History WEIRD SHIFT KNOBS

Let's keep this thread just for the Twilight Zone of shift knobs. Only the far-out, oblique, fringe, and freakshow examples. The ones that blindside you when you first peek in the cockpit. No crusty-dusty same ol'-same ol', please.

I bought this piece recently and it's not a knob, not a handle, but maybe a 'grip'. Or could it make a shift lever into a 'joystick'? It reminds me of a cross between a Salvador Dali microphone, a shark embryo, and a Falstaff beer logo.

 

Wow! Now that's definitely one of the fanciest knobs I ever saw.

This is all I can come up with..

 

Reminds me of a ski pole grip. Pretty cool, man.

 

Love it, I'd use it in my 31 but I'd hate to hit that thing in a wreck!!

Any markings or logo's ?

.

 

It has the name "Zimmer" and a patent number really prominent.

 

Very cool looking and different. I like it .

 

Looks like old Oakley III grips…

 

My son,Lance's 23T,The wood match up as close as he could,I designed the dash flame background with his help. The wood grain was a art, to find grained wood that was close too flame pattern.

 

The patent says it is some kind of a surgical splint for the right hand.

 

It’s a medical splint for the hand. Designed to form the hand in a natural condition when putting a cast on.
1927 Patented by the Zimmer Manufacturing co of Warsaw Ind.
Edit: I type slow.

 

My friend carved this in wax and then cast it in aluminum.

 

Zimmer is still in business today, in Warsaw, Indiana as Zimmer Biomet.

https://www.zimmerbiomet.com/en

And according to Wikipedia . . .

"It was founded in 1927 to produce aluminum splints."

Looks like you've got an example of one of their earliest products!

 

This was a directional control knob for some sort of street sweeping machine. I have never seen another like it . Of course I painted it red metalflake.

 

EELCO

 

I once saw an Elvis skull shift knob. Could never find it again. I'd buy it if I could find it again.

 

https://www.amazon.com.au/Elvis-Greaser-Shifter-Shift-Lever/dp/B00UB05LUI
https://www.ebay.com/itm/312636533063

Cheers,
Harv

 

Thanks Harv, but those are not the one I saw. The one I saw was a skull, and not an image inside a shift knob, it looked just like Elvis, side burns and all. I Googled it again earlier and didn't find it.

 

That explains a lot because the casting has been augmented with a few handmade pieces to repurpose it as a shift knob.
Another HAMB member sent me a private message that he has one of the castings, too. In fact, he wanted another and was also a bidder on the same piece that I got, I come to find out.

 

Was it a similar style to these?



My memory says that chromedrat made a greaser/Elvis knob, but I might be wrong:
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/skull-shifter-update-and-lost-wax-casting-info.112873/

Cheers,
Harv

 

Take your pick. Lots of optons.

 

Fat47 says - Take your pick. Lots of options.

Those are not gear shifter knobs. Those are BEER shift knobs. I own several Budweiser tall knobs.

 

Back to the top with a few more weirdos from my inventory........

 

1920s Dodge Brothers front wheel bearing cover, slightly abused over the years, then converted into a shift knob.

 

I had a 50cc 4-stroke motorbike piston as a shift knob on my first car. It had a fairly high dome with valve reliefs. I filled it with Pratley's, with a length of rubber tubing embedded in it.

 

I had to. Hope it don't give the flatty any ideas.

 

I've got a few of those... Made One into a belt buckle