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History What's the scoop on tall shifters?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by scibjenkins, Jun 11, 2013.

  1. Blue One
    Joined: Feb 6, 2010
    Posts: 11,488

    Blue One
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Alberta

    :D It does kinda look that way when you see an xray of a hip replacement implant ;)
     

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  2. Hot Rods Ta Hell
    Joined: Apr 20, 2008
    Posts: 4,712

    Hot Rods Ta Hell
    Member

    Oldest long shifter I ever heard of was the story my Grandfather told me about when he was in High School. His friend had an Essex touring car that they used to pile into to go to school. For kicks one day, my Pops unthreaded the shifter knob and slid a 6' pipe over the shifter. He was standing up in the backseat shifting gears (on verbal command from the driver) with the pipe when they got pulled over by a cop who read them the riot act! Boys will be boys.

    My Pops graduated in 1921, so that verifies "long shifters" as being around for nearly 100 years.
     
  3. need louvers ?
    Joined: Nov 20, 2008
    Posts: 12,903

    need louvers ?
    Member


    Yup! I do bench seats in all my cars and just soon as I started dating a woman she was trained to sit in the middle... As it should be! 'Course, after ten years of the incredible Miss Judy, buckets are starting to look like a good option these days...
     
  4. timothale
    Joined: Feb 3, 2007
    Posts: 234

    timothale
    Member

    How many of you have ever shifted a lasalle hooked up to a warmed up Ohv V8? The Lasalle shifter come out of the box on the R H side foreward on the case. It gives you more leg room in a roadster, less for the passenger. They had close ratio gears, just right for 4.11 gears. the synchro's were not as good as a packard, and the packard has a synchro on first gear and some packards had an overdrive.The lasalle starts out about 3/4 on an inch and taper down to about 1/4 at the knob. The distance you move the knob on a tall "salle" is about the same as the distance on a T 10 factory shifter, The height of the knob let you get your shoulder behind it for a fast shift. putting an extension on a stock shifter has you getting your knuckels in the windshield then on the seat back.
     
  5. Moon Rocket
    Joined: Dec 26, 2012
    Posts: 540

    Moon Rocket
    BANNED
    from GA

    What can I say, there simply wasn't any where else to put the jack! And who wants a fake ass piston shifter knob.


    Wonder what this sucker would have done to that red head's cheek?


    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    lemondana likes this.
  6. VoodooTwin
    Joined: Jul 13, 2011
    Posts: 3,453

    VoodooTwin
    Member
    from Noo Yawk

    I dunno the history of the tall shifter's beginnings, but I like em. I have tall shifters in all of my rods. 2 are automatics too. If you don't like tall shifters, not to worry; I'm not asking ya to drive mine. :)
     
  7. oldfordnutt
    Joined: Sep 6, 2011
    Posts: 28

    oldfordnutt
    Member
    from Modesto,Ca

    Awater Mike is right on in mid. 50s I ran my 32 5-win. with a Buick and 39 box the first to 2nd. was almost impossible had to show the guy next to me I was going off in 2nd gear, changed to a Chev. box with Hurst inline shifter and never missed a shift no matter fast I tried.
     
  8. jd55f100
    Joined: Aug 29, 2007
    Posts: 312

    jd55f100
    Member
    from alabama

    Here is mine in my 55 ford
     

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  9. mikes51
    Joined: Oct 4, 2001
    Posts: 2,195

    mikes51
    Member

    Ha ha, where is the "like" button.

    Too much traffic nowadays, since I have an automatic, might as well make it tall for looks.

    Now if you are talking 1966, and you are power shifting your 409 powered 61 chevy, that's a different story. You want that short Hurst shifter with horizontal gun grip handle. You miss a shift and there goes your motor.
     
  10. 39cent
    Joined: Apr 4, 2006
    Posts: 1,569

    39cent
    Member
    from socal

    It was a fad,.Roth didnt start it he followed it, I remember first seeing it way before he got on the bandwagon. first one I saw was a channeled T roadster that pulled into Rubys In Riverside, we all cracked up, it was an immediate hit. Everybody gathered around the roadster. I made one for my 31 A 2dr, it was kinda like the 'ape hanger' handle bars on the Harley choppers. A fad like the names painted on the rods n customs, my raked 50, Buick had 'Raunchy' [which was a song and kinda described my Buick] Basically it was the roadsterguy just had gotten his rod running with his Lasalle trans and wanted to cruise the drive in. Also we had an incident at Ruby,s similar to the 'cop car' scene in 'American Graffitti'. I saw a couple of guys pouring something in the driveway gutter. A little later I heard some squallin tires and this car haulin ass by, well the cops were just leaving out that way and they hit the gas and spunout amost across the street to the DeAnza theater. this was in the early 60,s
     
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2013
  11. :cool:
    'Cause they look neat? That's why I got one, they mostly do to me.:cool: IMG_0002.JPG
     
  12. I just like the way they fit the car.
     

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  13. Atwater Mike
    Joined: May 31, 2002
    Posts: 11,619

    Atwater Mike
    Member

    I always had 'hot rods'. My '32 5 window got a 'cheap' '37 Lincoln Zephyr box, from my bud Don Knopp... (right hand side floor shifter...'wiggly' stick, real long...Cut it down and you looked like some pharisee chopping down a religious artifact!
    My roadster had a '37 LaSalle...cutting that 42" tapered cane would have been heresy...
    Oh, my '46 Tudor, '40 Ford Nail valve Coupe, AND my '61 Cad Coupe DeVille...all had '37 LaSalles, stock length sticks, black shift knob was visible in the shallow body of the Cad Coupe! ('Slim Jim' auto trans was out when I bought the car in '64, so I got it for $275. My pal Muff gave me a LaSalle, and I bought an adaptor and flywheel. Cheaper with the '56 Olds clutch pedal & linkage than an auto tranny rebuild!
    Car got LONG eyeballs downtown, I'd take off from a stoplight, the gear whine was noisy...then I'd purposely grind reverse, going into second, just a 'scrape'... guys alongside and on the sidewalk: "HEY, That Caddy's got a FLOOR in it..."
    NO cut down sticks, the REAL floorshifts deserved to be installed as was, long stick. They earned it.
    To use a 'swan-style' aftermarket 1/2" tubular stick in something with no clutch pedal (or side shift with linkage) reeks of someone that :
    1. has no tools;
    2. lacks connections, conviction, or determination to install a real tranny;
    3. has invested in too many Roth prints, thinks a tall tiller is tits...

    The real COOL thing is a real Cad/LaSalle/ Buick Roadmaster/ Packard box in something it doesn't 'belong' in!
    My '63-1/2 Galaxie has a fresh 406 backed by a T150 3-speed Ford heavy toploader with a REAL Jeep tower, and a 30" cane stick. (visible above the low dash...Only a 3 speed, but kinda 'gospel', 'real floor shift') Gears are wider than my LaSalles...
    "Dude! How come you don't have a 4 speed???" ('If you don't know...')
    Tall stick isn't some 'statement'. Ha! Yes, it is... but 'deserved'. (know how heavy that cast iron box is? Whew! I deserve it...)
    There's an 'eliteness' here....or I don't know any better...
     
    Last edited: Aug 17, 2014
    jebbesen likes this.
  14. Ron Gooden
    Joined: Dec 24, 2024
    Posts: 2

    Ron Gooden

    Fellas, They came in handy if your rod kept jumping out of gear, I don't know of any real purpose except it looked cool, and that is all that mattered back then.
    I have a 1950 chevy truck jet black with red interior lowered in the front, big ass engine, flames and louvered hood using a tool that was designed in 1950 for cutting louvers with a hammer. I have a Lokar shifter with a 32 inch lever, it looks darn good and it's nothing but cool.
    I'm 78 years old and that is my dream hot rod and I get positive remarks plus the many first place trophies (I dont enter contests anymore I just like to get with the fellas my age who lived hot rodding back when it was cool.) you don't have to have a reason to do something, this is hot rodding you do what you like and the hell with anyone who poo poo's what you do.
     

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  15. JD Miller
    Joined: Nov 12, 2011
    Posts: 2,498

    JD Miller
    Member

  16. Olcars
    Joined: Oct 6, 2016
    Posts: 51

    Olcars
    Member

    F2D7FE06-D09B-4884-AD60-B2984BADE6B8.jpeg here’s mine; I’m not too concerned about who doesn’t like it. I do.
     
    anthony myrick likes this.
  17. COCONUTS
    Joined: May 5, 2015
    Posts: 1,203

    COCONUTS

    Form or function. I think that the basic hot rod is more function than form. I say this because most early hot rods owners spent their cash on going faster than the next guy.
     
  18. A 2 B
    Joined: Dec 2, 2015
    Posts: 529

    A 2 B
    Member
    from SW Ontario

    The first tall shifter I saw in the early '50s was when our milkman was upgraded to a new truck, replacing the horse drawn wagon. The driver's seat bottom folded up so he could drive house to house and remain standing. More efficient and saved time I suppose. Could it be that guys were finding what shifters they could that would fit or were adaptable to their rides in the bone yards, just because they liked the look? Good question.
     
  19. Hell in some cases it could have been the result of an injury. I tore my rotator cuff mounting and balancing some 44" Mickey Thompson mud grips 10 years ago for an overly entitled farmer. When it flares up reaching down is murder. Now if I hold my arm so my hand is eye level the pain goes away. Meaning on a big ol' honking shifter I could bang gears no issue while with a normal one it'd feel like a belt sander blew up in my shoulder lol
     
    Truckdoctor Andy likes this.
  20. jimmy six
    Joined: Mar 21, 2006
    Posts: 16,163

    jimmy six
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Depends on the application. IMG_0295.jpeg
     
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  21. 41 GMC K-18
    Joined: Jun 27, 2019
    Posts: 4,351

    41 GMC K-18
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Perfect height for Marty's hot rod.

    STRODE 2.JPG IMG_1343 (2).JPG
     
    Truckdoctor Andy likes this.
  22. 41 GMC K-18
    Joined: Jun 27, 2019
    Posts: 4,351

    41 GMC K-18
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Joey Ukrop's shifter on the 2.0 roadster.

    IMG_4353.jpg
     
    Truckdoctor Andy likes this.
  23. 41 GMC K-18
    Joined: Jun 27, 2019
    Posts: 4,351

    41 GMC K-18
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Sometimes "2" shifters are needed !

    DSC_7332.JPG
     
    Truckdoctor Andy likes this.

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