Features When Three was on the Tree...

I like them, my ever so slightly OT suburban was a TOTT but was converted to floor shift before I got it. I thought about going back but I'm swapping to an 833 overdrive instead.

My Aunt, proper as could be was known to hop out of her car and slide under peoples cars that the linkage was bound up on and help them get underway again. Grandpa and uncle ran a wrecking yard so she knew the tricks, even if she didn't look the part!

 

I'm seriously thinking of a column shifted 3dpd OD in my A coupe...

clear up some valuable floor space, if nothing else...

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an old girlfriend had a falcon with the non-synchro 1st gear and i taught her how to double-clutch it when approaching a stoplight. she loved it. only problem--one day she did it while going too fast and blew the engine!

 

Anyone have pictures of a column shift in a model A frame? I'm thinking model A frame, stock pedals, OHV motor...

And while I'm shooting the moon, how about right hand drive column shifted model A's?

 

Gary---
My story is "just like yours" but different.
Bought my first car at 15(1969) it was a 61 Impala 4DR/HT/348/3spd.
When a kid spends every waking hour(including math class) with his nose in a hot rod magazine; he can't wait to start doing everything he sees done in the mags.
The very first piece of speed equipment I ever bought was a used Hurst Syncro-Loc shifter, well apparently it wasn't quite right as no matter what I did the levers would not mount correctly and clear the floorpan, long story short I got it to work but with a reversed pattern.
Kinda like your "first time"; even though things didn't work perfectly, you never forget it.
Thanks for the memories.

 

My friends 16 year old son's first car is a 58 Delray with 3 on the tree. We are just finishing getting another 16. yo kid's great grandfathers 55 chev truck mechanically fit for him to drive, also tott. Not to many 16 year olds even know what that is, much less how to drive one.


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Those old vacuum shift chevys did shift easy until you started having vacuum leaks. But they didn't speed shift to well.

 

I learned to drive in a 1963 Dodge 330 Polara with three on the tree. I remember the linkage getting stuck between two gears all the time and having to lay over the fender under the hood to have to move the levers to get it shifting again. Never gave it much thought. Just accepted it as the way it was.

 

had a 72 skylark convertible with 3 on the tree, that year had to be about the end for car's

 

my dad was pretty savvy about cars, having been a hot rodder when he was young, but in the '60s he couldn't understand why i and all my friends converted to floor shifts. he said he drove floor shifts for many years and that everyone was thrilled not to have them anymore!

 

Since this old thread was brought back up...
When I was in the Navy, in Okinawa, we had a little toyota pickup that the parts expediter drove into town and to the commercial airport. (our 2 1/2 tons and Power wagons were HUGE compared to everything else on the roads, and were not allowed off base)
It had a 4 speed on the column. "BUT" keep in mind the steering wheel was on the "wrong" side, The shift linkage is in the CENTER of the vehicle, meaning the '4 on the tree' was on the LEFT of the column.
A new guy would climb in it, start to roll, shove in the clutch,grab onto the lever on the right side of the column, give it a yank, and *TWINK* another turn signal assembly was destroyed!
after about 4 or 5 times of that, we put a simple toggle switch on the dash for the turn signals, all of the mounting bolts/holes were destroyed to fix it like original.

 

My chev wagon was tott. took it in for a wheel alignment. I knew I would be in touble when the young fella didn't know what to do with the gear shift. When he finished the car pulled to the left. He didn't know that you need to adjust tow in, camber and caster.
I will be fitting a 3 spd o/d column shift behind the 312 y-block in my A coupe.

 

I liked the 3 on the tree with OD in my 49 ford so much that when a did an engine swap to a sbf , I used a 5 bolt block so I could keep the tranny set-up.
Most people thought I was nuts. I dig it!!

 

I love easing through the gears in my 53 Belair. I have tried to talk myself into doing the t5 swap for about 3 years now and I just can't bring myself to do it.

 

Back in the 50's when I was in high school, we would move the shift lever from the right to the left. It was about a 3 minute job, I don't remember quite how we did it but you just had to take out 2 bolts remove a cap, pull a pin, reverse shift lever, put the pin back in and replace the cap. We would do it at lunch time and stand back when school left out and watch the guy who owned the car try to drive away, or tell your buddy he could use your car. You could throw a mean shift from low to second.

 

That was on 41 to 48 Fords.

 

My first "car" was a 55 (1st series) Chevy 3100 with a three speed. I learned to drive in it as soon as I could reach the pedals, as it was our farm truck through my childhood. It was pretty worn, so you had to "swoop a loop" between 1st and 2nd or it would hang up. On a trip to town it was common to have my mom get out in a busy intersection, casually open the hood, and lift the linkages to get it un-stuck, all while holding up traffic.

I fixed up the old truck and drove it through high school. My best friend, who drove a 4 speed late 60's Ford truck, wanted to swap one afternoon and drive my 55 to his house. I agreed and headed out there (about 3 miles) in his Ford. I then waited, and waited, and waited, and started to wonder if he wrecked it... he finally came over the rise with the old 6 just screaming. He had hung it in 1st. In the school parking lot. For some reason he didn't offer to swap again.

 

The three on tree, what in the future will be known as an anti-theft-device.

I only driven an OT fiat Ducato panel van with a four on the tree, and loved it. Would love having a Chevy with a three on the tree.!

 

Were 40-48 export Fords (right hand drive) column shifted as well?

 

Still got my dads one owner 69 Chevy C10 with 3 spd overdrive, it'll still hit 100mph in high side of 2nd. Even though I've gotten older & quit that. Flux

 

I remember riding in a Nissan Cedric Taxicab when on liberty in Hong Kong was pretty amazed when I saw it had a 5 speed on the column.
I actually want to get me one.
As far as I know, Nissan still makes these for Japanese taxi market, still manual column shift.
It is the old Y32 nissan cedric that first was built in 1987, but the cabbies liked the traditional shape (they kind of look like a GM box b body caprice) and rwd so nissan kept making it. Toyota makes a similar model called crown comfort, but the crowns I rode in were all automatic.
Personally, I had a 66 fury with a three on the tree, loved it.

 

Hello,
My best friend from HS had a white 57 Chevy Bel Air hard top. We put in a 4 speed with a floor shifter, two 4 barrels to replace the stock carb, new wires, distributor, headers, stronger clutch, and 4:11 positraction. Sometimes we messed around and raised the front end to make it look like a drag car, other times, we clamped the springs and lowered it somewhat. The ride was crap, but it sure looked mean. Finally, we lowered it the correct way and it had a mean lowered stance. The motor was pretty strong, the car was fast, and it was a cool cruiser on the streets. It took some time for him to learn to speed shift on the floor, when he was used to the 3 speed, column shifter. But, he became one of the fastest speed shifters with the 4 speed on the floor. it just seemed easier to power shift. The problem was that he liked the column shifter better on dates at the drive in movies. He was a character...
Thanks,
Jnaki

 

In 1972, I was a high school senior and it was the start of the "van craze". I read a Hot Rod article about putting a SBF V8 in a 1961-67 Econoline van. So, I bought a "shorty" fleet van and a wrecked K-code mustang with a 4 speed.

Hooked the 4 speed to the stock 3sp van column and used a PTO cable to operate reverse. 4 on the tree. Found out right away Econoline rearends were weak.

Also had a red 66 tri-power GTO at the same time but the van always got the girls. Some of the brave girls would ride on the engine cover.

Funny side note: I bought the van on Friday after school and drove it home. My dad (not a car guy) owned a bar so he was just leaving for work when I arrived but approved of my clean purchase. By Saturday afternoon the engine, trans, exhaust system, radiator, driveshaft, seats and engine doghouse were in the driveway. Dad comes out and says "what the hell happened, didn't it run good?" I said yes but I'm installing a V8.

Dad says "why"

My current 48 F-1 was originally a floor shift but converted to a column from a '52

 

I began my driving career on my Dad's '48 Plymouth.
3 on the tree was common place, automatics were rare.
Power steering, power brakes, air conditioning, FM radios, power windows and door locks were not on the dealers list of optional choices.
Back then, an individual known as a "driver" was a true "driver".
Today we have the world of automatic transmissions, cars that parallel park themselves, cars that stop themselves, trucks that back up the trailer for the driver.
Drivers are no longer "drivers".
Instead, todays drivers who rely on the above available items, to get them from point A to point B, are simply the designated person with the key fob.

 

I've had several cars over the years which had 3 on the tree. My first car in 1969 was a '65 Impala with a straight 6 and 3 on the tree. The '60 Edsel I own now also has it as well as two other cars I've owned in the last several years-a '50 Studebaker Champion and a '61 Rambler Classic. I've owned dozens of cars over the years-both old classics and late model-and over half have had manual transmissions. All of the cars my wife has owned for the last 40+ years have been sticks except for her current one which I think is pretty cool....

 

I sold a '70 chevy van last week. It had 3 on the tree with OD. I had to teach the new owner how to drive it.

 

What was the last year for 3 on the tree for American built cars or trucks?
I know you get a 77 Bronco with manual column shift.

 

My Mom used to get mad at me for driving her 'mild custom' '48 Caddy like it was a stick.
Had 'em all fooled, but the Cad looked the part: J&J Kustoms punched 240 louvers in her hood, dropped front 4", back 3". Side pipes, nosed & decked...

Then I'd drive her somewhere in my cool '36 5 window, (276 flattie, '39 box, throaty exhaust)
I'd go thru the gears and make it sound like a hydro...she said, "Why you do that is beyond me..."

I found a '61 Cad in '62, parked in front of a ritzy retirement apartment high rise in Menlo Park. Dirt all around it, parked for a time...
Elderly lady sold me the Caddy, I bought an adaptor, and slid my '37 LaSalle trans in there, '50 Olds clutch pedal, LaSalle driveshaft welded to Cad rear flange, bolted to late yoke.
Tall rear end made for slow takeoffs, but everybody noticed it was a REAL FLOORSHIFT!
My Mom drove it, hated it. She was amused when I'd purposely grind against reverse when shifting sometimes, just to make the 'heads' notice...
The 42" stick looked austere in a shallow bodied '61 Bubbletop Cad Coupe. Lovely!

 

What year did they come out with a full syncro 3 speed?

 

Ford came out with the top loader 3 speed full synchro in '68, I believe.

A Mexican friend of mine was going through his transmission, (M20 Muncie) I said I'd get him parts...bearing set, gaskets and seals, and 4 synchros. He stopped me right there. "It's a five speed," he insisted. "It's a 4 speed," I retaliated.
"Then why are there Cincos?"
>>Gasp<<