Here Are Some Weird Things You Probably Didn't Know About The Porsche 911
Photo: Total 911
Most people who read Jalopnik will likely agree that a real sports car deserves a manual transmission. This is borne out by the fact that for decades, three pedals and a stick were the only way you could get many sports cars. Hell, the 911 didn’t get an automatic transmission until 1989!
Or, well, that’s mostly true. See, Porsche offered something called the “Sportomatic transmission” from 1967 to 1980 and it was something of a hybrid of a manual transmission and an automatic. They weren’t especially common, but they are pretty interesting. Volkswagen used a version, too.
When I say that the Sportomatic is a hybrid between a manual and a torque converter auto, what I mean is that you shift your gears manually (three or four of them, depending on the year) but you don’t have a clutch pedal. Instead of that pedal, the Sportomatic uses a torque converter to allow the car to come to a stop without stalling AND a conventional-ish clutch that is controlled pneumatically by microswitches on the shift lever.
Driving the 1968 Porsche 911S ‘Sportomatic’ from Daniel Schmitt & Co.
Shifting works like this: You’re sitting at a light and the light turns green. You move the gear stick into first gear. When you touch the stick, the microswitch actuates a solenoid that actuates a pneumatic valve. This valve used vacuum to release the clutch allowing the synchros to work and shift into gear. Once you’re in gear and take your hand off of the gear stick, the clutch reengages and you’re off.
It gets cooler and also weirder. Instead of having 1, 2, 3 and 4 for gears, Porsche gave the Sportomatic L, D, D3 and D4. Low was like first gear in a normal manual, but Porsche said it was just for steep hills and encouraged drivers to set off in D. D and D3 were like shorter second and third gears in a standard transmission and D4 was overdrive.
The torque converter that allowed the car not to stall also acted as a torque multiplier which means that technically, you could set off in any of the four forward gears.
