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When Three was on the Tree...

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Then, in the '60s we moved it back to the floor. The idea was to not be "stock". I love how you young fellas see this as quaint. LOL

 

Back in 1966, I had a '57 Chevy with 3 on the tree. My Dad (not a car guy at all) could not understand why I converted it to floor shift (one of the old DragFast kits), when Detroit had worked so hard to design the column shift a quarter century before then.
There is some skill in working the column shift - a bit trickier to learn for sure. And I always wondered how much harder it was for four on the tree. (A few OT Mercedes models I believe.)

 

My first '54 Ford was a three on the tree,I learned early on that trying to speed shift could often result in stacking the gears.resulting in the car being stuck in one gear.

I soon learned the art of taking whatever was hand and tapping the linkage into neutral and happily motoring on my way until the next time.

The 3 on the tree gave way to a 4 speed and a 390 and I never looked back..

I recently drove a friends original '47 Ford sedan and maybe it's just being nostalgic but it was a pure joy to go through the gears on the tree again. HRP

 

It might have taken a second or two between shifts at first but it quickly became second nature, and lets not forget the added benefit it allowed your girlfriend to sit closer.

 

I learned on a 48 Dodge when i was 11 yr old.

 

I remember the floor shift as being better w/ the girlfriend... could slide my hand off of 4th gear right up her thigh !!!
dave

 

My 60 F100 still has the 3 on the tree. I like it. The 1-2 shift takes a little bit longer, and it's a big throw, but I'm in no great rush. I enjoy dropping from 2 down to 3 as I get up to speed.

My door locks don't work right now. so the 3 on the tree has an added benefit...a theft deterrent. Nobody knows how to drive them anymore!

 

Its funny but when the '40 Ford came out, a number of hot rodders converted to the column shift set up as the latest thing. Obviously, a floor shifter was more straight forward and quicker to use. Everything goes in cycles, I guess...

 

When I think of a column shift, I think custom or a cruising car. Floor shift says hot rod to me. Having said that there certainly is nothing like driving a column shift car. It truly is one of the simpler joys in life.

Is that a HD Hero camera I spy on the windshield of the '40? Are you going to share the video?

 

I love three on the tree. the first car i learned to drive had three on the tree. I have even thrown the idea around of putting one in my A.

 

I taught myself how to drive in my 1949 Chevrolet with 3 on the tree.

My 61 Dodge is a 3 on the tree and I think that is the main reason why I rarely drive it. I can't believe I used to drive that car every day in SF Bay Area commute traffic. Fremont to Oakland 5 days a week, the worst part was the no synchro first.

 

and the next cycle? paddle shifters...which puts the shifting back at the column..... 5/6 on the tree ....not the same.
i always liked 3 on the tree

 

These days, a manual shift car regardless of whether on the tree or floor is a theft deterrent...

 

I enjoy rowing gears on the column in my '51. When I get around to my Sport Coupe it will be column shifted via a '41 side shift.

 

I am not that old, but I am glad that I grew up around the old pickups that had them. My best friends econoline pu had it and there were multiple shop trucks that had them. Even in hs in the 90's it was fairly rare to find a vehicle with it.
I recall Peugeot had some 4 and 5 speed shift on the column, not just MB.

Speaking of theft deterrent, many years ago some buddies were watching a stupid show on mtv and it was a challenge show where teams had to do stupid stuff. This particular challenge was to drive a chevy car through a very short course of cones that had you stop and turn a couple times. There were 30 people from the age of 18-33. The car was a 5 speed. The shameful thing was that there were only 2 people out of 30 that had ever driven a stick before and only the one that was decent at it.

 

I learned how to shift on a 48 Dodge three on the tree when i was 11

 

...........................................and how many of us still have sore knuckles on our right hands from trying that speed shift from 1st to 2nd, hand slips off the lever and we wind up punching the windshield or mirror.

 

Being 33 years old i havent come across that many column shifters. But when i was traveling around Australia i met up with these Swedish girls with a van that needed a second driver (one couldnt drive) This thing was right hand drive so the shifter was on the left side of the column. It was a lot of fun but shifting with your left hand is weird.

 

The family had a '59 Rambler when I was young. My dad had a piece of rope tied to one of the shift levers that came through the firewall and was tied under the dash. When the levers got jammed up at a stop sign he reached down, pulled the rope and we were off.


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my 49 Plymouth was 3tree. its how I learned to drive stick and I liked it better than on the floor. mainky because of the open space it made. Japan is making some modern cars with 4 on the column. and of course on right hand drive cars. its a trip. (at least they were in the late 90s).



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Haven't driven one in a while, but my first car ('58 Ford Custom 300) was a 6 cyl, 3-on-the-tree.
Learned how to drive a stick in that car!

Malcolm

 

........I've never had the opportunity to drive a RHD column shift car but I bet it does take a little practice to get used to it.

 

I had the pleasure of driving my friend's dad's low mileage 40 Chevrolet some thing like 20K. Completely stock and it shifted like butter. I was so impressed. I learned on a 51 Chevy.

My current project is a 56 Ford 3 on the tree with overdrive. I'm very fond of the 3 speed. We always used a hotrod floor shifter back in the 60s. Today I prefer the 3 on the tree. A blast from the past.

 

Oh, but with a three-on-the-tree my hand was already there...the left hand is easily extended over the wheel to shift

I've owned 2 cars (both regular drivers) with the three-on-the-tree; a '64 Chevy pickup and '50 Plymouth. The Plymouth was so smooth shifting...just had to master the double clutch when downshifting into first.

 

I knew a few guys who went from 3-on-the-tree to 4-on-the-floor with a 5th under the seat.

 

I remember seeing some cars in the magazines that had the column shift lever flipped to the left side of the wheel so the driver could shift with their left hand. Saved having to pull your arm our from behind your gal friend to shift gears
was the general consensus. The gal I dated when I had a column shift was pretty good at shifting gears when I hit the clutch.

 

Probably the smoothest shifting car I ever owned was a 1950 Studebaker Champion. Like butter

 

I've owned a number of 3-speed beaters and always got a kick out of confused friends watching me shift. Seems to me that both of my Chevrolet's shifted smoother/shorter than my current Ford (and they never piled up either, unlike this clunker haha).

Didn't Ford have a little car in the 60's that was a 4 speed on the column? I remember reading about that and thinking how cool it would be to have a 4-speed column shift in a hot rod.

 

I learned to drive in my dad's Chevy van with a 3 on the tree and a heavy clutch. After conquering that, my mom's Japanese 5 speed was easy. He also had a van that had been converted to a floor shift with a pickup kit. You had to reach way behind the seat to shift.

My '63 Impala had a 3 on the tree when I first got it. I traded that out for a 4 on the floor ASAP. There is no dignity in jamming up your shifter between 1st and 2nd during a stop light battle. Before I changed it out to the 4spd I got lazy one day and took it in for an oil change. (had a good coupon) The gal trying to pull it into the bay couldn't figure out why an automatic had a clutch and couldn't find any gears anyway.