Spark-O-Matic Corp.

Henry/Kokomo

Henry/Kokomo

Well-known member
Trying to find out if Spark-O-Matic Corp. (founded by Ed Almquist) is still in business or who is the successor company, if any. I have a late-50's-early-60's Spark-O-Matic floorshift conversion for '49-'53 manual transmissions.which has one broken part. I think I can replicate the part but I'd like to try to get the "right" one. Any leads would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
Hey, I really appreciate, your respect for nostalgia, and that's what this site is about. However, those Spark-O-Matic shifters didn't work very well when new out of the box. I know this doesn't answer your question. I'm just trying to save you some disappointment and frustration after a lot of time and effort.:D

Bob
 
Thanks, Bob. I appreciate the words of wisdom. As an aside, I was surprised to find that Spark-O-Matic was founded by Ed Almquist and equally surprised to find out that Hurst, of Hurst motormount and shifter fame, was a minority partner, at one time.
 
Thanks, Ken. I did notice that the major components seemed heavy enough but the fit and finish just wasn't there. This partiular shifter was designed to be a "fitzall" in that, by using different brackets or combinations of brackets, it fits a lot of early Ford and Chevy transmissions from the late 40's to the early 60's.
 
I had one in a '57 Chevy in the 60's. Somehow it managed to go into 2 gears at once (I shifted fast and it stayed in 1st on the 1st/reverse lever and went into 2nd on the 2nd/3rd lever). Cleaned the teeth off of the input shaft and cluster gear and cracked the case. The replacement trans had a Hurst on it.
 
I put a Spark-o-Matic shifter in my '57 Chev and it was an amazingly smooth shifter for the low price. What sold me on it was the similarity in design with the Hurst Shifter. The main difference was the slides, they were Nylon instead of steel on the Hurst. No, I am not saying it was as good as Hurst, it was as good as I could afford while attending college!
The main thing was getting it adjusted correctly when you installed it and it was good to go. Oh, those were the days!
 
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