They were also used with Nova engines in the DJ-5A Jeeps produced 1968-1970 by Kaiser-Jeep and widely used as delivery vehicles by the United States Post Office.
The 1953 and later units when in "Drive" started in low and automatically up shifted to high at a speed determined by the throttle opening.
A heavy duty version of Aluminium Powerglide was offered for passenger cars equipped with the 409 cubic inch V8 engine, and Chevrolet light trucks using a 1.76:1 reduction planetary gear set, instead of the usual 1.82:1.
With a 3.31 axle, Car and Driver magazine noted a full-throttle up shift speed of 76 mph (122 km/h) to direct with the 409-4bbl 340 hp (250 kW) engine in a contemporary road test.
One notable exception was the export version of the transmission, which offered only the 1.82 ratio and was used by Holden in Australia behind their Australian built 6-cylinder and V8 engines.
Its simple and robust design has led drag racing enthusiasts to work with it, giving the Powerglide an effective service life of nearly five decades past its intended obsolescence.
The Aluminium Powerglide is still used today as a racing transmission of choice by many racers mainly for the fact that it only shifts once, and for its extreme durability.
This unit was basically Powerglide without the vacuum modulator, requiring the driver to manually shift gears between Low and High.
After 1971, Chevrolet canceled Torque-Drive and continued to offer Powerglide until 1974, when all engines could be ordered with the three-speed Turbo Hydramatic.
The Turboglide, only offered with V8 engines, was more expensive (by about $50) than the Powerglide and did not have wide acceptance, in part due to failures in 1957-58 models, which were addressed by a significantly upgraded version for 1959.
Currently Robert Campisi from Australia holds the World Record for the fastest run using a Powerglide transmission, clocking 5.95s at 260 mph in his Twin Turbo Ford Mustang in September 2011.