Featured Technical Two pedals or three

Well maybe you remember my 40 pu, “Ol everyday”…….

 

Nice steering wheel! I hope there's a corvette mill under the hood.

 

Got the best of both worlds! Built my 50 coupe with a Muncie speed. Most of my cars have been manual transmissions... But my OT Chevelle was a factory 396/360 with a power glide, bucket seats and console. I converted it to a built TH400 and just can't bring myself to convert it to 4 speed. It is too much fun with the TH400.

 

Well I swear it’s a small block….. }

 

I never owned a 2 pedal car...

 

Hello,

How funny, two pedals or three. My brother bought his 1958 Chevy Impala new and it had three pedals with the stick shift lever on the column. The other winning Chevy impalas at the drags also had the three speed stick shift lever and the resulting three pedals.

So, that was the important thing. The automatic powerglides were just not up to the winning power of any 58 Chevy Impalas and that went on into 1959, too. The stick shift sedans won everything.

In our case, our mom wanted to use the Impala when we were home or not using the sedan. But, she had never driven a stick shift car in her life. So, our dad chuckled and moved to the next room. My brother said he was too busy with school and job to fiddle around with the driving lesson. So, I was the last resort.

Jnaki

Our mom was 5’2 inches tall and her leg muscles could not handle the heavy duty clutch strength when first starting. So, down the block, we did the clutch bounce until the car picked up speed and we moved to the next block. She was good at remembering all that I told her about watching all around and be ready to step on the brake approaching the corner.

After many bucking bronco starts, she started to get the idea of gently lifting up the clutch until she could feel the bump or engaging the drive. Then as the short time came for the green light, she could take her foot off of the brake and then accelerate gently down the street. She was so happy to be able to do that and we continued out of our neighborhood. She did well on some fairly busy streets and kept a strong grip on the wheel. We went about 8 miles away from home towards Wilmington on level streets. Our goal was the South Bay beaches.

But, as we got to Wilmington, she had to cross the railroad tracks from the harbor and when going over them, scared the crapola out of her. So, she did not want to drive a stick shift any more. Bad memories from early on and now, road hazards added to a change.

Note:

She said she wanted an automatic transmission like our dad’s car and said she would pay for it to be converted. So, out went the three speed/clutch and now a nice C&O stick hydro was installed. She did not know it but that one change over made the Impala so much faster that it was a pleasure to drive anywhere. The Cherry Avenue Drags was an easy show for me and the stick hydro allowed me to get out in front at each start by a car length or two. Yes, I took some ribbing by having an automatic, but those comments came from losing cars at the late night drags. yes!
two pedals stick hydro

Our mom took to the “automatic” like ducks to water.” She drove all over the neighborhood to visit friends and relatives. She even drove to a large grocery store in Bixby Knolls in the Impala to buy groceries. She had run into some of my friends and they pretended to rev up their motor to scare my mom. But, she gently drove across the intersections and made it home plenty of times.
Old photo from 1962
The next time I saw those guys, they apologized and said they were playing a joke on my mom. Due to the fact that I already beat them at the Cherry Avenue Drags many times, I knew it was all in fun. As my mom told me the story, she had driven across the intersection fast to get away from those “teenagers” so she could get home. So, actually, she won the race… YRMV

Three pedals, yes, and two pedals, only if there is something to utilize the power of the modified horsepower in the motor. Afterall, it is just a transmission for cruising… D for drive… and my mom drove it all over her So Cal area to go shopping.

Note 2:

I taught my wife to drive a 5 speed sporty car she wanted. So, we spent afternoons in an industrial tract after most of the workers had gone home. So, the streets were fairly empty. We practiced what we talked about for the clutch/brake/gas pedal starts. Once that was gone over several times, the parking brake was handy as the lever was right by the stick shift lever.

So, the parking brake on, the foot is on the clutch, and gas pedal ready. When the clutch is engaged slightly, a clunk is heard. The car tries to move forward. But, the parking brake holds it back. Then as the car is ready to move forward, the left foot is still on the clutch at that “clunk” point and the right foot is on the gas pedal for more power.

The parking brake lever is ready to move by lowering it slowly while the gas pedal is pushed, moving the car forward. Now, the transition is smooth and as the parking brake is lowered, the car moves with more power on the gas pedal. Shifting to the next level is simple with the gas and clutch pedals.

She picked it up within a week and her driving was superb. Several off camber sloping stop sign corners were the practice points. By the 4th time we came to the same off camber sloping hill that had a stop sign, the brake lever procedure was done to perfection. She was a fast learner. So, we drove off to conquer steeper slopes and continue the brake start procedure each time.

Finally, for a reward, she drove up the coast to Santa Barbara, then through Big Sur up into Monterey and Santa Cruz Harbors. Yes, there were plenty of nice motels on each stop for a day and night. So, our goal was San Francisco for a couple of days of wandering around. But, she did so well on the steep public streets stop lights that there was no worry that she would roll back before she took off at the green light. She always left a space between our car and the car in front. Just in case that person did not use the brake start procedure.

Now, that she liked the stick shift sporty car, she drove it daily. But, she did not want to drive it across from Yosemite Valley to Mono Lake on the other side of the large mountain range. It was the scary Tioga Pass Road with steep curves and deep drop off slopes. Everywhere else, she was an expert at shifting and starting on any hill, during traffic and odd angle streets. YRMV

It must have been the calm teaching methods that stuck in her mind… yes!

 

I'd have to plan on acting Old ;-)

 

Swapping out the TH350 for a 3 speed in my '40 coupe was the best thing I ever did for it. Because my rear gears are 2.79's, the TH350 was a dog around town. The 3 speed I chose was the wide ratio Saginaw, which provides a 3.50 first gear, so it really woke things up.

Yes...I also had an era with a wide ratio Saginaw 4 speed, shifted on the column, but when I swapped the clutch last fall, I put the 3 speed back in because it was more fun to drive where you can wind it up good between gears.

 

Silly me, I thought all SBC in hot rods were from Corvettes?

 

Since @jnaki mentioned teaching, I'll go ahead with my favorite method of teaching.
A handful of girls know and enjoy 3 pedals, thanks to this.
I found while goofing around in Dad's 65 Chevelle SW.
I do a demo of clutch friction control by this method.
Stop on a hill, nice grade, like 30 deg. Trans in 1st, engine off.
Release brakes, engine holding the car now.
Begin to put foot pressure on the clutch.
Slowiy inctease pressure, as pedal moves down car will roll back.
Ease off pedal 'til car is held in place.
More pressure 'til it almost does
( the following is voided by new models with pedal 'safety' start switch )
Now turn ign. switch to start. Engine will start car will not roll.
More gas car will not go forward, idle car won't move.
Shut off motor, car does not roll back.
The purpose of all this demonstrates to the unwary the role of the gas and clutch.
Also a short talk of how the engine's power grows as the RPMs rise.
Makes for understanding the need of a trans, and the need of some rev to launch.
Some times it's nice to ride shotgun, but mostly we want to drive

 

Two of the 3 cars you mentioned have been money shifted... Multiple times.

 

At Deuce Days on Sunday I overheard someone sincerely saying "Look, it has a Corvette engine in it. That's so cool!" I was laughing pretty hard. It definitely had Corvette valve covers.

 

Five out of every four small blocks came from Corvettes.

 

For all you guys with bum knees that would like a manual but can't hack the stiff performance clutches, you might want to take a look at Centerforce clutches. They use ball bearings at all pivot points for reduced pedal effort. Their design is patented, so you won't find it anywhere else. My knees aren't the best either (I'm not a candidate for knee replacement... long story), so these have become my 'go to' for my manual cars, keeping me in the game...

Another possibility is playing with your pedal ratio. If you can live with a higher clutch pedal (more travel), altering the ratio can reduce effort also.

 

When I bought the Centerforce clutch for my roadster MANY years ago the last thing on my mind was for anything relating to comfort, though at my age/health issues it could end up being the first thought (car not finished).
I'm from the four speed era, and also a mechanical clutch linkage kind of guy so hydraulic clutches have never been a consideration, having said that, anything that can eliminate any binding in the the clutch linkage will go a long way in improving ones "quality of life". Most of the time the factory pivot points are metal to metal so rod end connections really can help as well as repairing bent/cracked levers in the linkage assembly.

 

Like Trace Adkin's song "Chrome"

 

He da man !

 

To fully appreciate Bill Jenkins in his element you need to watch the video.
Check out his "windup", starts at the six minute mark.

 

The 3 bounce technique!