History What's the scoop on tall shifters?

So I proudly posted a picture of my new beer tap shifter on Facestalker and a friend of mine asked "I've never understood why hot rods have extremely tall shifters".

It got me thinking, because I do like tall shifters, but I don't really know why. My first thought was, well everyone wants to look like an Ed Roth monster when you're driving your car right? But then I thought, there had to have been people doing this before Roth started throwing them on t-shirts.

So my question is, does anyone know the origins of the "tall shifter"? Was Roth's interpretation the beginning of it all. Causing people to make their cars look more like a cartoon. Or were tall shifters a staple in hot rodding by the time he was drawing them up?

I wanna hear your opinion. I know the history of hot rodding is as elusive as a jackelope, but I'm still really curious to find out if there is any somewhat definable history behind this...

 

My very first tall shifter was when I was 16. I put the long chrome handle from my Mom's Bissel vacuum cleaner over the stock shifter on my VW bug, it was so tall it went through the sunroof. I just knew I was a cool dude, and felt like one of Roths cartoons.

Don

 

Some of the dry lakes racers ('40s) were T buckets, lots used early Ford transmissions with stock sticks...shift knobs were clearly visible.

First hot rod with a tall, prominent stick was Norm Grabowski's 'Lightnin Bug', featured in Hot Rod Magazine in '55. (Cad engine was backed up by a '39 Ford floorshift)

Tommy Ivo's T had a hairy 42" stick in it...Stock '37 LaSalle shift stick backed up a Buick 'Nailhead', rose a tall 14" above the doors.

Norm and Tommy always took off in second, so the sticks were pushed forward...Very visible.

 

They don't all have tall shifters....

 

I run one in my car 54 CHEVY Gasser. May be a race car but the tall shifter is very comfortable and very functionable but has that T shirt look.

 

There was a reason for the tall shifter. I think I have figured it out.

When the OHV V8s became popular in hot rods in the fifties, there were very few transmissions stout enough to take the power, and the speed shifting without breaking. Best known was the Cad/LaSalle box originally used behind Cadillac and LaSalle flathead V8s 1937 - up, the 37 - 40 (approx) being the ones with the floor shifter. There were some Packard and Buick boxes too.

These were heavy duty transmissions with big heavy gears not made for speed shifting. You could only force a shift so fast, if you went too fast you could blow the shift and possibly the transmission.

A long shifter with a heavy knob acted as a pendulum. It made it easy to slam shift while it slowed down the shifter action just enough to prevent damage to the transmission.

You didn't grab the knob like in the Roth cartoons. You grabbed the shift lever in the middle. The rest of the shifter was just there for the weight. Go ahead and bang the shift, the weight will hold you back from going too fast for the synchros and once you get the shifter moving momentum will carry it home.

Roth took his themes and ideas from what was going on around him in drag racing and hot rods. It is possible he used the idea for artistic reasons and did not know himself why guys made such long shifters.

 

It beats reaching down to the floor.

 

These been a few threads on tall shifters in the past,,some like them,,some don't. HRP

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=275432&showall=1

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=518783

Miss Linda Vaughn made my shifter tall! HRP

 

I just figured some guy channeled the crap out of his car and never bothered to bob the handle, then others followed suit, sometimes exaggerating things.

 

This is a stock Packard shifter on the back of my 216 Chevy.
Some of us are just old enough to remember when.

 

I'll buy that.

 

I'm not a fan. I've only seen them in a couple cars where it didn't look goofy. Maybe that's the look some folks like.

 

Same here. It seems out of scale and out of place. While there might be a valid function on a heavy-duty Thirties gearbox, I see a lot of them on automatics now.

 

Just an exaggerated caricature of a hot rod. Most Roth style cartoons have exaggerated proportions on rake, ride height, channeling, tire size etc. Kinda like a rodent vehicle. They go well with fuzzy dice.

 

Hooraay! Maybe we can start a new trend. OH... I don't like em' either.

 

Makes a car look rat roddy to me!
The shortest shifter you can reach comfortably will be the quickest to shift. How long were the shifters in the cars Ronny Sox drove?
I don't think he used skull shift knobs either.

 

I personally think they look stupid. As some others have said ,not a fan, goofy looking and cartoonish.

Something like the tall fad T's that evolved from the basic T hotrod.

If you want to drive a cartoon car that's fine, I'll stick with style and function (Pun Intended)

 

Here's mine btw. Not too outrageous, but I think it's rad! And snugged up right next to the steering wheel, nice and convenient (and not necessary at all at the same time!).

 

I see camel toe Linda!
Jay

 

Agree here
Jay

 

Don't know the history but I like the way it looks in my Roadster

 

Seeing the shifter on this sheds light on the subject... it's beautiful btw!

 

I can picture it, those stock forties car seats were so high, the shifter had to be that length to reach it. It's my guess all those rides got channeled and they didn't bother shortening the lever.

 

i'm on the "long shifter, teeny Winnie" side.

 

First off,explaining why to guys that aren't into hotrods is tough. I've got a friend that isn't much of a car guy that I brought to the Portland swap meet in 2012.
He couldn't understand why those old cars didn't have a hood or were at least missing the side panels.

I told him about how the 31 and older fords had bangers and they weren't as wide as a V8, but mostly it's a cool traditional look and if you have a cool engine, show it off.

He didn't get it.

On a positive side though, he decided he needs a 50 ford after the show.

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i always assumed it was a byproduct of swapped in trannys and channel jobs...

 

Ed Roth used a Civil War saber in one of his cars for a shift lever, I always thought that was neat as a kid, still do. While we're on this topic one of the oddest shift levers IMO is on the Model J Duesenberg, so tall that you bash your knuckles on the dash going for reverse and second. Bob

 

I can get on board with this. Thank you so much for sharing!

 

I'm going with the channel argument.


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I'm certain it's a combination of both.