Art & Inspiration Your shift knob is ?

Eclipse nob from 1935 San Diego exposition....

 

I am not very original, just a Hurst ball sitting on a Hurst Shifter, been there since the 70's

 

Mine in my customline '54

 

I have a fear of spiders, so mine has a liquid-filled spider in it....

 

The Mysterion cloning project required a specific 60s knob. As you might expect, that knob is SUPER rare (that means it wasn't very popular in the day). I searched the web for years looking for one. It is a barrel knob with a chrome center and clear plastic end caps.



Dave Shuten who finished his version of a Mysterion clone in 2005 got one but it was obviously not the clear version since he had to paint his silver metal flake.


I finally found one on ebaY and snapped it up. Unfortunately it was red plastic, not clear so I had to make a couple clear plastic caps. It was easy to cast a urethane rubber mold from the original then cast a couple in clear urethane plastic. I also tried casting them in clear polyester resin (outer two castings in pic below) but those were too yellow and probably would have gotten more so with age. The urethane is very clear.





Here is my final product.

 

This^^^^
I know, to each their own and all that but apparently I missed the turn to Koolsville.
I guess I just never felt the need to stray from the old standby, the Hurst knob.
I hated it when Hurst started putting those shift knobs on their shifters that have that cheasy clear plastic shift pattern insert.
I guess they figured us old farts would buy the replacement old style knobs, they were right and as much as I hated spending nearly $30 (twice) to replace them I just couldn't warm up to them.

I do like this one though!

 

A bakelite tap knob from Piels, Brooklyn's finest brewery circa 1950.
Bert and Harry recommend it! . Has been aging gracefully in my drawer for many years. Time to put it on.

 

tb33anda3rd Dave Mc
Thanks for the photos of some great examples !
Hello,

We were able to have a variety of knobs on our cars back in those high school days. The metal shop class allowed us to machine all sorts of shapes and sizes while putting threads inside for a great fit. Sometimes, if the shape was great and the person boy or girl did not want to have us thread the inside, we just forced fit the ball onto the shift lever. We were able to cast molten metal and pour into sand casting for shapes, too. The round wax ball being the easiest with the next being a grip shaped from several wax bars, much harder to shape.

Somebody had made one of those larger clear plastic shapes with colored layer molds in a crafts/jewelry class in Junior HS and high school. But, you had to have the dash knobs to match or something did not look right.

(like those custom knobs from this old post:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/creative-dash-knobs.1043180/#post 14

JNAKI, DEC 12, 2016 EDIT DELETE! REPORT! SHARE POST#14+ QUOTE)

Jnaki

But, whatever it was, our 58 Impala stuck with the white round ball. My 40 Ford Sedan Delivery had a black round ball in 1961 and 71. Both El Caminos had the white round ball on the lever. But, all sorts of shapes and colors were tried, but we always came back to the standard looking white or black round ball. Simplicity at its finest…for us
in reverse

 

I'm with you on the round one, guess that's why mine is a pool ball .

 

Mine,
Hand made of solid bronze.

 

Your shift knob is ?
OEM, old and cracked.

 

OEM, perfect original chrome.

 

My '32 ..... and ... my '29

 

Ethan bought this one at the Coker's Swap meet yesterday

 

This is the one in my 66 Corvette

 

View attachment 3496388 View attachment 3496389 View attachment 3496389 In my 37 pickup. Probably from the 60"s or 70's.

 

That's all in one corner of his room

 

That's nice!!

 

I agree totally. Really nice.

Something that I find really disturbing is how many shift knobs are rocket shaped. This guy may have something to say about that.

 

Here, shifter and tire iron all in one

 

Is this politically correct?????

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^As about as much as this one!^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

brigrat, NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

ONYX

 

Horn broke, watch for finger! Hahaha

 

Stock Mercury V8 knob from my 39 Mercury will go into my 32 tudor V8.
The enamel badge is a Dutch gift from 1934 if you joined some of the Ford tours back then.
The others are nice wannehaves.

 

Not sure which one I'm gonna use, but I like the red one from the late 50's

 

Its the "Flying Fickle Finger of Fate"

 

eight ball on the shop truck.