was the trademark name for an automatic transmission developed and
built by General
Division from the late 1940s
to the mid 1960s.
Dynaflow, which was introduced for
model year, used a five-element torque
converter (with two turbines
and two stators,
and a planetary
gearset, providing two forward speeds plus reverse. In normal
driving, Dynaflow started in high gear (direct drive), using the
converter for torque
multiplication. Low gear could be manually engaged and held up to
approximately 60 mph (96 km/h), improving acceleration, but the
transmission would not automatically upshift to high gear.
Despite its smooth shifting
capability, Dynaflow developed a reputation for being slow when
compared to Oldsmobile's
Dynaflow was also an inefficient transmission by virture of its
initial design. In 1953
Buick redesigned Dynaflow as the Twin Turbine Dynaflow,
incorporating two turbines but only a single stator, which resulted
in a higher level of performance and greater efficiency of
transmitted energy. Buick also incorporated variable-pitch stators
for improved flexibility.
Dynaflow was discontinued in favor of
the much more efficient Super
Turbine 300 two-speed automatic and three-speed Turbo-Hydramatic
(which Buick dubbed "Super Turbine 400") starting in 1964.