Picked up a 1962 T-Bird over the winter, good driver. This is the first Ford I have owned and I have a question about the transmission. The indicator for the gear selector shows P R N D D L, the next to last D has a green circle around it. Which D is for normal driving, the one with the green circle or the one without? Seems to shift through to third in either position. Also, is there a prize for Stupid Question of the Day? If so, I think I am in the running for it. Thanks! Kirk
Go with the dot, those early trannies had a unique shift pattern- the extra "D" would indeed shift to 3rd, but also started in 2nd instead of 1st- which came in very handy if you lived in snow country, it let you "feather" it to get moving in the slippery stuff. Even the first C6's in '66 had that pattern, and were "standardized" with a new valve body in '67. Try it in both positions, you'll be able to feel the difference
If it's like an early 60s Lincoln Continental (copied from another site): "It can be confusing but the principle is easy to understand. These trans are what is referred to as DUAL-RANGE. They are a step above the pre-1958 SINGLE-RANGE trans. Simply put, the driver has the option of either a first gear start (D1) or a second gear start (D2). Both optional positions result in a third gear final. D2 is used for economy or light traffic areas (where acceleration is not that important) and D1 is used for city/fast get away. It does not hurt the trans to use D2 as that was the way FORD designed the trans. It may cause overheating of the trans fluid which could result in early trans failure. But there has to be a lot of abuse to get that far. Second gear starts were common in the forties/fifties and early sixties manual transmissions."
The Jalopy Journal
