Three on the tree

[Smith10]

Remember those, the truck I learned in to drive had the setup.

Edited September 21, 2017 by Smith10
in

[jmohme]

My first vehicle was a 1969 F100 with a three on the tree. 

If you got sloppy with your shifting, it was second gear all the way home!

[Grabbrass]

Yeah, drove an employer's '65 Chevy pickup w/ 3speed for a summer. Can't say I really liked it. I was used to driving manuals, just wanted more gears. I understood why that worked for a truck though. 

[KBKEITH]

I have driven a truck that had three on the tree. I believe it was a ‘70 or ‘71 Chevy P/U. Fun!

[ROB]

Besides the car I drove through high school, I had to drive my buddy's Dad's f250 a few times, a 390 with the column shift 3sp.

The dart did pretty well with that slant six manual, it would hang with Dale's 66 Mustang with the 289 2bbl slushbox and destroyed his first car, another 

66 Mustang with the 200ci six/ auto.

[Rabbi]

I learned to drive stick on an old Ford F100 that had three on the tree.  (that and about an 84 Ford Escort)

[Eric]

My first car was a 1963 Impala, with a 327 engine and two-speed Powerglide auto transmission.

I've put a lot of miles on all manner of column-shift manuals, including three-speeds and four-speeds with that granny gear for a first speed. Those were technically three-speeds too. No one used that first gear, unless you had a couple of tons of stuff in the bed. With that gear, you would be shifting again before you made it through the intersection when the light turns green. 

[OldSchool64]

My first truck was a '71 Chevy with 292 straight six. By the time I bought it from my employer of about 5 years when I was ~18 my dad had already installed a floor shift.

Good memories there. First vehicle I ever painted at high school auto body class, everyone was kinda amazed, looked pretty damn good, I's called a natural.

 

 

[OldSchool64]

Who remembers those times when you had to pop the hood or crawl under nether to line up the linkage when the shift mechanism was worn out?

[refugeepj]

went from three on the tree to four on the floor.

my favorite was two on the back seat at the drive in movies.

[1L26]

One of my good friend's from grammar school first car was a Hillman Minx. It had 4 on the tree...

I never owned a 3 on the tree car, truck or station wagon but I do remember them.

[jmohme]

How about this one. 

My first job was working at my dads auto repair shop and one of our customers had an old Mercedes with a 4 on the tree!

[Smith10]

1 hour ago, Eric said:

My first car was a 1963 Impala, with a 327 engine and two-speed Powerglide auto transmission.

I've put a lot of miles on all manner of column-shift manuals, including three-speeds and four-speeds with that granny gear for a first speed. Those were technically three-speeds too. No one used that first gear, unless you had a couple of tons of stuff in the bed. With that gear, you would be shifting again before you made it through the intersection when the light turns green. 

I drove a work truck that had that granny first gear setup. The only time I liked it was when traffic crawled and even then was kind of a pain.

[Smith10]

9 minutes ago, 1L26 said:

One of my good friend's from grammar school first car was a Hillman Minx. It had 4 on the tree...

I never owned a 3 on the tree car, truck or station wagon but I do remember them.

 

1 minute ago, jmohme said:

How about this one. 

My first job was working at my dads auto repair shop and one of our customers had an old Mercedes with a 4 on the tree!

That's interesting, all I have had experience with was three speeds. So, where was reverse on the four on the trees?

[jmohme]

3 minutes ago, Smith10 said:

 

That's interesting, all I have had experience with was three speeds. So, where was reverse on the four on the trees?

That was way back in the 60's and I barely remember the 60s for reasons that I would rather not go into.

[Smith10]

 

[DWARREN123]

First car was 1960 Ford Falcon, small six w/3 on the tree.

[elsolo]

I was daily driving a three on the tree as recent as 2001.  I liked that I could shift while still holding the cup of coffee in my right hand, no cup holders in that 53.

[Foxterriermom]

My former husband and I owned an old Ford PU that was three on the tree for several years when we were first married.  It was bright orange and you could see it coming from a long ways off.  We dubbed it the Orange Peel Special.  

[furetto7]

I learned to drive in a '49 Chevy half ton pickup with four on the floor (you never used first gear), but my first car was a '57 Chevy 210 four door with an inline six and three on the tree.  The real challenge was driving home one day with a sprained ankle.

[Taco Junkie]

I learned to shift on my employer's Chevy pick up 3 on the tree (also a Willys Jeep we used in the boat yard).  The whole truck was beat to **** but it ran and shifted sometimes even stopped.

In college I bought a beater '65 Chevy van, you know, the ones with the spare tire on the front.  It also had a three on the tree. I bought it for $200, used it for a year in which I moved twice, and it was the keg hauler for a few parties. I sold it to some carney in town for a weekend festival for $250.  Six months later an acquaintance pulled up to my house in the same van. He bought it from a gas station in town for $120 to cover repairs and abandonment.  Two weeks later while he was driving down the beltline highway at rush hour in 88 degree heat the gas tank fell off on the highway. 

[dudel]

Rembember it well.  My Ranchero had it; replaced with a c4 on the floor.

[Walt Longmire]

When I was about 14, my dad had me drive a line horse back to camp. Basically an old worn out off highway Peterbilt log truck that had a set of old drums from a skid donkey put on it for spooling wire rope. It had a 5 and a 4. Brakes were almost nonexistent. Dad told me to 'make sure and get it into one of the lower gears' before starting down the long grade to Chow Chow bridge. I was a little nervous.

[Clancy]

I had a 1970 Ford Maverick with 3 on the tree. My Dad thought it was a good car for me, I hated it. It looked just like this, but had a green and white checkerboard vinyl roof.

[ROB]

20 hours ago, *OldSchool* said:

Who remembers those times when you had to pop the hood or crawl under nether to line up the linkage when the shift mechanism was worn out?

I recall in the dart there was a set of 'chucks' in the firewall that jammed once, freezing the shift mechanism. Most issues I had were fried clutch and a pesky throttle return spring.