Odd transmission feature

mrtexas

mrtexas

Well-known member
My 89 year old dad claims that if the transmission is in 3rd gear you can lift up the shifter and reposition it anywhere you want and later return it to the original position. Is this true or just the musings of an old codger? He worked in a gas station while in College at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA in the early 1940s fixing all manner of old cars.
 
If the transmission is in neutral, you can pull up on the shifter and turn it 90 degrees counter clockwise (?). It allows you to get the shifter out of your way when parked.

Jon
 
I'd also like to know if this is true. I've had a few old timers tell me the same story. I wondered if shifter was just worn enough to do so cause I could never lift mine and reposition.
 
True....or lift the cap, pull out the pin, turn the shift leaver to the side. More room when dating.

Those persons 75 and older, know the routine and may have a better explanation.
 
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I remember moving the shifter back in the sixties on my 30ccpu. I thought I was able to move it third though. especially if I had three people in the cab.
 
mrtexas said:
My 89 year old dad claims that if the transmission is in 3rd gear you can lift up the shifter and reposition it anywhere you want and later return it to the original position. Is this true or just the musings of an old codger? He worked in a gas station while in College at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA in the early 1940s fixing all manner of old cars.
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If you look at a shift lever and the transmission top you will find a large pin through the center of the upper pivot ball and a corresponding slot across the the transmission top at the ball socket. This is an indexing pin that keeps the shift lever from rotating. Obviously the infamous and sometimes dangerous (with careless removal) tension spring on the lower end of the lever keeps the lever seated in that upper ball socket and that indexing pin in it's slot. If you lift the shift lever (fighting the spring tension) up about 1/4" so the indexing pin clears the top of it's slot in the transmission top, you can then rotate the shift lever. The pin will be resting on the very top of the housing until you rotate the lever back into position OR 180° from it's normal position at which time it will snap back down into place.

Yep, I was about fifteen years old when an "old timer" showed me that trick. It wasn't until a couple years later that I tore apart a transmission top and realized just what was going on there.

 
At a Hy-Y dance back in the '60s, I remember being told by a cop that we couldn't have 3 people in the front seat of the coupe because of the floor shift (I was in high school and had 2 buddies in the car at the time). I can still remember the look on his face when I lifted the shifter and moved it over by the choke rod! He just shook his head, mumbled and walked away! True story. :p You can lift it out and swivel it in high gear, but it's hard to do without popping it out of gear.
 
And I thought that was just so Henry and Edsel could save on the cost of a driver's door lock!

Unlock the passenger door, swivel the shifter, slide right in.

Maybe the bad guys won't figure out that the driver's door has no lock....
 
I remember somewhere there is an old Ford "instructional" video that was sent to dealers that shows a service guy pulling a car into the garage and swinging the gear shift out of the way.

Anyone know what I'm talking about?
 
My dad always told the same story. I didn't have an A model back then and he passed in 2003. I had my car since 2002 but have never tried to lift and rotate the shift lever. i might try it on a spare transmission.
 
When I was in High School I had a 28 Roadster; when parking with my girlfriend on a ditch bank, or elsewhere, I would disengage the shift lever and move it toward the choke lever. Sure makes more room !!!!! and I'm only 5'81/2".
Damn, that sure been a lot of years ago.

Ron
 
Yep! It is true. I learned that trick in 1943 shortly afert I bought my first Model A. Wow, that was a long time ago.
 
It's REALLY fun to mess with the A'ers who don't know about this! It's also fun to leave it turned 90 deg at shows and just sit back and wait for the silly questions to commence... followed of course by B.S. answers. Luke
 
I happend to find the Shifter trick by mistake a couple years back,I picked up a transmission by the shifter and the shifter turned. About a month later I was at a
auction and a few of the shifters were turned...folks were saying,Bad Transmissions.
After I won all those Bad transmissions,I loaded them in my wagon and turned the shifters around!
Wick
 
vtwinsideways said:
It's REALLY fun to mess with the A'ers who don't know about this! It's also fun to leave it turned 90 deg at shows and just sit back and wait for the silly questions to commence... followed of course by B.S. answers. Luke
Click to expand...


Just tell them that the ****** is now in Automatic. Sort of a His and Hers set up!
 
Your Dad is correct! Back in the day young fellas on a date would
pull over and pull up the shifter to get it out of the way in case they
got lucky...........wink, wink. :)
 
I turn mine around when i pick up and get lucky.............................................
Lucky is my dog...............................................................
 
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