<VV> 3 on tree - with a Corvair reference

[kenpepke at juno.com]

January of 1969 my 63 Monza Convertible PG, at 145,000 miles, [Coupes are for chickens / a car that can't shift for itself isn't worth much] broke a connecting rod right through the thickest part of the web.  Once the banging stopped the car ran quite well but it was too cold outside to work on it so I decided to buy another car.  

That new car was an Elcamino ... 307 V8 three speed.  It did not have 10 miles on it the first time it popped out of 2nd gear.  I put up with that for a while  then I reworked the transmission shift arm by taking out a lot of the 'Z' shape thereby making it longer ... no more popping out of second ... but occasionally it would still hang up between gears.  A few years later and after 215,000 miles it got too rusty to drive.  

The Corvair?  I got a used cylinder barrel and piston from my buddy at the junk yard in the summer of 69 and repaired the engine.  The Elcamino had served me well and was gone but I still had the 63 Convertible for years later.  
Ken P


**********************************

Vairtec Corporation <Vairtec at optonline.net> wrote:

What kind of junk have all you guys been driving?  <grin!>

In my misspent youth I did time in the previously-mentioned 3-on-tree 
Econoline, a 3-on-tree '66 Chevy wagon, and a 3-on-tree '68 Chevelle.  
NONE of them ever refused to shift nor did they ever get hung up in gear.

On the other hand, the shift linkage in my floor-shift 3-speed 1962 
Corvair wagon (circa 1970) fell apart on a regular basis, until a buddy 
and I tinkered with the linkage, shimming it with strapping steel and 
applying other sophisticated fixes.  Of course, during that repair we 
discovered that the floor had rusted out and that the prior owner had 
fixed the floor with a tin S&H Green Stamps sign.  (You have to be of a 
certain age to know what S&H Green Stamps were.)

In high school, a neighbor girl who was about the skinniest and 
slightest female I've ever seen this side of a famine appeal, drove a 
3-on-tree Chevy II all over town.  If she could slam that car into gear 
every time, what on earth was wrong with your cars?

--Bob Marlow
 

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