The GM 6L50 transmission is one of the GM (General Motors) entries the open record knows by name and by date — in 2005, and by little else. That is not nothing: a name in the catalogue is where a car's story starts to be recoverable.
How it came about
The 6L family is a series of 6-speed automatic transmissions produced by General Motors for longitudinal engines. It uses a Lepelletier planetary gearset, an epicyclic gearset, which can provide more gear ratios with significantly fewer components than prior models could. It was first realized in 2000 with the 6HP from ZF Friedrichshafen. The Ford 6R, AWTF-80 SC, and ZF 6HP transmissions are based on the same globally patented gearset concept. The AWTF-80 SC is the only one for transverse engine installation.
Family and rivals
Where it sits in GM (General Motors)'s history is not in doubt: the 5L 40-E · 5L 50 came before it; the 8L 45 · 8L 90 followed it. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Bugatti Veyron, the Audi Q7, the Aston Martin Vantage. Its GM (General Motors) stablemates include the 1955 Chevrolet and the 1957 Chevrolet.