Column vs Floor shift, Which one?

mike667 · Poncho Master!

Column vs Floor shift, Which one?

67BBSD · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

kinda the same storey as 4-door/2-door

buckets is what they want but I'd rather have a "good" bench seat car than a poor bucket seat car.

In the day guys ordered bench seat cars cause they were lighter for racing-nice sleeper look too

66 Beau · Poncho Master!

Bench seat with column shift makes the most sense but a 6 cylinder probably makes more sense than a V8: a SBC makes more sense than a BBC.

A lot of what we like doesn't make sense.

I definitely prefer buckets and console.

mike667 · Poncho Master!

Are the bench seats lighter? Thats good to know.

What is the main reason floor shift is chosen to be better though? Looks or what?

I don't mind either.

66 Beau · Poncho Master!

Floor shift for a manual trans should allow for shorter linkages and if you've got a decent shifter, should mean less missed shifts and binding.

That said, I got pretty good at speed shifting the old 3 on the tree and I've managed to lock up more than one hurst floor shifter.

mike667 · Poncho Master!

I understand for looking at the manual point of view.
But lets say automatic transmissions. Column shift vs console, is it the looks or what, that the console is chosen more?

68sd · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

my 69 Beaumonts Bucket seat column shift,their 30 dollar cheap out cost me 300 to fix

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

My 66 Grande Parisienne with the column shift tilt and Strato Bench (I think that's the right term) with the fold down centre armrest was still my favourite setup of all time.

I'll see if I have a good pic of it.

73SC · A Poncho Legend!

When I saw my Lemans with buckets and no console and column shift I thought it was too cool to pass up. Whoever ordered that car originally was not paying attention but I have something you don't see very often.

427carl · A Poncho Legend!

my 70 Torino Cobra had column shift and buckets I like that My Ventura II has buckets and column shift..

Beaumont4008 · Uber Guru

Got to be floor shift for me, just like the feel of it.

davelacourse · Poncho Master!

1. Floor shift, bucket seats, manual trans = sporty

2. Column shift, bench seat (preferably with those wonderful fold-down center armrests), automatic trans = comfy

For my fun car, go with 1.
For my daily driver, go with 2.

So my answer is = it depends. Hence, I did not vote

(I would switch to buckets in my 56 if I thought I could somehow reuse my seat upholstery ... but I cannot figure out how to do it, without losing the 'stripes' due to narrower seat backs.)

Dave

-- Edited by davelacourse on Thursday 3rd of June 2010 11:16:17 AM

2drpost · Uber Guru

column shift means you don't have a 4 spd. wink

floor shift aww

66 Beau · Poncho Master!

Related trivia question - maybe a second cousin, but it's related...

For some reason I have it in mind that there were vehicles with 4 speed standard column shift. Cannot remember which vehicles they would be or why I would think it, but it sticks in my mind that they were produced.

Am I dreaming or does someone know of any North American cars that came with a 4 on the tree? (Wikipedia says some Japanese cars had 4 on the trees).

-- Edited by 66 Beau on Thursday 3rd of June 2010 11:03:57 AM

davelacourse · Poncho Master!

66 Beau wrote:

Related trivia question - maybe a second cousin, but it's related...

For some reason I have it in mind that there were vehicles with 4 speed standard column shift. Cannot remember which vehicles they would be or why I would think it, but it sticks in my mind that they were produced.

Am I dreaming or does someone know of any North American cars that came with a 4 on the tree? (Wikipedia says some Japanese cars had 4 on the trees).

-- Edited by 66 Beau on Thursday 3rd of June 2010 11:03:57 AM

How's this:

1968 ChevyVan

A column shift 4-speed transmission (Warner T10) was now available as an option.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Van

Dave

-- Edited by davelacourse on Thursday 3rd of June 2010 11:44:40 AM

66 Beau · Poncho Master!

Now it makes sense - a frend of my father's had one of those vans with a column shift. That must have been where I remembered it from!

Thanks! I was beginning to think my mind was playing tricks on me. Just turned 50 so I was starting to worry!

eeluddy · Uber Guru

427carl wrote:
my 70 Torino Cobra had column shift and buckets I like that My Ventura II has buckets and column shift..

Hey Carl, My 70 Torino Cobra had the same setup! Black comfort-weave buckets, no console, auto on column.

65wagon · Poncho Master!

66 Beau wrote:

Floor shift for a manual trans should allow for shorter linkages and if you've got a decent shifter, should mean less missed shifts and binding.

That said, I got pretty good at speed shifting the old 3 on the tree and I've managed to lock up more than one hurst floor shifter.

i always managed to bind mine up or grind on down shifts

davelacourse · Poncho Master!

66 Beau wrote:

Now it makes sense - a frend of my father's had one of those vans with a column shift. That must have been where I remembered it from!

Thanks! I was beginning to think my mind was playing tricks on me. Just turned 50 so I was starting to worry!

Actually Wes your mind *IS* beginning to turn tricks on you, 50 is the official start of the process, you just wait until 60 ...

Dave

66 Beau · Poncho Master!

That's what I'm afraid of Dave. Believe me, I don't need any 'help' down that path. I've been 50 less than a week and I've spent more time in that week looking for things I had in my hand 5 minutes before, than I have in the last 5 years.
Maybe (hopefully) it's just psychological.

now I just have to rememeber what it was I sat down at the computer for.

87 player bird · Poncho Master!

4 door column shift, BBC under the hood, AWSOME sleeper!

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

66 Beau wrote:

That's what I'm afraid of Dave. Believe me, I don't need any 'help' down that path. I've been 50 less than a week and I've spent more time in that week looking for things I had in my hand 5 minutes before, than I have in the last 5 years.
Maybe (hopefully) it's just psychological.

now I just have to rememeber what it was I sat down at the computer for.

Trust me, it's just beginning.

Carl (age 52!)

57poncho · Uber Guru

Carl Stevenson wrote:

66 Beau wrote:

That's what I'm afraid of Dave. Believe me, I don't need any 'help' down that path. I've been 50 less than a week and I've spent more time in that week looking for things I had in my hand 5 minutes before, than I have in the last 5 years.
Maybe (hopefully) it's just psychological.

now I just have to rememeber what it was I sat down at the computer for.

Trust me, it's just beginning.

Carl (age 52!)

As a good friend of mine says. Of all the things I've lost in my life I miss my mind the most.