Customs 3 on the tree vs floor shifter

There really are 3 kinds of shifters 1 Floor, 2 Column, and 3 Girlfriend/Lovers shift which is a column shift flipped over to the left side, it lets you keep your right hand on her leg while you shift with your left hand.

 

I must be getting old!!!
My hand on a Hurst Competition Plus shifter excites me more than one on her leg.

 

I’m a 3 on the tree fan. So much so that I cried as I was cutting the hole in the floor of my rust free 63 c10 step side longbed for the Hurst Mystery Shifter. The previous old guy who owned the truck shifted it for so long without the bushings in the rods he managed to knock the teeth off most of the gears and wear through the first and reverse rod. I would have fixed it but could not find the rods anywhere. In fact that whole truck was so worn out when I went to check the brakes I could not believe what I saw. All 4 wheels had the faces of the drums and 2 rings holding the shoes together. No braking surface at all on any of the drums.

 

I agree...back in the day, the only guys driving column shifter were driving their mommy's car.

 

Your "back in the day " is too recent.

 

These don’t look like mommy’s car
Jonny Zaro 40 Merc
Jack Stewart 41 Ford
Hirohata Merc
Jesse Lopez 41 Ford
The vast majority of early customs ran column shift and a fair amount of early hotrods were converted to column shift as well. I agree with firstinsteel your back in the day may be a little too recent

 

There were no floor shifts until the Corvettes and T Birds hit.

 

As I've said before, the way I grew up, I've always associated column shifts with elderly non-car people who drive very slowly wearing hats. But as I said in the same breath, as it were, I'm always ready to look at stuff from the other end. Getting the shifter off the floor would be good ergonomics, regardless of the kind of car, if it could be done without compromising the shift quality.

Bench seats, on the other hand, don't work with the way I drive. Not everyone drives the way I drive, though. Still, speaking of good ergonomics, might three buckets abreast be something to look at? Is a '51 Chevy any narrower inside than a Matra-Simca Bagheera?

Another factor is that proportionally far less driving was highway driving in the '50s. A greater percentage was on local streets at 25-35mph. Highway use was the exception rather than the rule, and cars were designed accordingly. Both commutes and errand runs were shorter on average: today it has become common to use a facility originally envisaged as intercity travel as ordinary local travel. Today people drive to work the way people in the '50s went on vacation.

 

Never saw a car with a tree inside a car but changed to a floor shift in my 49 Chevy pickup in HS. Put back on the column a yr later.

 

C'mon guys, my "back in the day" is too recent? Only 1.5% of HAMBers got their drivers license BEFORE Hurst shifters were available (1958)...and over 50% of HAMBers got their license in the heyday of Hurst, Sparkomatic, foxcraft etc shifters (late 50s-early 70s).
Hot Rods - How old are we really? | The H.A.M.B. (jalopyjournal.com)
Perhaps it was just in my area, but if you were a car guy, an unconverted column shift was an embarrassment.

 

You are "tellin too much" here I'd say. HAHAHAHahahah!!!!

 

Unless non-understandable phrase….

 

Seems to me that the Model A, or one of the Fords from that era, had an interesting feature. You could lift straight up on the shifter in one gear (don't remember which) and the wee ball on the end would pop out and allow the shifter to be pushed up against the dash, allowing room for whatever you had in mind !!

 

Anyone got a link to "how to flip a column shifter"?
I don't know if mine is one of the "easy ones" I certainly don't see how it would work....

 

Step one
Stand a few feet away from dumpster.
Step two, maybe I should just stop here.

 

I have an A833 on the tree with my own short throw linkages designed from scratch . . . I needed to add a small pull lever under the dash to get reverse. Best anti theft setup ever.

 

I wish you guys could have rode in my 66 L-79 nova with a 3 spd column shift. Grandma car my ass.

 

If you put your shifter on the other side, how will you make turn signals.........

 

But @lippy , can you honestly say that the column shifter was as quick and dependable (too many moving parts) as "slamming through the gears" with Hurst floor shifter?

 

I'm a "student of the 60's" so my allegiance will always be to the floor shifted 4 speed.
I know there are people who say that back in the day "I could row a column shifted 3 speed with the best 4 speed guys". I will say that the OEM shifters, both floor and column would have had about the same longevity, so yes, the Hurst unit was the "go to" shifter regarding quality whether as a replacement or for conversion needs.
I've had a number of column shifted Chevy 3 speed cars but never left them that way long enough to see how long one would last.
I did have a factory 4 speed 65 ElCamino that needed the OEM Muncie (Inland) shifter replaced not long after I bought it around 1974 as it got old having to crawl under the car to unjam the shifter.
I was fortunate that some shifter heads were still available from Chevrolet because I wanted to keep it original but having bought a Hurst shifter for my prior car I can say they (were) worlds apart.
Also, I have two brand new Hurst Competion plus shifters and I will also say they don't have the tight feel of the earlier mfg versions.

 

Not a custom, it was just the way it came from the showroom floor in 1951-52.

Hello,

When we were little, our cousins lived on the next block over. We used to go visit them and when the ladies were in the living room having tea or coffee and talking a mile a minute, the kids were out in the Chevy sedan playing with the seats, steering wheel and shift lever.
4 ladies out for a spin...

It was a 3 speed column shift and was the work horse car for the cousin’s mom. She drove the car like it was a part of her. When it sat in the driveway, we kids used it as a private playground apparatus. Climbing in the front bench seat, then over the top into the rear seat, etc was fun. To have more fun was to sit in the seat, adjust the forward motion of the seat and see if we could reach the pedals. We could barely reach the pedals, even with some pillows for lift and support.

We pretended to be able to drive the car and use the column shifter to move into the gears. We learned by doing, while still in a motionless car.

Jnaki

I learned to shift a floor shift 3 speed, then a column shift 3 speed and finally to a 4 speed. The transmissions over the years went from bench seats /3 speeds to 4, 5 and 6 speed floor shift with bucket seats. A teenage 1957 Chevy Bel Air Hardtop with a custom 4 speed installation looked cool, but that shift lever was a hinderance while sitting in a drive-in movie or just sitting in the cab talking for hours like teens used to do back then. My friend and I traded his 57 Chevy Bel Air and my 58 Impala for the weekend and both of us had comments (good and bad) for the other on Monday morning.

The bucket seat versus a bench seat is not even close to a choice. First off, the bucket seats are by far the better of the two in comparison. The bench seat back is usually set by the factory and is uncomfortable in the long run. The bucket seats foreign or domestic are usually adjustable to fit the needs of the different drivers and driving positions. Comfort is always the best in bucket seats versus the fixed bench seat and seatback positions.

Variations of the custom bucket seat upholstery by the hot rod upholstery shops can custom make a seat fit the owner. No factory bench seat can do that. The hot rod/custom car/truck accessory seats were the ones that started the fully adjustable bucket seats for all positions. These custom bucket seats included side bolsters and thigh support while in the driver’s seating position.

Once you have a custom bucket seat, the 4 speed to 6 speed transmission is just a topping on the cake. Driving comfort made the long distance road trips before the pandemic enjoyable. No more tired bodies and wrenching backaches from the long time seat use in the road trips. YRMV

Don't mind the new 1959 Chevy blasting up our neighborhood street, those ladies were determined to go to the shopping sale at all costs... Ha! Those guys had the same problem with their mom and her friends, too. Once set on something, there is no stopping some determined ladies at any cost...

 

Dad was hell on wheels with his ‘three on the tree and overdrive’ V-8 Studebaker’s during the 50’s and ‘60s.
Most here have never experienced how immediately responsive a powerful V-8 standard shift overdrive equipped vehicle can be. Cruising along at 60 or so in 3 o/d and want to make a quick pass?
Just floor the accelerator and bang! You almost instantaneously shift from the o/d’s highway 2.19 ratio to direct drives 4.11 ratio, far faster than any 4 on the floor operator can even push in a clutch.
Low speed traffic driving is enhanced by the ability to accelerate from stop or up to the speed to limit, let up and ‘free wheel’ to the next stop.
Second gear with its ‘automatic’ shifts up and down between straight and overdrive is ideal for quick maneuvers in city traffic between 30 and 60 mph.
Many Studebaker owners prefer a 3 speed o/d over a otherwise identical 4 speed vehicle.
Same is true of the owners of early ‘60s 352 and 390 Ford Interceptor’s. A 4 speed is a downgrade.

I have owned dozens of 4 and 5 speed equipped vehicles, including a ‘69 SS 396 Camaro and a ‘70 428 4speed Drag-Pak Cougar Eliminator.
My long owned ‘64 Lark V-8 with 3speed o/d still remains my all time personal favorite. Thanks Dad and Uncle Herb.

 

Yup. While I was in high school my neighbor owned a '60 2dr Starliner with the 360 HP 352 and 3 spd OD. While driving home from school he took it up to 100mph in 2ndOD. That car won lots of trophies at the drags too.

 

Love me a 3 on the tree.
Confuses the crap out of folks not familiar with em.
Bucket seats? No way. About to be married 30 years. Still like the wife next to me whilst cruising.
My school bus has a bucket drivers seat. The wife wants me to add a seat so she can sit next to me. Might have to build a mini bench.

 

Look at 3rd row mini vans seats.

 

Has to look cool
Could cut down an old school glider, add some cushions.
Or cut the current bucket down the middle and weld a panel in. It’s kinda made similar to a bomber seat but steel not aluminum.