What is an E-stick?

Interesting!  Thanks guys.

rocklandrambler wrote: The E-stick system is, I believe, very similar to the early Chrysler Fluid-Drive.  Once the car is in motion the need to operate  the clutch for 2nd and 3rd gears is eliminated.  From looking at the TSM it was quite complicated which probably lead to its early demise.  I think '64 was the last year for it.

Not at all.  E-Stick is like others have described above.

Fluid Drive is nothing more than a fluid coupling (not a torque converter) between the clutch and engine.  All Fluid-Drive really did was eliminate the necessity of operating the clutch during stop & go driving. You still needed to use the clutch pedal to shift between the two (or three) gears.  But you did not have to push the clutch pedal when you came to a stop.

But then it got confusing because over the next few years (between '46 and '54), Dodge, Chrysler and DeSoto (but not Plymouth!) all used different names; such as: Vacamatic, Prestomatic, Fluidmatic (Chrysler), Simplimatic, Tip-Toe Hydraulic Shift (DeSoto) and Gyromatic (Dodge) to describe the next iteration of the transmission, known internally as the M4, and the M6.

BUT, they were all still known as "Fluid-Drive" because they all used the same fluid coupling between engine and clutch, except for the M6.

The M6 was the most complex.  This did use a torque converter, fed by engine oil, coupled to a clutch, a two-speed manual transmission and an electric underdrive planetary box. This gave you four forward engine speeds, free-wheeling on 2nd and 4th, did not need to employ the clutch pedal to start off but only needed the clutch pedal to select "ranges". (Lo, Hi and Reverse)

But it only offered two automatic shifts. You could start the car off in either Lo or Hi (sometimes labelled "Drive") ranges. Lo gave you two forward speeds with an automatic upshift to "second" ratio.  In essence, the two-speed transmission stayed in place while the aux box shifted from under to direct.  The same thing happened in "Hi" or "Drive". You started off in "third" ratio, and eventually when conditions were right, you got an automatic upshift from under to direct.

They're all really ingenious devices.  Quite literally, you never had to change the clutch in these cars - ever - due to you never actually wearing the clutch out! Most of the wear is caused by starting off, so by eliminating that, you eliminated 90% of the wear.  Also, oil changes were "seasonal" or once a year!  Since the fluid coupling or torque converter used engine oil, capacity was somewhere in the neighborhood of 12-16 quarts, so it took forever for the engine oil to get dirty.

Why Chrysler wasted years and all their R&D money on it though instead of just trying for a fully automatic just seems insane to me. Considering that Studebaker, Packard even Tucker had all developed their own fully automatics.... Chrysler was seriously beating a dead horse - especially by 1954!  Even Chevy had the Powerglide by that point!