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Things You Don't See Anymore Part 3
- Thread starter Richland123
- Start date
"You made this...? For me?? Oh... uh, I mean... Oh, wow...! Why, of course I love it honey! It's... it's great! What's that? Well, uh... sure we can 'match' on date night... I... can't wait... for everybody... to see us... yep... They'll definitely know we're together all right!"
"Three on the tree", manual 3 speed shifting on the column.
That’s funny. My first car was a 64 Rambler. I swear they melted that car down to build two Sherman tanks it was so heavy.
I had never driven a 3 on tree vehicle till I was in my early 30s, an old Ford pickup. To those of us who grew up with column shift automatics and floor shift manuals, it seems like the 3 speed column shifter would be clunky and inconvenient, but actually it works great. There have also been a small number of vehicles sold with 4 speed column shifters. Keep in mind that when it was introduced, the column shifter was an UPGRADE from the floor shifter, desirable for the added foot room.
Then after the war, GIs started bringing MGs and similar small European sports cars to the US. Because these cars were built "from the parts bin", they typically had drivetrains based on small delivery vans or small sedans, and these, being European and thus 15-30 years behind US designs, were all floor shift. After that, the floor-shifted transmission became de rigeur for "sporty" cars, even if it was an automatic with a cable shifter that could be located anywhere the driver's hand could reach it. And from there came the enormous ridiculous oversized consoles we're stuck with today.
About the only vehicles sold today with column shifters (automatics only, now) are lowest-trim pickups.
Then after the war, GIs started bringing MGs and similar small European sports cars to the US. Because these cars were built "from the parts bin", they typically had drivetrains based on small delivery vans or small sedans, and these, being European and thus 15-30 years behind US designs, were all floor shift. After that, the floor-shifted transmission became de rigeur for "sporty" cars, even if it was an automatic with a cable shifter that could be located anywhere the driver's hand could reach it. And from there came the enormous ridiculous oversized consoles we're stuck with today.
About the only vehicles sold today with column shifters (automatics only, now) are lowest-trim pickups.
I pulled out the three on the tree shifter from my second car and added a floor shifter to it. Firstly a straight shifter which would stop working everytime I went through some mud (it would clog up). I then found an old 4 speed selector mechanism which I adapted to the three speed gearbox. It made my car unstealable as reverse gear did not exist on the shifter and I stuffed up the selector shafts which I had to custom make so 1st reverse was in the 3rd 4th position and 2nd 3rd was in the 1st 2nd position. It worked well when you knew what you were doing. That car was a heap of fun until the wife came into work one day and told me she had broken the gear leaver on the intersection out front. Turns out that the shaft was rubber mounted and the rubber had let go. It was just a matter of feeling around in the boot at the base of the lever to find the short selector shaft to change gears. When I got home that night, I removed all rubber and welded the lever to the selector.
Arch Hall Jr playing guitar and singing in the movies at the drive in theater.
(Mr Hall is an interesting guy. He recorded some good, and some not so good songs with his band The Archers Arch Hall Jr. - Wikipedia.)
(Mr Hall is an interesting guy. He recorded some good, and some not so good songs with his band The Archers Arch Hall Jr. - Wikipedia.)
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Well theres de-magnatize, and for tv, that frenchman de-gauss. Remember him?
roccobass, I have one of those Voice of Music 8810 amplifiers around here somewhere.
If I can't find it, I guess it qualifies as something I don't see anymore.
If I can't find it, I guess it qualifies as something I don't see anymore.
