Hydramatic shifts hard in third

[Rusty Shepherd CLC 6397]

While we're on the subject of Hydra-Matics, does anyone know why it took until 1956 for Hydra-Matic to have a Park position?  Dynaflow had it from its introduction for '48 and Powerglide when it came out for '50, so GM knew how to do it.  Only Chrysler Corp. was (a lot) later in providing a Park position, but then again it took them until mid '53-'55 to get rid of the clutch pedals in all their "automatic" cars.

[Roger Zimmermann]

While we're on the subject of Hydra-Matics, does anyone know why it took until 1956 for Hydra-Matic to have a Park position? 

To your first question: no, I don't know why Rolls stayed with the first generation of Hydramatic.
To your second question: when the lever is put in "R" and engine off, there is a mechanical "Park" , at least on the later versions. Probably the changes needed to have that position with the gear lever were too consequent.

Roger