Hot Rods I heard it once said...

Would love to run a manaul in the next coupe but as it will channeled and have a bleed sweep in it its just not possible. Before anyone says it is just remember our cars are right hand drive so its not as easy as putting a throttle pedal on the tunnel

 

I guess if I am going racing. The extra pedal makes it more fun. And even with my bad left knee I can still throw a mean power shift in all the gears. There is a cool factor with a hot rod with a 3rd pedal. But street racing ain't what it used to be, so a 3RD pedal isn't really needed for day to day use, especially in stop and go traffic.

BUT

I bought a 62 chevy 2 door sedan awhile back. ya know rock crusher 4 speed, bad to the bone 327, all the goodies. Left a buddies house under full throttle power shifts. I was still shaking from excitement when I got home. DECIDED TO SELL IT RIGHT THEN AND THERE. Other wise even at my age I would end up in jail, cause it was so much more fun than an automatic...John

 

I love it when old threads come back up!

If I want consistency, it's a hydro, for sure. If I want an extra tenth on a guy just as fast, it's definitely a hydro, maybe even a powerglide.

If I want to feel everything coming out of my powerplant in my left foot when my right foot gets twitchy? It's gotta be an old fashioned, z-bar operated, clutch fork balancing on that razors edge between incinerated throw-out bearing and asphault melting, suspension test.

My question to the hydro boys... What is your left foot doing when the **** hits the fan? Playing patty cake with the foot brake?!

 

Throttle, clutch and a hand brake.

 

I love manual transmissions, but there is something about a row of push****ons from a Chrysler Torqueflite...

 

I have 3 pedals in everything I own that does not have two wheels.

The current build is getting 3 pedals too, mostly so my S/O can't drive it. She's a nice woman, but a menace behind the wheel. A couple of weeks ago, she backed into a truck and smashed in the grille with her bike rack. It was MY truck. Still not over it.

 

My RHD 28 has 3 pedals. It also has a 4" channel and "Bleed" TM sweep. I think you're looking for excuses.

Pete

 

mine has three pedles and five speeds

 

3 pedals or die! Haha, just kidding. I do prefer manual though, more exciting that way.

 

3 pedals!

 

Hey Steve,talk to any drag racer using a modified auto with a shift kit. I think that would put that statement to rest

 

Well said !

 

Our local saying has always been that a stick shift hot rod has ZOOM factor and that trumps a automatic anytime anyplace! Now mind you that back in the day a buddy of mine had a near identical hot rod with an auto and mine of course, stick, and on the streets everyone swore mine was faster? Wrong! At the track, he was a full second faster but it was smooth and straight! The old stick shift ride was ***hole and elbows sideways exciting!! Zoom Factor!

 

Reminds me of my father when he got older. My brother had a 375/396 69 ss chevelle with a 4-speed. When dad would drive it he would go from 1st. to forth just to avoid having to shift. My brother didn't like it and I didn't either, because we loved hearing those gears.

 

My job had me driving AND shifting all day long in a quarry for abour 5 years. Completely cured me from the need to shift.

 

All my memorable cars have been 4-speeds, and I guess that says it.

Back in the sixties I saw a blonde in a Nova V8 4-speed convertible rowing gears like a pro, and it made a big impression on me. I decided then that every girl in my family would learn to drive a manual. It was the first thing I taught my girlfriend (now wife) when she was a teenager, and my daughter when she began to drive. They have enjoyed having the ability to drive any car over the years. I'm looking forward to teaching my granddaughter the art of the 4-speed in a couple years.

My 31 Coupe is getting a T10. Clutch cars sound better to me than braked automatics idling at stoplights, and there's nothing as theraputic as running through the gears down a back road on a warm summer evening. There's also the gear whine of a manual that I dearly love. One of my brothers had an automatic in his Model A before he sold it, and it was kinda boring - it took a lot of the driver out of the equation.

 

Every car I've been ticketed in had three pedals. Thus my current rides have two ( I like to keep my drivers license).

 

I have been on the fence about this my self.

Channeling my 34 pickup Im not sure I will have the room to run three pedals as much as I want a 4 spd

But a 4spd is smaller then the th400 i have that came with my 389, so maybe it could work.............

So I say if you can make it practical do it

 

Run two pedals .................... brakes are for sissy's

 

Three pedals are the cool factor. But for the traffic we have around here they are not practical.

 

That's how I learned how to drive back in 1977-78 in my dad's Austin Healey. Priceless training. The hills of the SF Bay Area were a special treat: Stop, set the brake with your right hand, put it in 1st, ease the clutch until it starts to grab, release the brake and blend-in the clutch and throttle in one smooth motion (motions) and away you go. Do it wrong and the old man would go *******. Needless to say, I learned pretty quick!

 

the b/m hydrostick cars where the fastest at the drags when i built my A between 65&67...when your buikding a car on a week to week $$$ by the time you finish it -it is obsolete-?!?....as has been brought up b4>the g***er cars hi in the air at***ude was short lived...hydros gave wayaswell...
one point to think about is that the use of any automatic equipped car allows the crank to float in the block rather then have the springs in the pressure plate pushing the crank forward into the thrust bearing<<<???

 

hey COUPE...well friend some of the fastest hotrods around today are automatics. SO i say hell no. and hey **** whats pointless about the question. idon't mean U coupe! just another deadbeat looking to put somebody down. call me POP...or the old FART!

 

Swapped the t10 for a th400. Left the cluch pedal in. So its still a real hotrod

 

How bout this..... the Anglia had a full manual valve body and a 4500 stall... Now it has a 2500 stall for the smaller cam.... I think it was as cool, radical, racecar-like as a stick...

 

I really don't understand folks saying that an automatic is faster than a stick. More consistant-maybe, depends on the driver. Faster-no. If you don't believe me, go look at the NHRA stock and superstock records and indexs. Do you see any of them that the automatic cl*** records/indexs are lower, I don't think so. Also, when you shift an automatic, at some point it is in two gears instead of one which slows the car down.

All that being said, does a hot rod have to have a manual transmission? Nope, not all hotrods are built to perform the same duties. My 56 Ford pickup will have an automatic in it, my Anglia an old Doug Nash 5 speed.

G***er John,
I think the only time a standard pushes on the crank thrust bearing is when your pushing the clutch petal. The pressure plate springs just push against the face of the flywheel.
And as far as g***ers running automatics, nearly all of the lower cl***/smallblock cars ran 4 speeds and heavy flywheels. Nothing like hearing a G***er or MP car stage, bring the rpms up to about 7 or 8 grand and dropping the clutch. They did it into the 70's.
Larry T

http://www.nhra.com/compe***ion/indexes.aspx

 

I like both, but there is nothing like shifting through the gears with the gas pedal planted to the floor, just don't miss a shift........

 

Hahahaha Ya it was going to be for my wife thats why I kept the hydro..but if I could
do it over I would put a Lasalle or a top loader... but it is nice to have an Automatic..
Automatics were a luxury back in the day..cl***y.. but unless its a B&M hydrostick
its not much of a racer..

 

Took the Turbo 350 out and put a T-10 in my 50 Ford , Kustoms have 3 pedals too !!

 

I remember asking my parents how they knew when to shift when I was 4 or 5 and then listening to the engine after it was explained to me so I could learn how to drive. My 5 yr. old son asked me the same question and a little smile of pride covers his face when I let him shift.

I remember learning to drive a stick and was proud I knew how when I was 12. even before that I always felt that it separated the men from the boys for some reason.

A friend of mine was just recalling a glory story the other day about watching me bang gears from the p***enger seat, as I ran some punk down and blew his doors off and that was over 15 yrs. ago

3 pedals are more fun to drive when the experience of driving is what you are after if you are into cruising and eating a burger, screwing with your stereo or ipod as you are talking to a friend on your bluetooth I think you will like the convenience of an automatic.

I can't imagine how I ended up driving (a stick) as my profession