History Do you know what a "Straight Shift" is ?

Never heard of it before today.

 

Three on a tree, stick shift, four on the floor.
Bob

 

This is an odd one. I have lived all over the twin cities area for the last 75 years, and I never heard "plumb" used this way, untill..... I worked in Chaska, MN, an outer ring suburb southwest of Minneapolis, where a large portion of the inhabitants were of German descent. There, nobody every got really drunk, but it was a common occurrence to hear that someone was "plumb full" last Saturday night. Maybe a heritage thing, not regional? I have no idea.

 

OK, who's willing to admit they still have sore knuckles from their hand slipping off the the three speed on the column when making the first to second shift and hitting the rear view mirror?

 

Yes, but all those people were old then....and long dead now. Not only are some of these terms regional, but generational and sometimes city vs rural. People who know about this stuff, claim they can identify your area of residence within fifty miles by hearing you speak.

People in a smallish town I lived in for several years spoke noticeably different than the rural folks maybe 10 miles outside the community. The difference being, I thought, was that many of the townsfolk commuted to the ‘big city’ for employment and adopted the language and diction of that area and the rural folks didn’t have an outside influence.....except when they ‘came to town’.

 

Didn't happen that way when I was young. If you wanted to speed shift a column shift, you didn't grab the knob on the end; you wrapped your hand around the shift lever about half way between the knob and the steering column. That way, you had a better grip and a shorter throw.

 

Back in the day we usually went from having three on the tree to four on the floor with a fifth under the seat.

 

Always said straight shift... still do.... nobody in my circle said manual... ever.. Tennessee here. straight shift was what we said as kids in the 60s.

 

Back in the day, anytime my hand ‘slipped off’ the gear shift it was calculated to come to rest on my date’s ‘C’ cup chest....or thigh........

I had my priorities straight...even if my aim wasn’t great.....

 

Hadn't heard it until hotrodprimer's post earlier

 

Grew up hearing manual transmission equipped vehicles referred to as "straight stick" or "stick shift".

 

Grew up in Central Kansas and it was normally referred to as "stick shift" by the younger set and straight or standard by the adults as I recall. And then there was " hell yes, he blew that SOB plumb up".

 

Yep only thing I ever called it as a kid, but hell I am in Bama too.

 

I can't say as I heard it before. But I recall so called straight line shifters being sold in the 60's. Cheap ones I suspect, if JC Whitney was selling them. They were all for 3 speeds as I recall. Up here is was a "standard" or three on the tree, and four on the floor, if you shifted for yourself. I must admit, I miss my old full syncro three speeds on the tree. I had several of them over the years. Far better than the non syncro ones I owned. At the moment my rides shift by themselves, although I do down shift manually now and then. Old habits die hard.

 

You carpetbaggers sure talk funny. Who's that Manual fella?

 

Another Bama guy— straight shift was a manual, call it a stick shift if it was in the floor. Didn’t hear three on the tree until later. Still call the gas pedal the foot feed sometimes, other times it’s the skinny pedal or loud pedal. Ears laid back referred to a horse or mule in full trot, he was running so fast his ears were laid back. Plumb tuckered out, exhausted. Probably a lot of things said around here other parts of the country have never heard of.

 

If you're not plumb wore out you're shagged shitless.

 

No but it makes sense.
It seems I have heard throttle pedal a time or two.

For the three pedals of a straight shift.....
The skinny one on the right is the "Gas" seldom the "gas pedal" hardly ever, the "Accellerator" or Accellerator Pedal.

The middle pedal is the "Brake Pedal" seldom "Brake".

The left pedal is the "Clutch" hardly ever the " Clutch Pedal.

The round button....That's the "Bright Lights" almost never Dimmer or Dimmer switch.

Old cars have a "key" or ignition on the dash. Now the "Switch" is usually on the Column of a newer car.. The old cars also have either a "Starter button" on the dash or a "Starter" on the floor.
To "Crank" an old car like my old '50 coupe you mash the clutch....turn the key on then mash the starter button and give it some gas. You may have to choke it but if it's warm all you have to do is "bump" the starter.

For us it was always....Three Speed on the Column unless it was a floor shift. Both the Floor Shift and Three Speed on the Column were "Straight Shifts".

The little skinny lever opposite the Column gear shift is the "Blinker".

 

My grandparents called it that.

 

My dad always called the gas pedal the foot feed. I think that came from growing up with cars that had a hand throttle. You had to call the one on the floor the foot feed so the other guy knew you worn't talking about the hand throttle.

 

I can remember the old timers calling a stick shift a "straight shift " when I was a kid in the late 50's in the Midwest.

 

In the house I grew up in it was 3 speed, 4 speed, 'glide, or hydro. Dad was a Chevy Mechanic in the 60's and that was the slang that they used. That's just how I was taught though, must all be regional or generational. JMO [emoji41]

 

Plumbus means lead in latin. Plumb dead, makes sense if you think a battery is made of lead. When you think of how heavy lead is, plumb full kind of makes sense.
Bob

 

Never heard it before, but I knew what you and HOTRODPRIMER meant.
A quick story about car terms. I cared for 92yr old Lee and Norma until their passing. Quite the experience. Extremely sweet people.
They knew I like old cars. I asked them if they remember any old terms for cars. Lee said "Jitney"...and we laughed. I asked if they could think of any others. Norma had a stroke not too long previous, and didn't talk a lot. But after a couple seconds, she fairly blurted out...
"Gas buggy!"
I was in awe.

 

Yep, mine too but not for long, hello Hurst.

 

Always been stick or manual around here...

 

Yes. All of these things.

 

Four on the floor, three on the tree, or two in the glue. Manual trans or automatic.

 

It's been a coon's age since I've heard all of these terms, and another coon's age since those who used them were around, all old timers, long gone.

 

down here in Aussie in the 60's if we had a 3 speed box
U could buy a shifter called "Impala Straight Line Shifter"
Take shifter off the tree and mount Impala on floor
made shifting very quick and sometimes if box was not
strong "broken gearbox"