3 on the tree

[Jimmyvonviggle]

Im looking into getting a 50's era car and many of them are standard with the shifter on the column. Do any of you have any experience or knowledge about this, and is it easy to learn and drive?

Thanks

[Squall67584]

Slightly different, but you get used to it. From what I remember, reverse is up and closest to you, first is down and close, second is up and away, and third is down and away.

[DeMopar]

It's not bad at all. It's just a bit different from a floor shift. They are actually quite fun to drive once you get the hang of it! My dad had an '82 GMC pickup with a three on the tree. It was a blast to drive! Not hard at all!

[ramblinmike]

It's an 'H' pattern just like a 3 speed on the floor. Top left is reverse, bottom left is first, top right is second, and bottom right is third. If you were sitting in the passenger seat you'd 'see' the pattern from the top. From the driver seat you're looking at the pattern from the left side.

[Citizen]

Agree with posts 2,3,4. That is the correct pattern. I have driven them and yes, they are fun to drive. One thing you'll notice right away is the size of the steering wheel. On almost any 50's era car, they were HUGE. Far cry from the size of a DeLo steering wheel.

Thomas

...

[1Mcfly4u]

My dad had an old F series pickup with 3 on the column, I loved driving it. He used to yell at me for downshifting in it, used to tell me it would screw up the shifting linkage. I have no idea if that was true or not. As mentioned already the above posters have the shifting pattern correct.

[qwerk]

I was just reading about this the other day. I also came across some stuff on early automatic transmissions (JZD's work at Packard included). Interesting how different they were back then.

[Jimmyvonviggle]

Thanks for the advice guys, I think I will pursue this road. I think it will be fun to own an old style system like this.

[rddmc]

Im looking into getting a 50's era car and many of them are standard with the shifter on the column. Do any of you have any experience or knowledge about this, and is it easy to learn and drive?

Thanks

Yes and Yes to both questions. All straight drive cars(other than sports cars) were like this when I was learning drive as well as three speed pickup trucks. Actually I learned to drive by beginning on farm tractors which had stick shifts between your knees. I had a 1976 GMC pickup with the shift on the steering column. You knew you had a fast car when you could "lay rubber" in second gear. If you can drive a car with a clutch, you will have no trouble. If you can't drive a car with a clutch, an hour in a vacant parking lot will do wonders. Just avoid steep hills until you gain confidence unless you are buying a Studebaker with the "Hill Holder" feature or you are getting a Dodge with Fluid Drive.

Rod
10921

[Dangermouse]

One of the most frightening moments in my teenage years was sitting in the backseat of a Citroen 2CV, parked in gear facing up a hill while the owner was in the store. It too had the 3 on the tree, or umbrella handle, sticking out of the dash, though I am not sure it needed all 3 gears.

Anyway as I sat there, the umbrella handle popped out of gear and we slowly started rolling backwards as the driver had thoughtfully not set the hand brake.

Luckily my smaller backseat companion was able to climb over the seat and get at the foot brake as a 2CV is not what you would call crash-resistant.