Ford's C-4 Transmission - The Little Giant Killer

One thing for sure is the C-4 transmission is small compared to most domestic automatic three speeds. It is approximately 12 inches wide by 12 inches high at the main body and is 32 inches long. Another thing is it's a very robust, little giant killer. It weighs in at right around 90 lbs. with out the torque converter (compared to about 150 for the C-6) and, with a few inexpensive modifications, can handle gobs of torque and performs consistently well. It also has less parasitic drag, (internal friction) than the C-6. The C-4 can be reprogrammed to shift firmly or softer if you prefer and can be made to shift manually of fully automatic with a normal or reverse shift pattern. There are a lot of performance parts and kits available on the market to do what ever modifications one wants.

History: Ford's nomenclature is such that A=1940's, B=1950's, C=1960's D=1970's and so on. The second digit is the actual year such as A-1 = 1941, B-3 = 1953, C-7 = 1967, etc. So the C-4 is 1964 and that is the first year the C-4 was made. You may find a C-4 part or casting number on a later year like a '68 or '72 but never the other way around. You couldn't find a '69 part originally installed on a '65 car because the part hadn't been made yet. The C-4's were put into almost any car, van or light truck that Ford made. Originally they were called Cruise-O-Matic, an all aluminum bell housing, main case and tail-shaft housing, spin off of the Ford-O-Matic 2 speed trans. In '64 the shift pattern was a little different as you could choose to start out in a normal three speed mode by selecting the big green dot or you could choose to start out in second gear (the small green dot) and hold it there by down shifting into low. Then in '66 Ford modified it to what was used throughout the rest of the production years of the C-4 which was Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive (low-second-high automatically), second and manual low.

More to come...