Cool Lasalle Transmission

I figured I would post pics of this trans I picked up. It is really cool and I figured some of the guys would appreciate it. It appears to be around a 40 Lasalle side shift converted to top shift and early ford closed drive. The side shift was removed and the holes welded up. The top of the tranny was cut off and it looks like they cut the top of a early Ford top shift case off and brazed it on. The front shift fork is modified to work with the Lasalle and the rear fork looks stock. It seems to shift good. Just a neat old piece. I would be interested if anybody has seen one done like this. Now I just need to build another car around it. LOL

 

Pics would help

 

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That's some crazy amount of work for back then, and they most likely could have found a 37 for $50 if they tried hard enough

I have a modified 51-up Olds trans similar to that, but with a 37 Buick top cover shifter. Lots of machining and brazing on mine.

 

Crap, now that is a lot of work right there just to get a floor shift! Do you know the history on it?

 

I do not know the history but, man I would love too. The work on the case is really nice. If it could only talk. LOL

 

Crazy..

 

Transmission Specialists had 1958 Hot Rod Magazine ads for these, but no tech article about how they did it.

 

I've seen the ad on here somewhere. Anyways, I am trying to recall what trans was in the pic with that Ford top cover "with modified forks". The ad did say the forks were modified, etc

Maybe FalconGeorge remembers it, as he was talking about that mod, maybe 2 months back. I don't think it was a LaSalle/Cad, I almost thought it was a GM Selector trans, but I'm not sure at all. It showed a flat plate adapter to make the Ford top fit the other top load trans pattern, so, the one I saw was not a brazed setup.

 

I have a really early frankland Quickchange I'm going to have to build a new car around these couple of pieces.

 

Ha, this morning I was thinking it would be cool to have that brazed trans you found, hooked up to a homemade quickchange housing like they used to do.

I don't know how many people on hamb still care about these long forgotten modified parts. I always hunt for old builds, and cars that have old parts, at the shows. I even spent time at the Fallout, trying to see the trans setup behind the Cad in your 32

 

I wish I had the trans when I was building the 32 I would have used it. If I tried to put it in now I would be in the same boat as Evel. By the way Evel I run my Caddy in front of the 39 trans no problems of course I could blow it up anytime I want you just have to be careful. No poppin the clutch.

 

The long forgotten parts are the best thing about building some of these cars, even Lasalle, Buick and Packard boxes converted to torquetube are still great to use. I don't get the whole 5 speed thing. I wonder on Jon's transmission if there was more to it then just to get a top shift. Did the ford detent maybe shift better the the cad sliders? Start building Jon I want to see how that trans feels.

 

I assume the advantages back in the day were stronger tranny the stock Ford and better gearing ratios. I was on another forum where a guy is mating a sbc to the stock Ford 41 tranny and I told him about Lasalles being popular conversions. I don't know if the stock Ford will stand up to the sbc in his case.

 

is it possible the tranny came from south western ct. area? my uncle did this type of thing. i put many miles on a tranny he built, it shifts smooth and effortlessly.

 

Packard, but the caption said they did a similar adaptor for side-shift cad/lasalle. Frank, whats interesting is, the original piece we are talking about used an adapter plate to mate the ford top plate to the case, and we were discussing whether it used different shift forks or not. Now this deal shows up using modified ford shift forks. See where I am going with this?

 

There is a 1956 HOT ROD mag article about putting 37 LaSalle and 37 buick transmissions into 55 Chevy drag cars, trying to get a decent trans for the new hopped up SBC.

How many people would even believe that ever was done, if one showed up at a show? A 1930s transmission in a 55 Chevy?

It was a short lived dash for ideas in those very few years from 1949 when the big overhead GM V8's came out, and until the T-10 finally came out.

Lots of lost info to dig up

 

I have no idea where it came from the guy I bought it from was in R.I. Joe I bet it shifts good just shifting it on the bench it feels good. I wonder about wanting the ford shifter with the double detent. All I need now is a pile of cash.

 

Can the OP PLEASE post some pics of the shift forks??

 

I can take more if you want I had his on my computer. The rear shift fork is stock unmodified ford.

 

I can't even guess how hard that was to cut two cast iron cases apart with what they had for tools? And cut them so that the joint line was close enough for brazing rod filler?

Then, it must be close to a 2 foot length of brazed joint, and how to keep it from cracking, by the time you braze all the way around to where you started?

Had to be set up on a big wood stove I would guess.


...and planning the 2 cuts to have the fork heights to be close? Yikes, try that today, even with modern tooling.

 

Unreal! Someone did a lot of work to put that together back in the day. Just shows what lengths guys went to when you couldn't just go online and find what you want in a few minutes.

 

It is a lot of work, when you consider they made a side shifter to make it a floor shifter. I know because I have a brand new one in its own box that it came in.--TV

 

alot of work?....shit - they did it cause they could - holding up?....well let's just know it did at the time - before they blew it or something else stronger came along....overdrive's were BIG back in the day - for the highway drag - they were tops in the day - the early builder's didn't have the mig-tig and what ever....and they didn't have the HAMB.....just sayin.....

 

That is a bitchin piece for sure! Thanks for all of the pics...

Neal

 

Very cool !!!

4TTRUK

 

the transmission in my car was not brazed, it was welded with a torch. it was done, in 1958, to keep the car looking original. my uncle liked to keep people guessing, and never told anybody what the tranny was. the car was raced and won trophies, was my dads daily driver for years. i started working on the car when i was 14 and drove the car to high school and put thousands of miles on it driving to car shows in pennslvannia, new jersey, new york, and all the new england states....tranny was never a problem.

 

Maybe he had a good job at a place like GE General electric or worked for boeing?? Either way he done good

 

I am glad you guys like it.