I believe they did but it may have been optional equipment. A look in the "Green Bible" might offer some info on that.
They came in a very limited number of 41 Pickups. This is going in my ‘40 Truck, connected to a Saginaw trans.
My buddy’s 41, which is what I learned to drive on in the seventh grade in 1964, had a floor shift. I have seen reference to column shifted 41 pickups, but never 42-47 Jailbars. On the other hand, the flathead powered 37 pickup that I sometimes got a ride home in from Boy Scouts a few years earlier had a column shifter. I know the column shifter direct from Henry wasn’t a thing that early, so I can only presume retrofitting the column shifter from a 41-48 car to an earlier car or pickup wasn’t all that uncommon. Several showed up in pre 1940 cars in the magazines, too.
I just converted my 41 pickup to column shift 48 trans, offy adaptor, Hurst mount,283 2 bbl It fit after lots of m***aging Not much room between the firewall and valve cover
When we were young punks we couldn't wait to tear out that column shifter and put in a floor shift conversion. Now we are going in the other direction. The times they are a changing
When I was in HS I had a '65 Falcon 2 dr wagon with an automatic. Couldn't wait to convert it to a manual. Fast forward 50 + years to my current '54 Ranch Wagon project. Ditched the 3 speed/Y block for a 302/AOD combo. Getting old I guess. BUT I still have the 3 speed and flathead in my daily driver p/u.
No trucks came with column shift only a few sedan pickups which shared all steering and driveline parts with the sedan and coup
Upoun further research, I have found that in 1941, very few, but some did come with a column shift. It wasn't until 1952 that it became standard. People speculate that Ford was going to start making that standard in '42 but, due to the war effort, they waited.
The Jalopy Journal
