Chrysler PowerFlite transmission Chrysler PowerFlite transmission PowerFlite is a two-speed automatic transmission engineered and produced by the Chrysler Corporation and used in their passenger cars from 1954 to 1961. Production began in late 1953; despite the launch of Chrysler's three-speed TorqueFlite automatic in 1956, the simple and durable PowerFlite remained available on Plymouths and Dodges through the 1961 model year, after which it was discontinued. Chrysler was the last of Detroit's Big Three automakers to introduce a fully automatic transmission, some 14 years after General Motors had introduced Oldsmobile's Hydramatic automatic transmission and nearly three years after Ford's Ford-O-Matic. Packard's Ultramatic debuted in
General Motors Theatre the second season. The series was a breeding ground for writing and directing talent such as William Kotcheff, Donald Jack and Arthur Hailey. One of Hailey's plays for the strand, "Flight into Danger" (1956), was later remade as the feature film "Zero Hour!", and was also screened by the BBC in the United Kingdom. It was a major factor in "General Motors Theatre" producer — and CBC Supervisor of Drama — Sydney Newman moving to work in the UK, where he later worked on and created anthology series similar to "General Motors Theatre" such as "Armchair Theatre" and "The Wednesday