Not trying to be confrontational, but I have to say... I don't buy that story at all. Automatic transmissions back then didn't even have lock-up torque convert

Not trying to be confrontational, but I have to say... I don't buy that story at all. Automatic transmissions back then didn't even have lock-up torque converters. You could always stop the car unless the throttle got stuck. The transmission can't suddently send the car screaming forward if the person isn't on the throttle. On another note, the main automatic transmissions of those days were probably the TH350 and TH400, which actually stands for "turbo hydramatic". That's probably where the name came from.