Funnily enough, Hasbeen, Stirling Moss advocated automatics when they started to get popular during the 1960s and somewhere I read that he couldn't understand why anyone would choose a manual for everyday motoring. (Seen here in a 1970 Opel Commodore brochure, around the time he was helping Chrysler Australia promote their Hemi). AP made four auto boxes for the Cooper S and I believe one was made for him, another going to Alec Issigonis. In the late 1960s the 4 speed auto box for the Mini and Morris 1100 took very little power from the engine, making a Mini-Matic as BMC called them as quick if not quicker than a manual Mini Deluxe. An Austin 1800 Borg-Warner 35 auto was not much slower than a manual, but this probably had more to do with the awkward cable shift of a manual 1800.