Anybody else like column shifters?

I think BMW's had a 4 speed on the tree ..

 

You gotta love an old "3 on the tree" column shifter for the looks and traditional feel, but how many out there have busted a knuckle or broken a finger on the dash or mirror trying to speed shift into second gear? Come on 'fess up.

 

My latest project is a 30 roadster on duece rails with 303 rocket adapted to a '48 merc gearbox with 3 on the tree. I used an F100 column shift.
Cheers Dago.

 

I have a B-W od in my '49 Chevy 1/2 ton. I have it so that I can "split shift and get '6 forward gears and a Virginia overdrive', that's 1 under, 1 over, 2 under, 2 over, 3 under, 3 over. The od is .70 so here's the math....(.70 overdrive X 3.90 rear end = 2.73 ). That's 72-73 mph at around 2100 rpm's with my Michelin truck tires 215 85R 16's.


Here's some of the work needed to get her on the floor..........I shortened the shifter arms to reduce total shift length and welded them where I needed them to be, had to bend the shifter rods to give clearance for the od solenoid.


Here's a home-made bracket with an 'over-up' to put the shifter in the middle of the floor.



I am going back to the floor........by using articulating ball joints aka Heim Joints that will eliminate the slop caused by the typical round rod in hole in the early shifters. I can't wait to get back to the column shift....it's a bit harder for me as my truck is a daily driver, the only vehicle I have and the job has to be crammed into a weekend with all the parts on hand.

You're going to love it on the column man, people just do not know how to make a 'one armed bandit' go..... cheers, Cosmo.

 

You have to come up with this foot/hand coordination thing.

 

Loved the bolt-action shifter on my '54 Buick. My open drive shaft conversion includes swapping in a '56 Chevy 3spd manual column, a NOS TransDapt Muncie bellhousing for the 322, and a Chevy 3speed with BW Overdrive trans. Floor shift with a T5 would be easier, and a Chevy truck 4spd OD would be easier still...but it wouldn't be right.
'50s cruisers just don't look right with a floor shift. Hot rods NEED one though.

-Brad

 

Hated "3 on the Tree" with a p***ion when I was kid, they were even more uncool than a PowerGlide. I was going to convert the 3 Spd./OD in my Stude to floor shift this Winter but now I think it's cool as Hell and plan to rebuild the stock column setup.

 

Had a three on the tree and original non-synchro double clutching trans on my daily driver for over 13 years now.
My coupe has the sweet vacuum shift ***ist as well, which shifts with two fingers....haha.
Wouldn't wanna have it any other way on a daily, cruising on public roads.
The direct feel of a floor shifter is great for a racer.

When you drive the old column shift and trans all the time, you can shift and double-clutch as fast as you can shift with any modern stick ******. Ask any daily driver or those who used to and remember.
Any other tales are myths from worn and poorly adjusted linkages, or somebody just doesn't drive often.

If worn parts are replaced and everything is tight and to spec, they just flow through the gears without any noise, lasting for decades with annual lube changes.
If a shifter jumps out of gear its probably worn synchro rings in the trans.

 

The only reason I would want a column shift nowadays is because my boy is almost 15 and I think back on all of the un-authorized drives I took with my parent's cars. I don't think he could figure out how to drive the damn thing.

 

Chevy and Ford pickups in the early '70's had a full synchro 3 speed that was available with OD........put it on the column and shift away. Early '50's Studes had the smoothest shifting column that never seemed to tear up.

 

OK, here's one for ya... What was the last year any car/truck could be had with a factory 3 on the tree? And what was it?

 

A buddy of mine had a 4spd collun shift factory on his mid 60s Econoline. That was the only one I have ever seen.It was a 6cyl. Window van. Windows all the way around.

 

my favorite shifter.........right in the middle of redoing the 50 merc w/ 354 hemi, saginaw 3 spd full syncro shifted on the stock mercury column

 

My '41 Poncho has a 3 on the tree. Only problem is that it's worn and sometimes grinds going into gear. Unless I have to put in an automatic, it stays as is.

 

I know '77 GM A-Bodies ( Malibu, Cutl***, etc.) still had a 3 on the tree and I'm "pretty sure" (sort of) GM trucks still had them through at least '81. '76 Chevy trucks definitely because I busted the shift collar in my employer's brand new '76 Chevy 1/2 ton. Caught Hell for that one but if they knew half the **** I did to that truck..........

 

I used to have 2 trans for my duece sedan one floor and one column, would swap them as i blew em'.

 

I had a 58 Chevy Yeoman wagon. The column shift had a fairly long throw but shifted nice and easy. I also drove a 64 Falcon wagon. That was a nice crisp shifter. Older cars with column shift and bench seat have their own charm.

 

How about 3 on the dash? I drove my mom's 60 Rambler American while I was swapping engines in my 58 Plymouth. The gearshift selector came out of the dash! No gearshift collars or exposed shift tubes that was so common for that time. It worked the same. It just looked odd.

I always heard about how clunky the vacuum shift was on the 40s Chevrolet's until I got a chance to drive a 40 Chevy with 20 K on the clock. It was as smooth as silk. Of course they never got lubrication and got loose and sloppy over time earning them the undeserved POS reputation. The 25 dollar used car that we teenagers used to scrounge up were pretty worn out when we got them or they would not have been 25 bucks. The quick fix to the column shift that hangs up between gears was the good old Spark-o-matic floor shifter.

 

Didn't some of you old guys move the shifter to the left side so you can have your right arm around your girl? How did you do that? I already know about the mirror on the floor board.

 

The old Holdens had sweet shifts, fingertip easy. Unless you raced- then you cut a hole in the floor.

 

yep,[flipped the arms to the other side of the mastjacket].
easier to teach the gals how to shift, degenerate!

 

We are building a 40 Ford convertable at work that has a 392 Chrysler with a Chevy fully syncro 3 speed with overdrive hooked to the original column shift. It's very cool.

 

Ok, so if I want to put an OD behind my '51 ford flatty (1/2 ton), are there specific models of transmissoin I need to use, or stay away from?

 

For the younger guys that haven't seen the column shift work. My Model A coupe with a 1951 Ford 8BA and 3 speed with overdrive, shifted with a 1939 ford steering column with the 51 Ford shift tube and linkage. The old Ford shift tubes are the same diameter for lots of years.

I run 3.55 rear gears instead of 4.11 so it runs the flathead at a much lower RPM on the highway. I see in the old "Little Books" car magazines there are column shifted hotrods.

 

Do you know what that transmission would be for a Ford? I'd love to have one of those rascals.

 

Anybody have a part number, casting number or any info I can use to ID the Chevy 3spd trans with OD I have? Specifically, I want to see if it's a full-synchro trans or not. There's a late Chevy truck in the junk yard with 3spd manual, and it's late enough that'd it'd be full synchro.

-Brad

 

I miss my 53 with the 3 on the tree. Good times.

 

I would think you could use a 3 speed column and run a cable to actuate reverse when shifter is in neutral...anybody have any ideas for an Eaton 9 speed?...just kidding.

 

two reasons i've stayed with the column shift in my '50 ford: my first car was a '53 ford, which i converted to a floor shift. kept the old shift lever and used it in the '50. it's a nostalgia thing. secondly, my wife never could figure out how to shift one on the "tree," so i don't have to worry about her getting drunk some night and taking it out for a joy ride!

 

Sorry but "back in the day" (1960's) one of the first things we did did was get out the Almquist,Honest Charlie or J.C.Whitney catalog and order us a floor shift conversion,having that floor shift gave us an opportunity to "grab some leg" on that sweet young thing sitting along side of us.One of the first things I did to my '53 Ford back in '62 was my Spark-O-Matic floor shifter