'69 Pontiac - stick Wagon C/L add - Chicago

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/cto/2818888398.html

If it has that 303 horse motor - could be fun!!

 

That would be a hoot! Must be a 3 on the tree, I see the clutch pedal but a column shifter. I guess that's what he calls a stick? Of all the 3 on the tree's I have driven, you cant speed shift them very easily, they get sloppy and want to throw the 2 linkages at the same time. Would really like to see more of her, but looks like he needs to clean it out from under some stuff to get body shots?

edit: According to Wiki, there were two (or a 3rd less powerful if you had the TH400 tranny) 400 motor options, none of them would be one to complain about IMO.
Engine offerings consisted of a standard 290-horsepower 400 two-barrel (or no-cost optional regular-fuel 265-horsepower 400 with Turbo Hydramatic transmission), 330-horsepower 400 four-barrel

 

I saw that last week; odd that there are no exterior pics.

What am I missing here about this being a stick car? I see no floor shifter, but what appears to be a column shifter. :confused:

 

Three on a tree.

 

This thing must be way before my time, and while I have owned more than a handful of old cars and read tons of car magazines, I have never seen a manual-on-column car.

How does this work?

Or should I just Google it?

 

I suddenly feel old,lol.

 

Don't feel bad; it's better than suddenly feeling stupid, as I do now

 

LOL.....well....you put in the clutch and......shift! Pull it toward you and down and you are in low gear, up and forward is second gear, straight down from there is third gear......3 on a tree. Reverse is toward you and all the way up....above low gear. That's about all I had when I was kid.

 

All true as Fox mentioned, but when shifting from low to second you have to find....don't know how to describe it...it's true neutral(?). You can't just jam it up there from low to second or it will bind. Would be eazier for me to show rather than explain.

But in short, the 3 on the tree to me now adays is a anti theft device..... Nobody knows what to do with them

 

It's basically just an "H" pattern shift, but on the column. One reason we kept the three speed on our '67 Biscayne is because nobody knows what they are anymore. I remember a long time ago when my dad and I first got that car and we were working on the column shift. I was probably 14 or so. I'm in the driver's seat and he's under the hood. He keeps telling me to put it in first. I was just moving the stick all around hoping I got it right. Got a quick lesson on a three speed column shift that night.

Here's a crappy video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGoG55S5_Fo

I think there were other manufacturers (Ford maybe and possibly Saab) that had four speed columnshifts, but I've never seen one.

 

Not true at all! We speed shifted when draggin' ALL THE TIME! Slam the clutch to the floor and slam your arm up and forward....bang! If your hand slipped you would hit your knuckles on the windshield!

 

I absolutely loved the 3-speed column shifter in the '65 Biscayne I had in high school. Nowadays I'd insist on an overdrive behind it, but it was fun to elbow friends riding front middle when it came time to drop it in first to take off from a light.

I recall getting pulled over for "not wearing my belt". The car had no belts from the factory, cop tried to tell me I had to add them, I fought it in court, at the time it was only 1968 and newer that needed belts, so I won.

 

It was fun shifting from 2nd to 3rd with your GF sitting over next to you.

 

And when going for 3rd and your hand slipped, you were slamming your head off the steering wheel because your balls were in the back window.

 

you don't see that many 3 speed manuals in the full size cars after the mid 60's. I have a rare one. a 1971 ford LTD convertible with a 351 v8 and a column shift 3 speed trans. I love the look on peoples faces when you shift into second gear in traffic with the top down