Three on the tree

[Eric]

Having the linkage get jammed was a fairly common problem with manual column shifters of many manufacturers' vehicles. The thing is, it was a pretty easy problem to deal with, if you took the time to install one of the new bushing kits for the shift linkage, but few people would do it.

The first time I encountered this issue, I was twelve. My mom, my sister and I were in a Chevy pickup, with an inline six, 3-speed and column shifter, in the middle the eastern Texas nowhere, late at night. The truck got stuck in second. My mom really freaked out about it. We nursed the truck along until we found a pay phone and called my father. He told me what to do to correct the problem. A couple of minutes later, we were on our way again. It was a PITA problem, but at least it was easy to deal with.

[Smith10]

Never had one stick that I remember. But it seems that they liked to do so in 2nd.

 

What was it like with those old two speed automatics?

[Eric]

5 minutes ago, Smith10 said:

Never had one stick that I remember. But it seems that they liked to do so in 2nd.

 

What was it like with those old two speed automatics?

It worked pretty well. It shifted between 25mph and 30mph. It was a good trans. Obviously, the gearing was pretty far apart and the engine rpm would be pretty high at high speeds, but it was a good transmission.

The drag racing community loved them, so much in fact that it is damned difficult to find an original Powerglide transmission. In recent years, companies began building new Powerglide transmissions, new case and all, for drag racing, street rods, etc. After all these years, it is still a popular choice.

[Smith10]

8 minutes ago, Eric said:

It worked pretty well. It shifted between 25mph and 30mph. It was a good trans. Obviously, the gearing was pretty far apart and the engine rpm would be pretty high at high speeds, but it was a good transmission.

The drag racing community loved them, so much in fact that it is damned difficult to find an original Powerglide transmission. In recent years, companies began building new Powerglide transmissions, new case and all, for drag racing, street rods, etc. After all these years, it is still a popular choice.

The closeness of ratios in transmissions is interesting in itself. Like a review I saw recently of a GSXS1000 it seemed all the gearing was pretty close. So it really didn't matter much what gear.

[Eric]

"Back in my day... We only had two speeds in our automatic transmissions and we were glad to have them!" Today, most cars have 3, 4 or even 5 times as many forward gears. Technology is a wonderful thing. Those old Powerglides are still very sought after though.

[Vanwall]

Back in the day I knew someone with a 55 Chevy whenever she shifted into second the horn would beep    Rrrrrrrrr beep rrrrrrrrrr. 

[ROB]

My best friends Dad had a 65 Impala convertible with the 283 and a powerglide, cherry bombs exhaust. It wasn't very quick or anything, but looked and sounded great.

[Walt Longmire]

Five and a four, you *******. 20 forward gears. Uncle had an off road KW that ran a 12 cylinder engine with a 10 speed automatic. He wanted more selection so he added a 4 speed brownie behind the auto. 40 forward speeds. 

[misterfox]

On 9/20/2017 at 8:18 PM, *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?

My first car was a 64 Rambler American with a 3 on the tree.   The linkage was well worn and would 'jam up' under the hood.  I was a member in good standing of the greasy hand club.

It jammed on prom night.    

[Ricky Ricardo]

I learned to drive in my brothers 1952 Chevy Deluxe, with 3 on the tree.