Thursday Twister: Electric Overdrive
Welcome back another edition of the Thursday Twister, DT’s weekly quiz show where we discuss oddball stuff while trying not to spill our highball. It is late as I’m writing this, so today’s twister topic might be the result of too much single malt scotch (is there really such a thing) but I really want to talk about the Laycock de Normanville electric overdrive. Find the Laycocks. Find all cars with an available electric overdrive.
The first vehicle to use the system created by Captain Edgar J de Normanville and Laycock Product Engineering was the 1949 Standard Vanguard Saloon, a Coventry built sedan that offered the electric overdrive for a £45 upcharge in 1949.
Standard twister rules are as follows:
1. Only one car per comment (be sure to hit the refresh button on your
browser before you post in case someone else has posted since you loaded
the page). Do not nest the replies, just reply to the main post — if
you reply to someone elses comment it should be in reference to his
comment and not a new submission.
2. You can post again, but only after someone else posts another car.
3. The contest will end at Sunday, June 7, 4pm PST.
4. One submission per generation of each make/model.
5. Each car must be a running/driving car (no clay model prototypes) and
at least two must have been built of that particular car (no one-offs.) and sold anywhere in the world.
6. No anonymous submissions — pick a name with the Name/URL dropdown.
Ready…set…Laycock!
Triumph TR-6
Volvo 121/122 'Amazon'.
I will note that the current version of the Laycock – the Gear Vendors OD unit – has probably been built in greater numbers as an aftermarket kit for the F-250 alone than ever hit the road in many of those Brit OE installations.
Jaguars..I'll start with MkII
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Sunbeam Alpine Series 5
Ferrari 250GTE.
I'm going to tie one hand behind my back on this topic and post no British brands.
Volvo p1800
Speaking of our beloved 1800 (who am I kidding I wasn't familiar with them before DT). Did you see the hammer price on the 1800 BaT auctioned last week. Over 30K and it wasn't perfect either sheesh
Yeah, I saw that. I had hoped Bat auctions would be a little zone of sanity in the classic car market, but they seem to be feeding the frenzy that is driving simple enthusiasts out of the game. Sigh……
+None…for BaT.
Willys Jeep CJ2A
(it's not a Laycock, it's a Borg-Warner T11 or something trans with an integral electrically-operated planetary overdrive similar to the Laycock, it was an option on a long list of '50s-60s Detroit vehicles.)
Austin Healey 100
My '40 Hudson had an electric overdrive. Very handy on flathead motors. Reduces the burnt valves.
1953 Plymouth Belvedere. My dad put an overdrive in it and wired in a switch that would allow you to activate the overdrive in each of 3 (on the tree) forward gears. There was a steep long road near our house and second gear plus overdrive helped the 100 hp flathead 6 drag itself and a car full of hockey equipment and kids home safely…
1953 Plymouth Belvedere. My dad put an overdrive in it and wired in a switch that would allow you to activate the overdrive in each of 3 (on the tree) forward gears. There was a steep long road near our house and second gear plus overdrive helped the 100 hp flathead 6 drag itself and a car full of hockey equipment and kids home safely…
Early 1970's Humber Sceptre/Hillman Hunter. It worked on third and fourth gear.
Doug Nash 4+3 setup in the 1984 Corvette.
1957 Ford Fairlane (Borg-Warner OD)
no such thing as an "electric overdrive". Just a mechanical unit with some basic hydraulics in it, the only thing "electric" about it is a solenoid (like on a starter motor) that flips a mechanical lever to actuate the hydraulics, which moves a clutch assembly to engage a different mechanical gear ratio…….. so none of these cars mentioned have ever had an "electric overdrive".
Buzzkill. (This comment is a fully-electric pun.)
I'm pretty sure the Volvo 700 series with a '5 speed manual' where the fifth gear was push button on the shifter was really just a 4sp + OD
Also, Vince, I'm shocked and dismayed that you kept the puns 'family friendly' on the Laycock de Normanville. If I had known what that was when I was 13, I'm sure all we'd be discussing in French class would be 'laying cocks in Normandy' or some other heinously unfunny joke…
Nice one, sfs24. If I recall correctly, it was offered all the way up until 1991.
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