Hot Rods Aftermarket Floor Shifters

What year was the first aftermarket floor shift conversion kit offered? What was the brand?

 

Automatic or stick shift?

 

Stick silly.

 

HURST!!!!!..... The rest are just garbage that I wouldn't even spend 2 cents on....

 

In 1962 I put a Fenton 3 speed floor shifter in my 53 Chevy Bel Air 2dr hardtop.. Worked better than the worn out column shift.

 

In 1966 I had a Fenton 500 in a 56 Ford. It was a pretty good shifter

 

There was a thread many years ago that discussed quite a few different early shifter manufacturers.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/old-floor-shift-conversions.190208/

 

In 61 a friend put an Ansen in his 57 Chevrolet. They had been out a few years and were considered the best before hurst came along. I put a POS Spark-O-Matic in my 49 Chevrolet Pickup because not much was available in 60 and it worked fine for a year or 2 before I put the column back in.

 

I was thumbing through some old Hot Rod magazines, 1950-1955, no aftermarket shifters at all. So maybe the first floor shifters for side shift 3 speeds were those used in the Tbird and Corvette in 55?

I never looked into this before. I'll keep digging, I have a lot of late 50s magazines.

 

I remember seeing old floor shifter kits made around early Corvette shifters.

 

Those early

There were only about 75 55 Corvettes built with standard transmissions. That according to this info.

I'd say that right around the time cars started showing up with 4 speeds car guys started thinking about how cool a floor shift would be.

My first floor shift was a SparkOMatic in my 51 Merc in 1963 after my column shift tube broke right at the shift handle and didn't hold up after we brazed it. A piece of junk with a price tag of 19.95 on it the day I bought it.

 

My brother installed an Ansen floor shift conversion on a brand new 61 Pontiac Laurentian sport coupe in late 1960.
The car was a power pack 283/ 3 speed. It also got a Radson 8k tach, an "097" cam and solid lifters that same weekend.

 

I found this Ansen ad on feebay, the seller says that it's from 1960:

 

The reason I asked is because, while reminiscing about some of the homemade shifters people made in the late fifties, we wondered if it was because people were cheap or because there were no shifter kits available at the time. The homemade shifter below is made from a Ford column shifter, kinda flimsy and it shifted backwards because we were to stupid to think of turning the trans levers upside down.

 

Top one sure looks like a Corvette shifter with Ansen's bracket, arms, rods, and levers.

 

Same here; 1962, came from Western Auto, can't remember the brand name, but best thing I ever did for my 1956 Studebaker Hawk.

jack vines

 

I have an old Foxcraft floor shifter , seems like it had a Western Auto connection ?

 

Ansen used as many parts as possible from stock Chevrolet shifters. I've had arguments with guys who said that they had a "rare Chevrolet factory three speed floor shifter" that, in reality, was an old Ansen.

 

In 1960, my brother put a 283 Chevy and 3 speed in his 53 Studebaker hardtop, using an Ansen Posi-Shift.

 

In 1961 with the help of R and C and Car Craft little books I installed a 283 Chev in my 51 Chev the shifter was from Lees Speed shop Oakland Ca. Tornado Shifter Vette style.