Does anyone know why rat rods and customs have such tall *** shifters in them if anyone can answer me this question than I will try and post pics of mine
Back in the day, almost all of the Ed Roth and Stanly Mouse hot rod artwork had a shifter sticking out of the car. Rat rods especially are a throwback to those vehicles, almost cartoonish in their proportions. Craig
Because "Rat Rods" are built by people who don't know much about ( or don't care ) how cars were really built " back then " ,and are just doing what they saw other rat rodders doing , I guess the other answer might be that old car and truck floor shifters look taller in chopped and channeled cars , and the Monster Cartoon thing definatly had them and was a big hit in the early 60s.
I ran mine mainly for the reaction, it sticks 8 inches out of the roof with a skull nob. Most of the time now, I run a short one in it. It's more fun than the tall one and doesn't bounce itself out of gear on rough roads. It is fun to watch people's reactions reaching through the roof to grab the next gear leaving a light, though.
I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but seems like I read that LaSalle ******s were sought after by rodders "back in the day", due to their ability to withstand much punishment. Coincidentally, these units had longer/taller shifters than their Ford/GM counterparts. So, as a result, if someone was running a tall shifter, they likely had some HP they were trying to tame (although I suspect there were posers back in the day as well). -murph
RAT RODS have tall shifters so no one notices the ****py welds holding the car together. ha HA I prefer HOT RODS with normal shifters. LOL
It's been said Norm Grabowski started the trend with his "kookie" T. Norm also mounted a hand carved skull on the end of the shifter rod in that car. He reportedly is still filling orders for those custom made skull shift knobs. I know Norm. We met in Kansas City back in the summer of 2003, and he showed me several examples of his craft. His work really is beautiful!
back in the day, yeah, the old Lasalle/Cad , Buick,Packard trans were the 'thing' if you wanted a bullet proof trans. They also had tall closer ratio gears much like the Lincoln 'Zephers'. If you had one of them in early 50,s cars they wud stick way up, and you looked 'cool' with your hand d****d on the '8' or 'Q' ball as you entered the drive in. And then of course they started to make em taller.
Tall shifters in rat rods give the rats a better view of the road. They just shimmy up to the top and peek throught the windshield or roof.
Because some people like them, and some don't. Those who do, like to annoy those who don't. Those who don't, well, they just need something to ***** about, so it all works out pretty good.. here's a couple pics of your car I managed to get before my camera battery died... ever get that toyota head idea worked out?
I think it was the whole Roth ,Rat Fink thing. I never saw any rods with tall shifters before Big Daddy became well known.In fact, most people used the cheapy Spark o matics or Hursts and if they used a top loader,they usually cut the handle down for quicker shifts. Remember this was back when hotrods were meant to be street and drag raced not just cruised around in.
What??? I've seen quite a few re-bent to clear dashes etc, but hardly ever seen one cutdown. Quicker shifts? grab the stick down lower.
Looks like one of those ask 20 people and get 20 different answers deals. I always figured it was to look like the cars on the old Roth monster shirts. I have seen some taller than normal shifters in some old magazines so it was being done in the late 50s but nowhere near as common as today.
Tall shifters, but not too tall were common in the 50's. About 56 on. As mentioned, the Caddy and Buicks had a shifter that was a little longer than the Fords, but not by much. It was common to lengthen the shifters a touch so they would show from the outside, but when the Cad-Lasalle, Buick and Packard shifters were used in a Ford lengthening wasn't necessary. A little heating and bending to bring them vertical like a Ford shifter would do it. A few did weld an extension on, but not too many. Running the Cad-Lasalle trans in the popular Olds coupes had the stock length lever sticking up to the point where they were noticeable from the outside. Engine swaps and build-ups could be and were disguised, but the floor shifter was a badge of honor for most and most didn't mind if it was visible. Sleepers were popular to a small extent, but once the car was parked there were a lot of hints as to what it might be running under the hood. Floorshift, tach under the dash, enlarged trans hump etc. Roth was probably like any other hot rodder and saw the same things we did and probably used the same stuff in his early hot rods. Granted, the overly tall shifter took off when he popularized them on his T-shirts and the like, but he wasn't the first guy to have a tall shifter. Probably the first one to make a few $$ from it though. A reasonably small and many times stock shift knob was used although a few used a beer draft handle. Caterpillar tractors parked overnight lost a handle now and then, but the most popular shift knob was the ever-popular 8 ball. 8 balls disappeared at such a rate out of the rec center that they ended up using a 2nd cue ball for the 8 ball and would not issue the 8 ball to players. Strangely the pool halls didn't have a problem retaining 8 balls. There were 15 numbered balls on the table and by God there'd better be 15 balls there when you left. The old boys who ran the pool halls had long memories and if they tossed someone out of the pool hall it was usually via the back door. Kapisch? Along with the hot rod gang, there were a few serious drag racers running in the stock and gas cl***es in our SoCal coastal town and the town north. Since four speeds hadn't come into common use and wouldn't for a while, the sturdy three speeds, namely Cad-Lasalle, Buick and Packard transmissions were used for many engine swaps. A few cars used these transmissions in the stock cl***es. They got away with it by running a short, about seat height shifter and disguising it with a judiciously placed knee. Set your girl friend in the middle and she could hide it quite well when the car went through the tech lines. Of course the column shift and shifter were still hanging on the column so the disguise was fairly complete. The thinking behind the swap to a floor shift was first for the sturdier than the Ford and Chevy transmissions and second because the torque of the engine made good fast speed shifts difficult with a column shift. No such problem with the directly connected floor shift. Cool post and an interesting subject....
mine is tall because thats the one i got the best deal on i would have put a shorter one in it if it was cheaper its all about the $$$$ for me tom
I've always been curious if the superlong shifters were hard on the transmission? Especially with a heavy knob?
Heavy knobs didn't seem to hurt the floor shift transmissions. They could create problems with column shift transmissions though. A lot of us ran a pool ball on our Shoebox shift levers and the weight of it would pull the trans out of 2nd gear after a while. 2nd was used on a lot of the steep and winding downhills close to where I lived. It wasn't just the weight of the ball and vibration that did it, seemed like the 2nd gear synchro ring wore faster due to the heavy ball. Most times going back to the small original Shoebox knob cured the problem.
I'm running a 23" Lokar nostalaga shifter....But mine is in my COE and my ****** sits a foot and half below the floor so mine was for function...I like both the tall and short shifters!
Well I thinkl that you are right its futlie to look for answers. And no haven't got it ironed out just yet needs a little more work but if I get it running Ill let you know Have you gave it a try yet? PM me I need to get a hold of one of you guys about some parts. Still trying to put pics of my shifter on here.
Mine is 32 1/2 in from the floor board and made from a singal peice a rebar. And I think your right what is a rat rod? is there an answer for that ??????
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