![1938 Oldsmobile Convertible Coupe with Autoamatic Safeaty Transmission [CREDIT: Hemmings Motor News]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/1938-oldsmobile-convertible-coupe-with-autoamatic-safeaty-transmission-credit-hemmings-motor-news_100673975_t.gif)
With only the possible exception of the electric starter, nothing has done more to expand the adoption of personal cars than the automatic transmission, as reflected by one of the first cars so-equipped, being sold this week in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The 1938 Oldsmobile L-38 convertible coupe used the first transmission to select gears... Electric cars may end the automatic era this Olds began
With only the possible exception of the electric starter, nothing has done more to expand the adoption of personal cars than the automatic transmission, as reflected by one of the first cars so-equipped, being sold this week in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The 1938 Oldsmobile L-38 convertible coupe used the first transmission to select gears... 
In order to meet stricter emissions standards, automakers are scrambling for any efficiency gain they can get in internal-combustion engines and powertrains. One of the most popular options for increasing efficiency is transmissions with a greater number of gears. Where 6-speed transmissions were once considered more than adequate, now seven...