<VV> 3 on Tree

[airvair at earthlink.net]

I once had a '75 Nova stripper with a three on the tree. It had the nasty
tendancy to lock up in reverse gear. You could put it in first, but it
would also still be in reverse. The first time it happened, I had to back
it 10 blocks to my garage man's shop. He got under the hood and pushed
something back into place. He said that the design was over 40 years old,
and all GM had done in that time was make it cheaper. And this from someone
who had worked on cars such as the Cord and Brush. The stupid thing would
do it at least twice a year, so I didn't keep the car very long. To this
day, I still don't know what he pushed.....

As far as the Corvair goes, I had a '67 500 stripper once with a
three-speed. In the dead of winter once, I was parking it in my space
behind my house, rowing between first and reverse, and suddenly I had the
entire shifter in my hand. The entire lever housing had rotted in half. So
I jambed it into the floor and stirred it around until I had the gear I
needed. Then my buddy and I had to change it out in -20º temperatures out
in the outside air. (Had no garage to work in.) 'Bout froze ourselves to
death, and could only work about 15 minutes at a time before we had to come
inside and thaw out.

Manuals are such a PITA....... Thank heaven for automatics! (G)

-Mark

> [Original Message]
> From: Vairtec Corporation <Vairtec at optonline.net>
> Subject: Re: <VV> Falcon restoration, now 3 on Tree
>
> Dennis Pleau wrote:
> > I learned to drive three on the tree in a Falcon Ranchero.  I'm not
sure I
> > ever drove another car with three on the tree.
> >   
>
> Want to consider a nightmare of a shift linkage?  Many years ago I drove 
> a first-generation Ford Econoline van with a 3-speed column shift.  The 
> Corvair 95 shift linkage was duck soup compared to that thing!
>
> --Bob Marlow
>