transmission question

[fleetsidelarry]

Originally Posted by markeb01

“In the 50s it was B&M who came up with the idea of using a performance reinforced Hydramatic for racing”.

Markeb, there was an informative writeup in the Shopmanual section of the January, 2010 issue of Street Rodder magazine about these transmissions, in which, along with other information, similar statements were made. A reader responded (in the March issue) with the clarifying information that, in fact, a Cadillac Motors employee (Jack Leidgen, who had been involved with the development of the heavy-duty hydramatic tank transmission parts), was building racing hydramatics as early as 1950 and that, in 1951 (2 years before B&M), Cadillac published a spec sheet listing the parts that would be used to build a modified hydramatic and that these were the parts used (at least early on, I assume) by B&M.