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
Chrysler R platform Chrysler R platform The Chrysler R platform was introduced for the 1979 model year as an attempt to compete with General Motors' downsized standard line (introduced 1977) and the new Ford Panther series. It comprised six models and lasted just three years. As the middle of the 1970s approached, Chrysler was facing an increasingly worrisome organizational and financial situation due to a combination of internal and external factors. The company had suffered the embarrassment of releasing new, bulkier full-sized C-body models for 1974 which promptly flopped due to the 1973 OPEC oil embargo, and unable to fix the mounting difficulties