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  • Sept. 20, 2009 9:24 p.m. djsilver New Reader

    Many years ago, I had a girlfried with an old air-cooled VW beatle. It had a three speed transmission coupled with a torque converter AND some sort of clutch. It had a clutch pedal for getting it in gear from a standstill. After it was rolling, the shift-knob was some sort of two-piece deal with a set of contacts that would disengage the clutch when you grabbed the shift-knob and re-engage when you let go.

    Any of you fine upstanding grassrooters have any personal experience, info or links to info regarding this strange design?

  • Junkyard_Dog

    Sept. 20, 2009 9:34 p.m. Junkyard_Dog Reader

    I had that in my 71 Super beetle. Worked great, but I thought it was a 4 speed, or a 3 speed plus "low".

  • jrw1621

    Sept. 20, 2009 9:37 p.m. jrw1621 Dork

    Is this what was called the VW Slap Stick?

  • Jensenman

    Sept. 20, 2009 9:41 p.m. Jensenman MegaDork

    My younger brother had one of those. It was a 3 speed and had a big vacuum diaphragm setup (it looked a lot like a brake booster) which worked thusly: you pushed the lever, the contacts closed a circuit which opened a vacuum solenoid which then worked the diaphragm to disengage the clutch so you could shift. Only problem, if you even brushed the shifter with your hand it would disengage the clutch, unnerving when driving. You learned real quick not to get near the shifter.

    I got pretty familiar with it because I had to replace the rubber diaphragm, it had a split. I remember it was a massive PITA.

  • Sept. 20, 2009 9:49 p.m. djsilver New Reader

    In reply to Jensenman:

    Now we're getting somewhere! Did it just have a clutch, or did it have a clutch and a torque converter of some sort?

  • Volksroddin

    Sept. 20, 2009 10:02 p.m. Volksroddin Dork

    didnt they call it stick-o-matic or some crap like that? Eny huu I have never herd eny thing good about them(realy I have not). have to tride the vortex or samba?

    http://forums.vwvortex.com/zeroforum?id=9

    http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/

  • Woody

    Sept. 20, 2009 10:11 p.m. Woody SuperDork

    VW called it Automatic Stickshift.

    Porsche called it Sportomatic.

  • oldtin

    Sept. 20, 2009 11:08 p.m. oldtin Reader

    Had one in a 70 beetle. No clutch pedal, 3 speed. Push down on the stick for neutral or just move the stick to change gears. Didn't like the tranny much - popped out of gear constantly and at the time I didn't know jack about dealing with it - although the car was pretty cool. Wish I had another acvw.

  • subrew

    Sept. 21, 2009 12:00 a.m. subrew Reader

    "Autostick"

  • aeronca65t

    Sept. 21, 2009 5:17 a.m. aeronca65t HalfDork

    Yes, Automatic StickShift

    ....or, A-SS

  • ratghia

    Sept. 21, 2009 6:07 a.m. ratghia Reader

    The badge on the back of a car with one read 'VW-AUTOMATIC' but I always called it the autostick.

  • BoxheadTim

    Sept. 21, 2009 8:43 a.m. BoxheadTim Reader

    IIRC Sportomatic is/was a four speed with a torque converter.

    Another (German) car that used this sort of setup was the NSU Ro80 saloon, which used this behind a 2 rotor rotary engine. I think they partially did that to "hide" the lack of torque on a Ro80.

  • bludroptop

    Sept. 21, 2009 8:50 a.m. bludroptop Dork

    My cousin had one when we were kids. Jensenman's correct - the clutch was triggered by the driver touching the gearshift lever...

    or the mischievous passenger's knee!

  • bamalama

    Sept. 21, 2009 9:13 a.m. bamalama Reader

    ratghia wrote:

    The badge on the back of a car with one read 'VW-AUTOMATIC' but I always called it the autostick.

    My uncle had one (I can't recall if it was a Beetle or a Ghia) when I was very young that said "automatic stickshift" on the deck lid. What a big ass badge.

  • Sept. 21, 2009 2:14 p.m. djsilver New Reader

    Thanks for all the replies. Does anyone have a picture or diagram, or a link to one? I've been googling away and searching the forum links posted, and haven't found one yet. I'm assuming by the functional description that the torque converter was mounted to the engine and the flywheel/clutch was mounted to the torque converter?

  • Sept. 21, 2009 2:28 p.m. skruffy Dork

    http://www.ukpages.co.uk/356/semi-manual/index.htm

  • JThw8

    Sept. 21, 2009 2:30 p.m. JThw8 SuperDork

    In reply to djsilver:

    Everything you need to know should be here http://www.vwar.org/

  • iceracer

    Sept. 21, 2009 6:19 p.m. iceracer HalfDork

    The biggest problem with it was the contacts would get corroded,then the clutch wouldn't release. Or an occasional vacuum leak.

  • CLNSC3

    Sept. 21, 2009 7:27 p.m. CLNSC3 New Reader

    Interesting thread, I have never heard of these transmissions!

  • Woody

    Sept. 21, 2009 8:22 p.m. Woody SuperDork

    On my first day of auto shop, as a 14 year old Freshman, the teacher asked me to move his Bug out of one of the bays.

    I sat in the driver's seat, saw a floor shifter and a shift pattern on the dash, but only two pedals. There was no evidence that there had ever been a clutch pedal in there. I didn't dare get out of the car and admit that I didn't know what I was doing. I took a second and third look at the whole setup, moved the shifter to neutral, stepped hard on the brake, crossed my fingers and started the car. Still pushing down on the brakes, I took a deep breath and slowly moved the shifter into reverse. Nothing bad happened, so I slowly took my foot off the brake. Still nothing, so I gave it some gas until I started to roll backwards and out the door. At this point, I was fairly sure that I was doing things right, so I stopped, put it into low and moved forward into a parking pace.

    The shop teacher and another older student were watching me the whole time, so I still don't know if I was being set up or not. I got out of the car and handed him his keys as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

    First and last time I've ever driven one.

  • Jensenman

    Sept. 21, 2009 8:23 p.m. Jensenman MegaDork

    djsilver wrote:

    In reply to Jensenman:

    Now we're getting somewhere! Did it just have a clutch, or did it have a clutch and a torque converter of some sort?

    IIRC it had both. You could idle with it in gear which to me means a torque converter. IIRC there was a version in the Type 3 (Squareback) which could be driven as an automatic (put the shifter in 3rd and it would shift automatically) or you could shift in the usual 'contacts in the lever' manner.

  • Pat

    Sept. 21, 2009 9:02 p.m. Pat New Reader

    My brother had a '68 semi automatic Bug. Very different set up. I drove it quite a bit (about 20 years ago!), but if I remember correctly, it had three forward gears and reverse. No clutch. Just move car into gear you wanted, hit the gas, let off, shift and hit the gas again.

    I do remember at one point, something with the contacts got funky in the shifter where it wouldn't release. He wired it up (don't ask me how...I don't remember) to a button he had on the shifter. He'd hit the button anytime he needed to shift it.

    It was a neat car, but I like my clutch'd 4 spd '69 Bug better.

 

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