ghoastrider1

ok you old farts. Most of the guys in the other foreums are kinda young guys. This one contains folks from when cars were driven,not aimed. jump out at a red light with a hammer,fix the jammed linkage. Vapor lock? nothing a few wooden clothes pins couldnt fix. Closed rear ends,such as in a 53 chevy,what a PITA to change a clutch. New fangled tape players and cassettes,FM radios,head rest, turn ***** on the steering wheels..tell me guys,whats the first powerful car you ever power/speed shifted. I had three I like to remember,make that 4. all were fairly new,within 5 years old. The first turely fast car was a 64 tri power GTO. ,then a 61 fuelie, then a 66,427 Impala, a 66 ford fairlane ,390 with 406 heads,and ( chuckle) my old POS,48 plymouth,special delux,4 door,3 on the tree.

67L36Driver

'52 Olds with stick shift, my first car. Always park on a hill or run the 6 volt battery down trying to start a warm engine. It would start at 15 below zero but not when it was warmed up.

Power shifted it a couple of times but it was a wasted effort.

Spent a lot of time changing trans, drive shafts and axels in my H.S. buddys '46 Merc vert. We could drop the rear w/torque tube is less than 30 min. If you dumped the clutch in reverse while rolling forward the darn thing would spit the 1st-reverse idler gear out on the parking lot.

ZYALTR

My 1949 Ford flathead business coupe. I'd work on it every weekday evening just to have it ready for the weekend. What great memories! Then the '55 chevy....thought I'd gone to heaven...at least untill the 1964 Chevelle SS...and so on ...and so on...

vettefred

I started out with a 1955 Ford post coupe. Three on the tree. 272 Y block. I could barely beat anyone in a quarter mile race. Drove a friends brand new Z-28 Camaro in 1967 and it totally blew my mind. I could not afford one so I went out to the junkyard and found a Lincoln V8 and swapped it in with and Honest Charley's trans adapter for a four speed. Went like hell but couldn't stop worth s***.
Finally stepped up to a 1964 Pontiac Tempest with a 421 in it. That did the trick! FAST.

Fordracer9

That was my Dad's first car. He put an Olds motor and LaSalle trans in the car.

Back to the OP. My first power shift was in my 67. I had to be all of 9 or 10 years old. The car was parked, but I was imitating the old man. First car I power shifted in motion would be my 84 Mustang GT.

MikeM

If you define "power shift" as shifting without lifting, it was a '55 Ferguson 30 tractor with a four speed. Other wise it was my new 65 Nova SS that I put a 327/375 engine in.

Chuck Gongloff

55 and 56 Chevys, with 3 on the tree. Chuck

justatoy

1970 camaro 3 on the floor

Mike Terry

I have a good friend who has a NICE 69 Roadrunner, Calif. car 383 pistal grip 4spd. it is NICE, and his son begged him to let him take it to the local drag races just 1 time. Well after several beggings, Steve told his son OK but be carefull. Well Steve got a call about 11:00 pm that night ( got him out of bed, not happy ) and it was his son tell dear old dad how fast the Roadrunner ran the 1/4 mile in. Dad said you didn't call me this time of night to tell me that, what is wrong with the car. Well Dad it won't shift out of 1st gear. So the son had it on a flatbed headed for home. After Steve and I looked at the car WOW what a mess. Shift linkage all bent, broken bellhouseing mounting ears, broken trans. mounting ears. Cost old Dad $2000.00 to get it fixed. Son said it just happened, that he was not running the car hard. I told Steve that it was a power shift gone bad. You can't power shift the pistal grip 4spds roadrunners that is to far to shift them. Son told dad I didn't thy to power shift it. Well son never drives dads Roadrunner again. Cost to repair $2000.00 pic on dads face when he saw the mess, PRICELESS.

devildog

I am like Mike...it was a tractor, John Deere R, but that was slow speed power shift because it only turned about 1000 rpms. First car power shift was my $500 57 Ford with 312 interceptor engine. On one of those power shifts, I put a rod thru the block. I replaced the short block with a 332 truck block from junk yard...we call that a stroker now days.

Then I got my 61 Vette with 270hp/283 2 x 4s and I still power shift that after 38 years. In fact it sounds like a good idea, I am going to warm her up and go power shift as I blow past a couple new mustangs.

Vogie

64 1/2 Olds 442. Dad made a major judgement error when he bought that one.

BADBIRDCAGE

First power shift automobile, 64 tri-power Goat. Second power shift automobile, 67 Mercury Cougar, Third power shift automobile, 68 Hemi Road Runner. And then there were more.

Rich

RestoDoc

[QUOTE=ghoastrider1;1559011559]ok you old farts.


Old Farts? I represent that remark.

RestoDoc

I learned to drive a 4 speed with my first 4 speed car. A 1969 Z28 with 4.10 gears and a Muncie M21. Within a month I was speed shifting, tricking out the Holley, installing headers, traction bars, kicked the smog equipment to the curb along with the factory exhaust manifolds. Threw away all the stuff that is worth big bucks today.

knight37128

57 Belair 2 door HT, when I got it (1985, I was 17 and in high school) it had a 305 automatic in it. The first thing that broke was the motor mount. Put it in gear and it would torque up and you where off at half throttle. Dad did not like that, so I thought why not build a new (350 that we had pulled out of a truck) motor and put a 4 speed in it. It came out of a 2 ton dump truck and had a steel crankshaft along with being a 4 bolt main.

The Saginaw that my dad found lasted a few weeks. Then I found a Muncie out of a 69 BB vette (wreaked), and a Hurst bench shifter. I had to replace the clutch a few times, broken ear, two axles, and the pumpkin (different times). Got good at fixing stuff fast, if I wanted to go out that weekend.

Break the springs in the clutch and you have to power shift (if you want to get home).

65air_coupe

First to power shift? Why, first car of course! I am male for pete's sake! Oh, it was a '56 Ford 272 with 3 on the tree....sound familiar?

Next was a '59 T-Bird with 3 speed but with Hurst shifter in the console. Man would that thing wrap up the leaf springs too!

Next was a '62 Galaxie 500 with a 406 Tri-power. Found out quickly that the BW 4 speed couldn't handle the horsepower on a 1-2 powershift...stripped out the cluster gear twice in a row! That was in '66-'67.

Went away in the service and came back a motocross racer! Power shifting galore!

Do I power shift my '65 coupe these days....you bet - driving it like I stole it! And loving it too!

Frankenvette 63

I worked for my Uncle the summer I got my license, cleaning up old lots he owned. He had a 49 Ford with no interior, none! I sat on a wash tub to drive that car to the town dump, loaded with everything I could get in it. At the end of the summer, he gave me the car! I had 12 pounds of bondo in it, got the interior from a wrecking yard, remember them? It was a three on the tree, 239 (I think). I drove it for two years, saving for my first car, a brand new 67 Firebird 400. Three months after buying the Firebird, I won the draft and had to sell it, wish I had that one back!

MikeM

If you've been whackin' those old shoebox three speeds, you probably know how to fix that high gear syncro ring you just knocked off.

ghoastrider1

wow,some great stories in here.Sure brings back some great memories. Some of the cars posted,I had forgotten about,,,that I had or friend had. Course when a friend needed help with his ride,,one couldnt ignore it,heck,it was fun and besides, you might be ridding in it next weekend checking out the local dolls.

Chuck Gongloff

Used to "double clutch" them "at speed" to get them into low gear too.

Non synchro first gear...remember? Chuck