure Chryslerās Powerflite was a 2-speed as well.
Funnily enough, both the Powerflite and Fordomatic were reverse-engineered for Soviet use in ZILs and GAZs respectively.
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Otis Chandlerās museum in Oxnard, CA?
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I saw Chandler and it clicked, a lot of his cars were featured in the older Collectible Automobile magazines I used to pour over as a kid. My best mateās father is a fairly prominent hot rod guy over here in Australia and in California, he met Boyd and Chip Foose quite a few times at the Grand National Roadster Show when he was a youngster.
To add to your list of super rare cars (that Iād like to see in Forza one day), my father owns what is probably a 1 of 1 1955 Ford Crown Victoria. I own the only known survivor of a small run (about 10) of Australian-delivered 1971 Lincoln Continental sedans.
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Since this discussion is about little known facts: Iāve searched the forum previously & often wondered why cockpit windshield HUDs have never been in the game. Assuming I completely missed some information on this?
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If weāve talking rare and outside of the game, how about this rarity:
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Meanwhile, back to the game, I compiled a short list of a few older cars and their in game stock transmissions. Checking the upgrades to make sure they are orig game setups. Then taking a drive in auto and manual. Right, both shift the same gear set. If itās a 2 spd itās a 2 spd in auto or manual.
The list:
Stock transmissions
53 Corvette 2 speed powerglide
55 Chevy 150 u sedan 3 spd
57 Belair 2 spd powerglide
67 Stingray 4 spd manual
69 Nova Super Sport 4 spd
65 Mustang 4 spd
70 Dodge Coronet 4 spd
70 Dodge Challenger 4 spd
79 Buick GSX 3 spd
77 Trans Am 4 spd
65 Pontiac GTO 4 spd
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