Three on the tree......Am I gettin old??

The only thing my father trusted me with was company trucks I couldn't hurt, all top loader floor shifts with grannies..driving Dads pickup with the column shift was a luxury..and Moms Deluxe stationwagon with the automatic was off limits..Me and my friend Mike bombed around in his little Saab pillbug that was a three cyl. two-stroke four on the column, that little thing sounded like it was winding out to 10,000 rpms...

 

My daily is a '63 Econoline with a 3 on the tree. Younger people ride in it and they're just amazed at the weird shifter. haha. It's not you, it's these young people these days with their weird hair, their clothes, their new-fangled hula hoops and their Dan Fogelberg satan-worshipin' music!

 

My dad tought me on a "four on the floor" with granny in the old F-100 but when I bought my own on the way home from the DMV on my 16th B-day I had to teach myself how to do the "Three on the tree" thing, it ain't so hard.

 

Im 21 and i own a 66 impala conv with a 3 on the tree i love it people give such weird looks when your banging thru gears with the column shifter haha they think your nuts... im keeping the column shifter when i throw the new motor and trans in it later on, its just that cool

 

See post #108 -- Mercedes and several other Euro and Asian vehicles used four and five "on the tree" shifters.

I've had an E-stick. Converted it over to a standard clutch. E-stick worked well for a while, but used engine oil pressure to control pressure on the clutch. The clutch basically worked in reverse -- the clutch fork engaged rather than disengaged the clutch when pressure was put on it. Engine oil pressure was fed to a hydraulic cylinder that held the clutch engaged. Rather ingenious set-up, but as the engine wore and oil pressure fell, so did pressure holding the clutch. The clutch always slipped a bit at first too, not much engine oil pressure when taking off. That was actually wanted, but a lot of in-town driving did tend to go through clutch discs. Engines back then weren't as good as they are now. By the time they were approaching 90K miles there was enough wear that oil pressure was starting to drop a bit (depending on how well they were taken care of -- used cars were usually used and abused because they were just cheap transportation in the late 60s/early 70s, especially old Ramblers!). Once that started happening it went through clutches even faster, and would slip a bit whenever under a heavy load or acceleration.

 

Has anyone seen someone put a manual column shift set up in an A or other early Ford? Done right, I think it would be sorta cool.

 

Local guy put a flathead with merc O/D into a 32. Used F-1 column and shifter. Linkage was quite a challange but it works well.

Had a 51' Chevy 6 with visegrips as a shifter lever for a while. Never know when you may need the visegrips..........Of course then you couldn't shift............

Pipes

 

I drive a 2004 Chevy Astro Cargo Van (All wheel drive or I'd hop the heck out of it) and it has a column shift. Automatic yes but dorky nonetheless I suppose.

So don't feel too bad now.

 

3 on the tree was the first stick car I drove 63' Fairlane. I am 34 and my 62' Fairlane is 3 on the tree. My 5 year old son shifts the hell outta it in the driveway.

 

Thanks for the E-Stick tutorial. The only one I've seen and kind of driven was a lot of years ago at the parking lot where I worked. First and reverse only, barely off idle, just to move it to get another car out of a stall. There was also one of those old VW Beetles there too with an automatic trans. It was trickier to drive than anything with a stick in it!

 

Reminds me of a fluid clutch Dodge my old man had.

 

I love driving my three on the tree, plus like stated before you dont have to worry about many people stealing it.

 

Me and my friend (both 14) no what and how to use a three on the tree. I dont personally like em. but, everone has there own opinion

 

You're joking right? If you just read this entire thread and still posted that I think you're in need of some kind of "completely missed the point" award.


I'm 31, and while I didn't learn to drive on a manual column shift I did start driving one at 16, it was in a '56 Ford F100 with a Y block. Nice ride.

Its shocking to me how many of my friends don't even know how to drive with a manual transmission. The fire department I work for even dropped the requirement to be able to drive one a few years back, it was running out of fire engines that had a manual shift for people to take the commercial driver's test with. So now they allow automatic restricted licenses. . I took my commercial test in a fire engine that had a 6 speed and a splitter (with another department), that thing would haul ass if you could get all the splits right.

When I was in Los Angeles I had to take my '56 Austin Healey into a valet once. Just no where else to park. It was kind of entertaining to watch the guy crawl into gear, then proceed around the lot at about 5 mph. When I came back out they ran off to get the car. My girlfriend and I stood there for about 5 minutes, and the valet came back, said he "needed my help" and to follow him out to the car. He gave me the keys and said he couldn't get it started. So we walked out to the car, I put the key in the ignition, and pushed the starter button. He apparently hadn't seen of those before. Of course the 100-4 was pretty different all around, no outside door handles or locks since it was a "true" roadster, no side windows so no need for door locks. It was just a 4 speed on the floor, although 1st gear didn't have a syncro and shifting into 4th was more of a state of mind than a physical action. The switch on the dash to shift gear into overdrive was pretty cool too.

 

If you think that's got anything to do with what they are talking about, that is funny.

You are like the kids that don't know what the 8 track player in my car is.

 

Not reading the thread before you post, eh?

 

I'm 53 and I grew up on standards. I don't think the old man owned an auto trans until I was in college.
I work at a summer camp staffed by 17,18 and 19 year olds.We have 2 farm tractors and 2 trucks with hand chokes. They just don't get it. They'll flood the engine and just keep cranking until the battery dies. They flooded one Farmall so bad,I drained about a gallon of gas out of the crank case.
Every summer,I teach 4 or 5 kids how to drive a stick

 

About the flipping ithe shifter over to the left side, this was done so the 1-2 shift was a straight DOWN pull instead of up, made you a little quicker at the stoplight drags. KEEP DRIVIN!

 

Thats right Tony, I had forgotten that.

 

is that even possible? do they make a conversion kit? Three on the tree is just a standard H pattern, how could you modify it for a 4 or 5 speed tranny? Or do you just want to stick an automatic in there and just hook the old shifter up to a detent cable?

cause if there was a conversion kit, I'd be inclined to do the same thing in my '64

anybody know if they make replacement parts for those things? mine tends to get stuck in second gear because it's all wore out and you either have to play with it for a while or get out, pop the hood and unstick some bushings with a screwdriver. Where would I get those parts?

 

I'm 25 drove a column shifted 3 speed inline 6 '65 falcon everyday to highschool, but im weird!!

 

Well, that makes it official. Im a "Geezer"!

I love it when I'm in city traffic and some Yuppy looks over at me shifting through the gears doing the "One-Two Shift Shuffle" with a look on his face like I'm having some sort of seizure. Priceless!

 

try teaching a person to shift a manual trans and have to double clutch it besides not going to happen anymore!

 

Rented a Hyundai SUV ( NOT my choice ) last year and they had it already running when I went out to get it. I got to the Hotel and couldn't figure out how to shut the damn thing off. It had a damn USB "stick" you plugged in the dash for a key and a seperate starter button.

'81 camaros had the dimmer switch on the floor as does my '86 D-150, I know the '91 dodge trucks had the dimmer on the floor too.

 

"Column Shift"


That just makes me miss my '53 Coronet.

 

We're getting old. Cars don't even have distributors these days much less points.

 

Learned to drive in a 45 KB3 with a 4 speed crashbox, first car was a 50 Ply 2dr wagon, 6 and a three on a tree. Was on my fourth or fifth car before I got a automatic. Now, I have two 4 speeds, two autos, and an Eaton 10 speed.

 

did a set of heads at work a few years back on an 87 chevy c10 with a 4.3L 4 barrel and a 3 on da tree. Im 29, and I had no problem drivin it and i knew what it was and figured out pretty quick what the shift pattern was.

 

are you sure it was a 75? I have a 74 that my dad bought new and its 4 on the floor from the factory. did they go either way?

 

Geeze thanks for posting this I been sitting through this thread trying to remember what damn car I had that had a 4 speed on the column !I don't know what model Saab it was because all I had was the running gear built into sort of a dune buggy by my uncles just know it was a Saab 3 cylinder 2 stroke I think they spent all of 3 hours sticking channel iron and pipe between the front and rear suspensions so I could drive the "dune buggy "out in the farm fields ,The body of the car started to be some kind of drag machine but got sold off before being raced.