I've got a 40 Ford with an original flathead and column shift trans. The car is a mild 50s type hotrod. Does anyone build a floor shift to fit this application? I know I could go with a 39 trans but don't want to go to the trouble and expense of swapping transmissions.
You can switch transmissions easier than you will find an aftermarket shifter in my thinking. And the cost will be about the same. Or look for a top shift case and move your pieces into it.
Hurst used to make a floor shift for the 40-48 Fords. It came with linkage and arms for the side cover conversion. The shifter bolted to bracketry which mounted to the rear of the transmission. I had one in my 40 Coupe but didn't like leaning over to shift so converted it back to column shift. It must be buried around here somewhere but I haven't been able to find it for a while.
Funny, but "back in the day", the real hot rodders installed '40 dashes and column shifters in their '32s.
Right. Look at some of the really early ('48-'50) HRMs, and you'll see several column shift conversions. Remember how Ricky Madison (Street Rod, Henry Gregor Felsen) was pissed when he bought his '39 Ford coupe because the shifter was on the floor instead of the column?
When I was a kid in the '50s, the common wisdom was that a floor shift 3-speed was more suitable for speed shifts than a column shift. Probably true, too, especially when it wouldn't have occurred to kids to re-bush their column shift linkages. '37 La Salles went into Oldsmobiles, Packards went behind Chevy V8's, and '39 Ford transes went into later Fords fairly commonly. This gave the car a racy vibe like a blower or six deuces does today. Personally, I think a side shift conversion would be out of place in a period '40 -- put in a '39 trans or leave it alone.
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