Shift Knob pics

Does anybody have any pics of cool shift knobs for a column shifter?

 

Skull knobs don't look bad even though they're sideways.

An 8 ball would be okay or dice. Probably best to just hunt around for something about the size and style you want then just drill a hole in it and mount it.

I'd post pics of my column shifter in my 53 but it's just stock black. Don't plan on changing it either. Gonna put a new 5 speed in it sometime soon and then I'll go crazy with the shifter.

 

Remember, since a column shift lever is horizontal a real heavy shift knob might pull the car out of gear if you hit a pothole, or a speedbump. meat cleaver might be to heavy, but if you want a meat cleaver, its worth trying it out.

 

Nothing real fancy or out of the ordinary, but it fit the scheme of the car well. It's a 7 ball.

 

To replace the cracked green plastic shifter and signal stalk knobs in my Invicta, I just used deep chrome sockets... usually takes folks a bit to figure it out.

 

I had an old Bud tap handle on the column in an old Chevy van. Somebody broke into it and stole that thing, can you believe it? No big loss money wise cuz I bought it at a garage sale for about $3.00 but it looked cool as shit. It was light weight and the perfect size.

 

well, if you've got a serious jonesing to run a cleaver and have weight issues, an aluminum one would be easy enough to make, if you went with 1/4" or thicker, it'd be hell for strong and would look great polished up. aluminum works pretty easy too...

 

Mine....

 

I would have the be really heavy, you should be alright, just keep in mind that it might happen.

 

Heres mine on the '51, It's kinda hard to see....

 

find an old glass door knob.

 

I 've got a schlitz tap on my 51 column.

 

Find a fairly lightweight one.

The guys are right about the heavier ones pulling the car out of 2nd.
Hard on the trans when it pops out.
Makes a heckuva bang when it does.

We tried regulation pool balls on our shoeboxes and they were too heavy.

A really popular column shift knob back in the day were the laminated plexiglass ones made in crafts class.
In most cases they weren't much larger than the original white Shoebox shift ball, but the majority of them were tapered both ends.

Since the Shoebox shift arm isn't threaded - it has grooves - we found that wrapping the groove area with masking tape and pressing/screwing the shift knob on worked well.
Sometimes they'd get loose, but most times not.
Nowadays I'd use a brass insert and maybe some epoxy.

This style shift knob is out there in the aftermarket somewhere.

Another one that was done if you can get a thick enough piece of plexiglass is to drill for the mount, get it to the shape you want, get it sanded/polished smooth - like glass - and dye it.
A pot of water, some Rit dye in the color preferred, drop the knob in the water and bring it to just under a boil.
Longer the knob stays in the more color it gets, but it won't color solidly.
You need paint for that.
The clear, dyed shift knobs were still transparent, had some subtle colors and looked cool.

After the shift knob bit, it ain't hard to make the other knobs.

For brass inserts - assuming no access to a lathe - buy brass nuts in the right thread, make up a mandrel by sawing the head off a bolt, mount the mandrel in a drill press, add the brass nut, spin er up and hit the nut with a file taking off the hex and rounding the nut.

You can bring a plastic shift knob to roundess doing the same thing.
Drill it for the bushing, epoxy it in then do the spin, file, sand, steel wool and buffing compound on a rag trick to smooth up the shift knob.

Aluminum can be done in this same manner, but the trouble with aluminum knobs is they get hot in sunlight.

 

Hell with the meat clever, go with a straight razor.

 

Here's mine, kind of hard to see. But it's really a foam halloween decoration from Walgreens, paid $.10 for it and painted it. It's supper light and works great.

 

Here is a shot of a RARE Barris shift knob that i have. It would look killer on a 49-51 Merc. or any Kustom for that matter. I will probably be listing it up for sale soon, if anybody's interested...PM me.

 

Hey Henry, Don't mean to burst your bubble but just to let you know. I used to belong to the Auto Butchers C.C. (started by the Famous Ayala Brothers from the 50's) and the current President Danny has a Full on Copyright on the Meat cleaver being used in any form of hot rodding. He already has put lawsuits on a few guys for using the Cleaver as welll as guys repoping thier plaques....You see that's the Car clubs Logo and has been since back in the late 40's -early 50's. I just thought i'd let you know before you caught heat that's all. what about a tall shifter shaped like a reapers blade?

 

In my dailey driver caprice wagon, I used the ball from a split 'bone. Drilled a hole dead center in the stalk part, installed a set screw, chucked a 5/16" bolt w/out a head in it. Put the whole assembly in the drill press set on hi and polished it til I thought it was pertty enuff. It keeps people wondering what it is. If ya need a ball, lemme know. I'va got a few left.

 

Got any pics?

 

Makes me wanna use a meat cleaver for all kinds of things, since the Judge would be laughin his ass off, if it went to court.

 

Here's one.

 

My pal and I ran down to the Prescott, Arizona car show and swap meet today.

While there, I spotted a box full of regulation size pool balls along with one 13 ball that was about 1 1/2" in diameter.
About the same size or a touch larger than a stock Shoebox column shift ball.

Probably from one of those small table top pool tables made for kids.

Strikes me that one of these would make a nice sized column shift knob for a Shoebox or similar.

These ought to be available a garage and yard sales for not much money.

It seemed to be made of the same stuff that regular pool balls are.

I woulda bought it except the vendor was elsewhere, we found some other stuff and didn't go back.

 

So, by your retarded logic, there's been some CC logos using pistons....I should run out and yank em all out of the block to avoid some 'heat'?

Guess i'll be the first on the block with a rotary Buick.

 

I just got a copywrite on steering wheels so if anyone has one on there cars they gotta come off!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got a team of five attorneys working with me and my club " THE STEERING WHEEL BEAVERS" Also I have copywrites on beaver tail shift knobs!

 

Got any shots of the whole car? I'd like to see it.

 

I'm not just talkin shit! Look into it, ask someone who knows about the Auto Butchers Car Club or better yet ask one of them (Auto Butchers club members) at one of the next shows and you'll see that i am not making it up. I mean anyone can do what they want to do but i was just giving the guy a heads up....I wasn't trying to be his Daddy or nothing.

 

welded this on, what a pain in the ass with the shitty quality "white brass"...

 

I'm looking for something for my T-Bird, also a column shifter. I would like something unique but may have to settle for one of the 2-tone laminated plastic teardrop ones. I was hoping to find something copper colored. The 'Birds shift lever is solid, no screw on knob. I'll have to drill and tap the end of it to screw something on.

 

If he's making the cleaver for personal use, I don't think the copyright will hold water.