Three on the tree......Am I gettin old??

My son, who is 15, can indeed operate a three-speed column shifter, has changed points and even rebuilt carburetors. You have to raise them right. ... But, to be fair, I think most of his friends could, too. We live in a rural community and most of the local kids are mechanically competent.

 

me and my brother are 22 and almost every car we have owned has been a 3 on the tree. learned how to drive a 51 ford we chopped, then got 47 buick, 54 ford, 41 buick. Its funny when people realize your driving a tree on the tree in a chopped car.

 

im sixteen and know what a three on the tree is they are just uneducated.

 

My daily driver is a '79 Dodge D100 with a slant 6 with a 3 on the tree.
I enjoy watching the smile come on the face of folks that see me shift into 2nd gear as I drive by them, sometimes the look is a puzzled look (like "what the heck"?).
Oh Ya! the dimmer is still on the floor and ya got to hand crank the windows down and it still has "round" head lights!!!

 

Never driven a three-on-the-tree, but I'd be able to identify it. I've dealt with points and condensers, and I sure as heck know what a Flathead is.

Why do all the young guys get all the grief around here? Oh, you are old, by the way.

 

Three on the tree
Four or the floor
5th under the seat

 

I have. I own a 69 Citroen DS with a 5-speed column shift.

 

My truck really confuses thr younger crowd. It's a '51 F1 with 3 on the tree. I converted to automatic trans but it shifts with the original column shifter. Oh yea, I left the clutch pedal intact.

 

Another 'goofy' setup I used in the 1970's on my V8-4sp converted '63 Econoline. It was a 3 on the tree. I hooked that to the new Mustang 4 speed and used a PTO cable for reverse.

 

My daily driver 64 econoline 3-in-the-tree keeps me busy on the steep hills here in downtown New Westminster BC (think Frisco).

Just when I think I've got the linkage dialed in for quick shifts someone else tries to drive it!

I like to hold it down closer to the column and use 2 fingers for "maximum effeciency" ha ha

 

That's just genius!

 

My 66 and 48 both have inlines and 3 on the tree -can't valet in Vegas. Most guys don't know how to use it.

 

A little O/T, and a little long winded, but goes with the subject at hand... A good friend of mine has a small hot rod shop in a tiny town in S/W corner of WA. I used to spend allot of time there in my '48 Plym in the summertime when I had a break from working. He had a shop kid working for him that was relatively old car compliant. He begged me several times over the summer to drive the '48.( breathed on 360, Tremac five speed, Original push button starter retained) One afternoon we adjourned early from building stuff to the local bar and good times ensued, my car was driven the full four blocks to the bar. We showed up back at the shop on slightly wobbly feet thinking that a dui in a tiny town would not fare so well for my buddies reputation. Coming through the door I toss shop kid my keys and say go ahead, drive it back, you worked all day,and we drank... Hell, take it for a ride, just be carefull... He excitedely ran out the door and down the street. Ten minutes elapse, he returns - "how do I open the door?" Reach through the drivers wind wing and press on the handle. Out the door he goes. Ten minutes later, he walks through the door again; "how do I start it"? Key in the ignition, turn it press the button. Out the door he goes. Ten minutes later back through the door, "which button?" The one marked start! Three minutes later I here my car roar to life, the familiar SCRAPE of the bumper entering the street, and then that lovely white noise that high compression and too much throttle makes! Funny thing about being in a tiny town surrounded by forest, you can here everything for a long way off! Lets just say he had a good ride! Just took awhile to get there though...

 

My dad had a '56 Chevy stepside that was lowered and a stovebolt six & 3 speed column shift. Every once in a while it would bind up and you had to pop the hood to rattle the linkage & free it up.
And unless I missed it, over 80 posts and no "three in your knee" comments?

 

My buddy in Cuba has a 55 Chevy with a 5 litre Mercedes Engine and he has
5 on the Tree

 

I've had a lot of cars that had a 3 on the tree. My OT 77 F-100 I drove for 7 years had a 3 speed (the column shifter had broke twice) on the column. I drove that truck when I was in high school (2002-2003) and most of the other kids in my class had never seen a three speed on the column. My 63 Rambler last year that I drove daily had a 3 speed on the column.

 

i won $20 from a friend who told me i couldn't downshift into first once i was moving in my 65 C10 chevy . i told him not only could i do it ,but i could do it at 50 mph .

it is really easy to do once you lock the brakes

 

Ever seen a four or five on the tree? A friends 61 Mercedes had four, and they still make fives on the column in Japan and Korea. There were a few of those small trucks (not street legal over here, not much bigger than a golf cart, looks like a mini Econoline) on the base in Korea when I was there in 2005. I saw one of those recently over here being pedaled as a farm run-around vehicle. It would be better than a golf cart or four wheeler for sure, or those two seater things like a Kawasaki Mule/John Deere Gator. Enclosed cab and heat go a long way in the winter!

 

I love those trucks in that color. A guy in my town has been driving one around forever but it is now beginning to return to the earth.

 

You finished high school in one year?

 

I don't know about you, but I know I wasn't old enough to drive for the first two years of HS. Others are more or less depending on age/local rules/stupidity.

 

LOL I did this on my 53 f100 when I was a kid and first stated driving ,it was hillarius no one could drive it ....they couldnt figure out the pattern.....lol

 

I had a guy with me the other in the 54, had the windows rolled down, he says to me "It's hot. Can I turn on the A/C?". I told him he had his arm in it. He looked at me like I was an idiot.

 

lol
Wing Vents at Full Throttle and in my case 460 Air

 

I was gonna learn 3/tree on a 1940 Buick I was working on, but I figured it wasnt such a good idea seeing as it didnt have the radiator and I had to get it to the radiator shop before it heated up, will learn soon tho!

 

Here is some hope for the future. Last year I gave my then 13 year old nephew his first car driving experience in 53 Plymouth 3 on the tree. He drove it around a cornfield and did great. I think his years of riding quads, dirt bikes and sleds helped a lot. So that's one youth who not only knows what it is, but has actually driven one and had a blast doing it.

 

"Three on the tree
Four or the floor
5th under the seat"

And as the old song goes "drinking cherry-berry wine"!

Question, which of the major 4 automakers back then had a 4-speed column shift?

I've read where guy's said they knew this was done at one time or the other, but I forget what brand and in which vehicle??

I figure a P/U, but?????

pdq67

 

Seems to be a few Rambler owners on here. Anybody had the dubious honor of driving an old Kelvinator with an "E-Stick" transmission?

 

I took a job once driving a off road mackpit truck that had The quad plex tri plex. Three shifters. Never did know exactly what I was doing. But they thought I was a ace driver. Nobody really knew how to properly shift it. I just found a few combos where it would pull and pretty much faked it. Those old mack engines will really lug pretty forgiving when driving in the wrong gear. OldWolf

 

I just wanted to stand up for the younger generation and say I fully comprehend all of this, and I just helped my buddy (we're both 19) pick up a fresh 59 A about two days ago... Its not the age-- its whether or not you've got taste and a bit of an automobile education.