Features When Three was on the Tree...

I've owned about 5 different cars with 3 on the tree. Even taught my 15 y/o nephew at the time to drive a standard with one about 5 years ago. That was on dirt roads and across fields.

I currently own 2, a 41 Plymouth convertible and a 54 F100. The Plymouth has a very interesting option. Vacuum assisted shift. There is a vacuum canister connected to the shift mechanism and you can pretty much shift gears with a flick of your finger, hand still on the wheel.

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Column shift=anti theft device. I would love to see the look on some sap's face if he tried to heist my Chevy, it's tricky enough when you know how and when to shift . And then there's the floor-mounted starter, that would totally goof them. (also gives you time to find/load your shootin' iron to er..."neutralize the situation")

 

When I worked at the local G.M. dealer back in the early '70's I worked on several late '60's- early '70's vans that had 4 sp. on the column.

 

I worked for GM a long, long time, never saw a G Van with a 4 speed stick, column shift.
I went and looked at the GM Heritage specs, they list a 3 speed stick column shift and a TH for late '60's and early '70's as factory equipment.
Maybe an Alaska thing ?

 

My 57 chevy is a 3 on the tree and i love rowing the gears. when i decided to get a 57 i wanted a 3 on the tree, it had to be a 210 and a four door and if that wasn't enough, just to prove i'm twisted it had to have a stovebolt in it!

 

Hello,

When I bought my 58 Chevy Impala from my brother, it still had the 3 speed column shift as a stock item. My mother needed to use the car one day a week, so she wanted me to teach her to drive the stick shift car. She said that her friend (cousin) drove a 52 Chevy 3 speed column shift car. (I knew about that car because I practiced in it when I did not have a license to drive.) We had a heavy duty clutch in the Impala and the motor had 280 hp/348 c.i. I sat in the driveway showing her how to go through the gears. She got in and did all that I showed her. But, when we were lined up on the street ready to go straight, she forgot how to make it go. Upon reviewing the first step, she let out the clutch and actually popped it all the way out. We took off down the street. But, when we stopped, she forgot to put the clutch back in and killed the motor.

On the next try, it was a bucking bronco until she put in the clutch to make it stop. After many tries, we got rolling on the street. Now, she was in 2nd gear with the shifter lever up high on the column. As we rolled by several young guys in flashy cars, they all signaled to her to shift into 3rd. She looked at them like they were crazy. We finally arrived home with little damage and she proclaimed, “I want an automatic, I hate stick shift cars, the clutch is too strong…I will pay for you to get it converted to an automatic…”

Well, that opened the door to getting a C & O stick hydro transmission installed. The trans was replaced and converted. It drove like a dream and it made the Impala very quick off of the line. Did my mom like the hard shifting transmission on her weekly trips to the grocery store? She did say automatic didn’t she? One day she came home and told me that a bunch of young guys challenged her to a race from a stop light. I asked, “Did you race?” She said she was scared. I told her no one can beat her across the intersection, but she politely declined. The C & O saved the day and made it alright in our family…for 4 more years until I sold the car to a friend…yeah!

Jnaki

 

the saginaw full syncro trans came out in '66.

 

I was out with this girl and put my arm around her and she said shouldn't you use both hands. I said yea, but I need one to shift. This was also go for speed shifting, all you had to do is pull the shift handle down. It was easy on older Fords. When I was in high school, we would slip out at lunch and change some guys over, about a 2 minutes, then watch him try to shift. These dam kids.