pressure, as determined by carburetor linkage position, causing the Direct Shift Valve to apply the direct drive clutch. This "locked" the torque converter, giving direct mechanical drive from the engine to the rear wheels. This became the Ultramatic's definitive feature, eliminating the power-robbing slippage of the torque converter at cruising speeds. On the highway, the Ultramatic delivered the same economy and power as a manual transmission. With the exception of Borg-Warner, in their Studebaker "Automatic Drive", major automotive manufacturers did not generally employ a locking torque converter until nearly thirty years later. The low ratio was available for climbing and descending hills. When using the low ratio, the torque converter lockup happened at a slightly lower speed, and as a result of the reduction in the rate of the opposing throttle advancement, it helped to eliminate torque converter overheating issues that plagued early automatic transmissions, which because of this advancement were avoided in similar conditions with Ultramatic. Ratio selection was through a column shift, with a lighted selector quadrant on the steering column showing the range. The positions available were Parking, Neutral, High, Low and Reverse (PNHLR). After its first year, the Ultramatic Drive became available on all Packard models, and was immediately popular. It continued on, with a Packard program of modifications to improve reliability until 1954, although it was mostly trouble free from the start. In 1954, Ultramatic underwent a major upgrade to both the power transfer and hydraulic control components, which were reconfigured to give low gear starts automatically in the newly added "Drive" (D) range. Many Packard owners had complained of lackluster acceleration with the earlier Ultramatics, and had discovered that starting off in Low ratio, and switching to High while on the move gave a much brisker pickup. Ultramatic Drive, while durable, handled this manual shift from low to high poorly. To further illustrate the necessity of this feature, by 1954 both the Borg-Warner and Chevrolet Power-Glide in addition to the aforementioned Hydra-Matic and Chrysler's new PowerFlite performed ratio switches automatically as well (low-to high), while Buick's Dynaflow Drive continued using high gear starts until its demise after the 1963 model year. 1954: Gear-Start Ultramatic Drive Packard's new Ultramatic model introduced in the middle of the 1954 model year was officially called Gear-Start Ultramatic Drive, offering a new selector sequence on the column shift: 'D', for Drive, placed in between High and Low, with High