11-18-2012, 08:58 AM | #1 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Elyria, Ohio
Posts: 762
|
Dating stick??
Hey, Fordbarners,
Why does the gearshift pull up and swing away on Model A's? My father-in-law told me, years ago, about the "dating stick" that would swing away so the girlfriend could sit closer. What do you all say? |
11-18-2012, 09:21 AM | #2 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Grafton,OHIO
Posts: 728
|
Re: Dating stick??
He is right
|
Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) |
|
11-18-2012, 09:50 AM | #3 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: AZ and WA
Posts: 764
|
Re: Dating stick??
If you romantic folks want to keep that feature don't convert to a Mitchell transmission. That feature is lost but you do gain a nice syncro feature for the gears.
|
11-18-2012, 09:53 AM | #4 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Pace, FL near Pensacola
Posts: 374
|
Re: Dating stick??
Back in the late 60s an elderly gentleman showed me that feature on my first A and called it "courting gear".
|
11-18-2012, 10:13 AM | #5 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Chicago
Posts: 1,416
|
Re: Dating stick??
It was installed as back in that era, you were supposed to always enter or exit the vehicle on the curb side. There is a dealer video I saw years ago that demonstrates the driver lifting the gear shift and swinging it out of the way and then exiting the vehicle from the passenger side.
This is the same reason why the passenger door has a key but not the driver's. I'm sure that the auxillary reason of diminishing the space between driver and passenger was praciticed more than the intended factory purpose. -Tim |
11-18-2012, 10:23 AM | #6 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Savannah, GA
Posts: 1,300
|
Re: Dating stick??
Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)
__________________
20 years ago we had Johnny Cash, Steve Jobs, and Bob Hope. Now we have no Cash, no Jobs, and no Hope...please don't let Kevin Bacon die! |
11-18-2012, 10:35 AM | #7 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Blissful
Posts: 298
|
Re: Dating stick??
|
11-18-2012, 10:47 AM | #8 |
BANNED
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Gothenburg Nebraska Just off I-80
Posts: 4,893
|
Re: Dating stick??
By design all of them should pivot. Maybe yours has a real stiff spring or a squared off shifting ball catching on the shift forks. Rod
__________________
Do the RIGHT thing - Support the H.A.M.B. Alliance!!!! |
11-18-2012, 11:17 AM | #9 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2012
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 140
|
Re: Dating stick??
wow, I ran right out and tried it but, no joy...
it's OK, I still have a back seat |
11-18-2012, 11:22 AM | #10 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Grass Valley,CA
Posts: 295
|
Re: Dating stick??
On Pacific Telephone Trucks. there was a ladder on the drivers side that forced the use of the passenger side to enter & exit. The "swing-away gear shift was a big help !
Bruce Davis [email protected] |
11-18-2012, 11:24 AM | #11 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Southern California
Posts: 7,057
|
Re: Dating stick??
Quote:
Charlie Stephens Last edited by Charlie Stephens; 11-18-2012 at 10:35 PM. |
|
11-18-2012, 11:26 AM | #12 |
BANNED
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Gothenburg Nebraska Just off I-80
Posts: 4,893
|
Re: Dating stick??
You have to pull it up, then turn it. Posting this just to be clear as to how it works. I do not believe it works on the 4spd AA transmissions. This feature was shown to me by Grandpa when I bought my first A at the age of 13. When I was dating my X in highschool and got the coupe running and driving she thought it belonged there all of the time. Too bad the tornado that destroyed the shop and the coupe before it was fully restored. Rod
__________________
Do the RIGHT thing - Support the H.A.M.B. Alliance!!!! |
11-18-2012, 12:21 PM | #13 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Portland, Oregon
Posts: 5,920
|
Re: Dating stick??
When I was in high school we did that so we could get three in the front seat. We went to a football game once with eight guys in my Tudor. In 1972 my wife and I and our 18-month-old daughter came back from California with a buddy of mine who had just been discharged from the Navy. We were traveling in my roadster pickup and with all three of the adults in the front seat that swing-away feature was absolutely necessary. Our daughter rode in the back in a little camping rig I had built for the bed.
__________________
Ray Horton, Portland, OR As you go through life, keep your eye on the donut, not the hole. |
11-18-2012, 12:24 PM | #14 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Independence, VA
Posts: 423
|
Re: Dating stick??
That feature is also handy when an "A" trans is used as a second box in a doodlebug,,,,
|
11-18-2012, 01:26 PM | #15 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Owosso, MI
Posts: 673
|
Re: Dating stick??
I always thought this was a myth, now I have to try it.
__________________
1929 Model A Barn find. California car, just a few more parts to find. Interior, steering box (rebuild), and I am sure much more! |
11-18-2012, 02:15 PM | #16 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Southern Nevada
Posts: 149
|
Re: Dating stick??
HA. Way cool and 40 years too late!
|
11-18-2012, 10:22 PM | #17 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: South pacific island
Posts: 1,724
|
Re: Dating stick??
Tried it just now, only works for me in R,2,N but not in 1 or 3.
|
11-19-2012, 10:34 AM | #18 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Owosso, MI
Posts: 673
|
Re: Dating stick??
Totally just tried this... too cool. Just have to pull up a little harder than I thought.
__________________
1929 Model A Barn find. California car, just a few more parts to find. Interior, steering box (rebuild), and I am sure much more! |
11-19-2012, 11:17 AM | #19 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Long Beach, CA.
Posts: 219
|
Re: Dating stick??
Blessyouboys, In CA when I was first licensed, there were still some areas that had a law against exiting a vehicle on the driver's side when parked at a curb. My grandpa had the door literally torn out of his hand by a passing car (obviously way too close) while he was exiting in front of his house and he was found to be at fault because of that rule! Of course, the drivers door was perfectly legal and useful in every other situation, like parking in the driveway or in a parking lot.
|
11-19-2012, 08:29 PM | #20 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Northeast Penna
Posts: 2,108
|
Re: Dating stick??
"Necking lever".
Funny how no mention is made regarding this "feature" in the owners handbook.... SC Frank |
|
|
Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) |
|