6'5", 300, SIZE 15 shoe.... *if* I can fit a standard trans, pedals and myself into my 32 it will be.. if not??? I am going high boy so I have more room for the pedals... it is the sole reason i am going high boy 3 pedals. anything with fenders = auto for me. my .02
Myself and Good-time Buddy Bake can NOT have a 4/5 speed ride. We DESTROY them eventually. No restraint. Now about those 20" mag's on an old car.........
It seems illogical to need to press the accelerator to go downhill with an auto tranny. But that is what we do. Standard gearboxes at least allow you to coast!
Thats all you can buy anymore. Standard transmissions are hard to find. I prefer a stick, but there just not around as they once were.
Come on down, I'd love to try and prove that false . As for the automatic thing- anybody can drive one, no clutch hassles and linkage work. But Nothing is as fun as shifting at that special point. Tim
This is a good point, I don't know if it's the same comparing a 5-speed stick to a 4-speed auto, but I know I could have had a Turbo 350 way cheaper and more easily than my Muncie. I suspect it is, because as it was then, so it is now: John Q. Public overwhelmingly purchased auto-equipped cars, and attrition has taken more sticks due to their performance image.
Still banging gears in Henrietta the '38 Ford pickup, but I'm looking for a NOS left knee and hip, preferably the ones that have grease fittings on them.
i always thought the quickist cars ran clutch's not auto's !!! What kind of torque converters do they run in top fuel and funny cars ???
And yet another reason why an automatic. Less chance of bent valves and torn up synchros from a missed shift.
I'm collecting pieces to build my wife a 29 roadster. Ohv Caddy, 40 axles and brakes, early to mid fifties style. I told her we can adapt an auto to the motor and I'll use the three speed on something else. She said "I'm not putting a gayass automatic in my hot rod." Hehe. Wait a minute... MY model A has an auto!
Almost done with the re-do on my coupe from a turbo 350 auto to a Muncie. I drove it for 3 years w/ the auto and it just didn't feel like a Hot Rod.
Back in the '60's, there was never a rush hour. People lived close to work and families had one car and a stay at home wife. My neighborhood has 6 cars and 4 drivers in his family. I, for one, get tired of shifting ALL the time. Traffic in L.A. County sucks.
Ever tried to drive an over cammed engine in traffic with a standard transmission? Some of the cars I see at cruise night lope so bad that it takes a high stall speed convertor just to smooth out the jerks in the drive train. Not many people in the old days ran engines as radical as some that people try to put in their cruiser to impress the crowd at the cruise night show. Most of these would be a bitch to drive around the parking lot at the show with a stick. Just my thoughts.
Ha, my last pass at MOKAN in the Pusher I lifted when I shifted, only a fraction of second. The announcer said, "listen to the beaner bangin' those gears." I still ran a low 13 in a 4000 lb truck. It was shake and fake baby. No one really needs an excuse to run what they want to. There were some damned fast cars running slant pan hydros "back in the day." The hot PG din't happen until past our era, nor did the 350 turbo or 400. The C4 just barely happened and no one was building them in '64 that I know of. You just had damned few choices when it came to an auto if you wanted to go fast. Gear boxes were pretty much the transmission of choice. These day there are lots of options the least of which are gear boxes. I always have to cry BS when someone mentions price. Face it almost none of us have to drive a hot rod, the world we live in isn't like the world that some of us came from. Econo boxes are cheap these days and they free us up to work on our rides. Hell I am so broke I can't afford to pay attention but I still run what I want to run. If I have to wait a little longer to be "sylin" I just will have to wait.
Its quite simple for me. My 37 has a T5 and my 34 will have an automatic so my my wife can enjoy driving it. Yes, she can drive a manual but in the city the automatic is so much easier.
Sounds like an excuse to me, everyone in my household knows how to drive a standard. My wife can probably row the gears better then most men I know and I taught my boys to drive in a standard. That said, some people just don't want to exert the effort or have a desire to drive a standard and that is fine. After all if everyone of us had exactly the same type of car we would all be driving a box with wheels imported from somewhere else.
yeah my ole lady hates it when mine BUCK-JUMP'S i tell her....she's wantin to run baby... then clutch it and tach it. nothin like a stick car !!!
because they are cheep, I put a 350 turbo in my rod for 100 bucks. A mucie 4 speed is $400+ clutch, bell housing, pressure plate, clutch fork, linkage (hydraulic or mechanical) , shifter, flywheel (plus you have to spend hours getting it to work)....oh and add another $500 or more.....so its $1000 (or more) verses $100 or less plus they are easier to install, and easier to drive with....its pretty easy to understand why people go with automatics..... Installing auto with trans cooler: 1 hour. Installing 4 speed and clutch linkage: A few days (if your building from scratch and this is based off of my slow ass) But one thing is true....they are not as cool as a 3 pedals
brother i love the old 4 speed trans. ive got one for our ot74 nova, BUT, after a bike wreck left me crippled up my left leg just dont bend enough.i have to have a auto.but i think most do it cause it is easier and cheaper.
Hydrostick automatics have been kicking ass on stick shifts since '59. Anyone ever heard of a "gasser"? And I'm not talking about a four-door grandma car with a stock engine and a solid axle stuck up front. Interesting info here: http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/help-hydramatic-transmission-141735.html
My Econoline Is still 6 cyl 3 on the tree. 5th of old crow under the seat he he ! Still I like the standerd but pain to drive. & stop starts on Hills sucks. with dum #2!*^%+ 's on you bumper. when I go V8 It will be a auto with a light stall 2800 to 3200 converter . so I can run Thumper cam.
I love auto trannys now,but when I was building rods in my teens[late 50's] I did beleve them tobe for grandma and standard stift was the only way,but times have changed and so have the engineering of the autotrannys,now way better the sticks,so yup.
^ x2. And it's more consistent if you're bracket racing. and winning at drag racing is kinda traditional, isn't it?
O.K., so I am an old geezer! I went with an automagic a.o.d. in Rusty the Ranchwagon because it came with the gifted 302. With unbelievable assistance from my homeboy S.O.T's it is about road ready. I am getting ready for "The Tour of 69" as my 69th b.day is rollin up on June 29th, hoping this slush box makes life a pleasant cruz for the year long affair. What a lesson about fFords and the way they change products mid-year, every year, and more, Rob Lee and Bill Putman will be certified Ford wrenchers at the end of this adventure. I am declaring myself "luckyiest old bastard" to have support like my South Omaha Turds Automotive Brotherhood have given me on this project. Some damn nice help from info on the H.A.M.B hot rod hiway helped a bunch as well! Ready to Rock ~sololobo~
The Jalopy Journal
