Technical Mr. Gasket Vertigate shifter for street use

I see you have 65 GTO seats. That's what I am putting in my 57 Chevy.

 

I threw one of those shifters away back in the 70's.

I never really like it, and swapped in a Hurst competition plus. It was in an OT 67 Barracuda

 

The other day I sold my '70 Chevy van to a guy that never drove a three on the tree. Had to teach him how do drive it. Couldn't imagine teaching him a V-gate. Some people just don't have the mechanical aptitude to figure out how something works in order to understand how to use it.

 

Went to purchase a used/rebuilt Muncie
transmission for my '74 Camaro and while
loading it up.......jokingly I mentioned...all l need now is a Vertigate.....the guy points to the wall at back of his garage.....there it was....hanging there with no linkage....

He said fifty bucks and itsi yours....

That car was my daily for another 2-years.

Easyiest way I could explain it to anyone was take the 4-speed H-pattern and flip it 90*.....grab the rings for 1st & 3rd.....find nuetral and rock the lockout lever back and your in reverse.

Damn that thing shifted FAST in that M21.
.

 

Had a Mr Gasket in my Chevelle in the 80s, loved the way it shifted but one day when I was street racing against my buddys 69 Z I broke the friggin stick in half! It snapped where the bracket is that holds the finger grip for 1st gear....

 

A friend of mine put one in his original 66 Plymouth Hemi Belvedere I (sedan) about 1971/72.
By my memory, it took a number of attempts to get it adjusted right.
This was a factory Street Hemi car turned into a SS drag car, I rode in it on a couple of passes at Madras Drag Strip in Central Oregon, I'll never forget the first pass, man that thing was an animal.

 

never saw the benefit of one of those shifters.
damn, I just realized the last time I shifted a Muncie 4 speed was about 1981. had the factory GM Hurst shifter in my OT GTO. fun fun fun.

 

I put one on my 66 GTO with a Muncie m22. I could shift faster than the synchronizers could handle, ended up putting a couple sets in that trans, learned to shift a little easier and cured my problems.

 

I have a Hurst Ram Rod in my 38 Chevy coupe. Been there since 1978. Works great on the street and when I take it down the track. I've pounded the crap out of mine for years and it still works great. I have a T-10

 

To my knowlege, these shifters were not marketed to the street crowd, at least not in the beginning. Where they were in their element was on the drag strip starting in the late 60's/early 70's and the serious racers usually paired them with highly modified transmissions and it was Joe Liberty that is mostly credited with being the pioneer in this field.
I don't recall if my friend ever got serious enough to do the internal mods on his Hemi four speed, that could have been as much of the problem as the shifter adjustment.

See link below for story and photos.
http://libertysgears.com/about-libertys/

 

I should post up a video of my top loader in action.
Pro shifted with a V gate.

 

oooh... very heavy duty looking under the floor. I know my factory shifter looked nothing like that. saw plenty of them in street use back in the day. I have lived 5 miles from Fremont Drag Strip my whole life. there was lots of cruising and racing back in the 70's and early 80's. we used to street race a block from Fremont Drags at night. good times.

 

I drove a OT muscle car with a 383 and a pistol grip 4 speed. When I heard about a Vertigate shifter I had to see what it was about and when I did I had to have one. I swapped it in and drove that car like it was the quickest car in the land. I really enjoyed driving the car so much more. And it was a strictly street car. I sold the car years ago, less the shifter and recently replaced all the springs, bushings etc. during a refurbishment. Somehow I misplaced the Mr. Gasket T handle and had a very hard time finding one that wasn't, in the seller's mind, made of "gold". I did eventually and now I have a hard time finding the will to sell it. I say go for it.

Ernesto

 

My first car 65 Mustang 289 4V not a HiPo , 4 Speed . I tossed the OEM shifter , installed one and loved rowin through the gears . Only issue was the floor looked like it was hit with an axe to get clearance to install one . But it worked good , the old top loader was as close to a truck trans as you could get in a car . Coarse gears and shifting , but they would take any and all you could give them for years without one issue .