PRESELECTOR GEARBOX & FLUID FLYWHEEL
The Wilson preselector gearbox appeared on several prewar & postwar British cars, and the Fluid Flywheel's design formed the basis of many other torque-converter systems which led to the development of today's automatic transmissions. Only Daimler and its subsidiaries, however, combined the Fluid Flywheel and the preselector box to provide motorists with one of the simplest and smoothest transmission systems ever devised. It was extremely popular with owner-drivers who knew little about gear-changing techniques (having previously left all that to their chauffeurs), and women drivers who found they needed the strength of Charles Atlas to operate the 'crash-boxes' found on most other cars of the day. The Daimler system enabled cars to be driven (or held stationary) in any gear with no damage to the mechanism. Changing up and down was (with practice) smooth and instantaneous. The system permitted cars to take off from standstill in top gear, or to idle along at walking pace, again in top. This last feature made them very popular with civic officials and funeral directors, both of whom required vehicles which could regularly drive in solemn processions without suffering any ill-effects. The gearbox may appear complex, but is in fact simple in both design and operation, and extremely robust. In addition, it is entirely self-adjusting, so that many units have remained in virtually service-free operation since their manufacture in the thirties, forties and fifties.
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