The Borg-Warner T-10 was a 4-speed manual transmission for longitudinal engine automobiles.
Through the 1950s, 3-speed transmissions were considered sufficient for typical American automobiles, however, sports cars and performance cars would benefit from 4-speeds. Chevrolet did not have a 4-speed transmission of their own in the mid-1950s, and needed one for their Corvette sports car. Based in part on GM design plans and a GM patent, the Borg-Warner T-10 4-speed was introduced exclusively for the 1957 Corvette. It remained a Corvette exclusive option through 1959. (Between the years 1963 and 1974 GM produced its own heavy-duty transmission, the Muncie 4-speed, which replaced the T10, albeit temporarily, before returning to Borg-Warner transmissions by the mid-1970s.) Starting in 1961, and through the 1960s, other automakers including Studebaker, Ford, Chrysler, and eventually American Motors began introducing the T10 transmission in various models. The original T-10 was replaced by the Super T10 sometimes referred to as ST-10. This was an improved and stronger version and featured hardened gears, strengthened cases and additional ratios. [1] [2]
Starting in 1984, Doug Nash began producing the Super T10 including an overdrive variant in the top 3 gears known as the "4+3" primarily for GM's niche market Chevrolet Corvette. As early as the 1970s and by the 1980s, production automobiles ceased using the increasingly venerable T10 transmission as original equipment as they moved towards more modern 5-speeds. [2]
By 1989, Richmond Gear took over production of the Super T10 where it became a specialty product primarily marketed to the aftermarket or 'hot rodder' market which still continues to the present. [2]