The building of traditional Ford hot rods continues unabated. The proof is in the production from our shop. As most people know we are a supplier of early Ford parts, but our small transmission rebuild shop has turned out literally hundreds of old Ford 3 speed trannies in the last six years. In 2014 I was surprised to see the number we had built and shipped that year. We surpassed that number by almost 20% this year. And when you think about it, we're not the only shop that does these, not to mention all the fellows who've rebuilt their own. I know plenty of people have selected different transmission options......automatics, overdrives, T5 five speeds, and other even more exotic tranny builds to name a few. However when you consider the ease of the bolt-up installation, it's still the low cost choice of most to get the "old school" look and feel that our fathers and grandfathers grew up with. We're proud to be a big part of that. I wish I could see the maiden drive away of each toploader 3 speed that disappears from our shop in its wood crate to each customer's hot rod build. Whether it goes into a traditional '32 rod, or a stock '39 Coupe, or a cool '49 F-1 pickup truck.......they're great little bits of car history!
I saw the title and thought "oh no!" I took it to mean you were done with old Ford transmission parts. Glad you meant the opposite, as you have the best supply and instruction for these transes.
The title was really a tongue in cheek way of referring to the theme of old Ford transmissions still pushing old cars down the road.....and doing a fine job of it too.
I have a couple of these trannys up and running as well. Thank you for your work to keep them in gear!
Got my side shift '40 trans back from Mac VP in a Christmas crate. Good folks to work with and can't wait to mate it up with a 283 and install in the 32. Hopefully soon. Thanks Mac.
here is mine stuffed with 48 gears behind a stock 303 olds in my 46 merc lovin it,rebuilt it myself with the help of your book, I have a 50 pu open drive trans that I plan on rebuilding this winter
Still got the old '40 3-on-the-tree in mine and I got all the rebuild parts from Mac VP, including the clutch. Thousands and thousands of miles later, still shifting smooth and running strong!
Actually we've seen a pretty good percentage of the old side loaders too. Finished one up recently that goes into an old survivor 32 Ford hot rod. This was a unique conversion, although not real common, where a '40 steering column and shifter was installed to get the shifter off the floor of the car.
The Jalopy Journal
