Ultramatic was the trademarked name of the Packard Motor Car Company's

automatic transmission An automatic transmission (sometimes abbreviated to auto or AT) is a multi-speed transmission (mechanics), transmission used in internal combustion engine-based motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gea ...

introduced in 1949 and produced until 1954, at Packard's

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

East Grand Boulevard factory. It was produced thereafter from late 1954, thru 1956 at the new Packard "Utica"

Utica, Michigan Utica is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,757 at the 2010 census. History The city now known as Utica was platted by Joseph Stead in 1817, who preferred to call it "Harlow." Others referred to the ...

facility.

1935-1948: Development

Packard's Ultramatic transmission was the creation of the company's chief engineer

Forest McFarland A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

and his engineering team. The magnitude of this accomplishment is illustrated by the fact that it was the only automatic transmission developed and produced solely by an independent automaker, with no outside help. Devices like the Ultramatic were being tested and designed by Packard from 1935 on, but none satisfied the perfectionist engineer. The Ultramatic's development was halted, as was all automotive work during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, but resumed in earnest during 1946. After World War II, Packard's range had contracted to variants of the mid-priced Clipper line. It was during this period that Packard began to suffer in competition with General Motors' Cadillac Division, thanks in part to their popular self-shifting

Hydra-Matic Hydramatic (also known as Hydra-Matic) is an automatic transmission developed by both General Motors' Cadillac and Oldsmobile divisions. Introduced in 1939 for the 1940 model year vehicles, the ''Hydramatic'' was the first mass-produced fully- ...

. The Hydra-Matic was available starting in 1941 and became very popular during the 1946-1948 time-frame, pushing along Packard's release of its new automatic drive. Packard at that time (1946–1949) only offered an Electr