Top 10 last cars with column shift manual

[FalconXV]

http://performancedrive.com.au/top-1...t-manual-0300/

Wrote this as I've always had a fascination with this type of gearbox, never driven a column-shift manual before. Always found it fascinating that the Borg Warner 3-speed was available until 1993. Found out when I read my parents' manual for their XE I grew up with.

If I found a column manual Falcon I would snap it up straight away, make it my daily driver and keep it for the rest of my life.

[BlueBear]

Just a comment, XF did not have leaf springs, XD was the last sedan to have them.
Utes and Vans did continue with them though.

[FalconXV]

Originally Posted by BlueBear

Just a comment, XF did not have leaf springs, XD was the last sedan to have them.
Utes and Vans did continue with them though.

Yeah I know but I said Ford kept leaf springs long after Holden abandoned them in 1971 with the sedan and Ford kept them in the wagon until 2010.

[Simple6]

My XB wagon is a 3spd column manual and I wouldn't change it for the world. Many have told me how easy it would be swap out to a 4spd floor shifter, but I've got no interest in the idea.

Nice article too - I didn't realise the column shift manual continued in the Falcons as long as you've found it did.

[blue sleeper]

I'd kill to own my old man's Brougham 327 we had when I was a kid, you could here that beast streets away. And I've never seen one since......

[Rallye Sport]

The column shifts do have alot character. I had a Hiace like the one in the article. Bought it when I was renovating the house, at $500 it was cheaper than buying a trailer but so rusty I had to bolt the side door shut. Me and the dog loved it and I drove it almost daily. I'd just started seeing the mrs and she commented that you're meant to impress a girl by driving one of your good cars, but after borrowing it when her car was in for sevice she changed her tune and reckoned the column shift was a hoot. At 750000kms the linkages were pretty loose but you'd just poke around until you found a gear, we weren't going to win any races anyway...
The van and the column shift are both missed now, the dog would wander around out the front looking for her van after I passed it onto a mate.

[Express]

When I was young column shifts were the norm and they were everywhere and available in almost everything.

I can still remember the great sound an open exhaust would create on a manual 3 speed backed V8 while held in 2nd up to 90 miles an hour.

I admit there is now a real air of nostalgia cool about them but back in the day the cool guys swapped them out with a Speco 3 speed floor shift for the ultimate street cred.


.

[marty351]

Renault R16ts, 4spd column I learned to drive. 1 helluva car.

[Sar4890]

I'm going to go against the tide and say I'm not a fan, have driven a few of them some easier to use than others but then as I've gotten older I can't be bothered with manuals either.

[xtremerus]

A lot of pommie cars in the 60s had 4 speed column shifts.
Column shift made it easier to change gear when 9 teenagers are in a MkII Cortina

[Gothefalcon]

Originally Posted by FalconXV

Yeah I know but I said Ford kept leaf springs long after Holden abandoned them in 1971 with the sedan and Ford kept them in the wagon until 2010.

And all the way until the last of the FGX Utes too.

I believe Commodore 1 Tonner Utes had leaf springs.... up until the VE came out. https://www.carsguide.com.au/cars-fo...4a653985d#pos4

D

[Falcon SXR8]

Yep had a hiace like that with i belive a 2.4 na diesel and the big 5 speed column shift, it got a big workout ill tell ya. Super reliable too

[2011G6E]

The three speed floor shift in my '74 Charger is an option listed on the plate. A "normal" base XL would have had a three on the tree. I owned a Charger for a short while back in the 1990's that I got rid of when it turned out to be more rust than metal when I looked into it, and it was the high compression 265 hemi two barrel motor...with a three on the tree. Weird.

[Crazy Dazz]

I can remember back in the late 80's reading an RAC magazine review, of IIRC correctly a Honda model. The article raved about the performance of the 4 cylinder EFI with 5spd, then in a final note at the end pointed out that the Honda had lost an "acceleration test" (aka drag race) against the company Falcon wagon, which was a 200 with a 3 on the tree.

[Dauphin]

Good job. How about an article on how similar some cars look, from different manufacturers? I saw this old car from the 40s the other day, it wasn't a VW Type 1 but it looked just like a Bug, only slightly different. Wish I remembered the name. The ultimate comparison for us Ford Falcon fans would be the Mercedes-Benz CLS500 vs. AU Falcon.

[blackf6]

I drove an XG ute with a three speed column shift. So wanted to buy the car. Was just short of the coin. Back in 1999.

[Charliewool]

Back in the EH, HD, HR etc days... The craze was to cut a hole in the floor and fit either a Speco-Thomas or an Impala "stick-shift" to replace the grandpa column shift.
Was the absolute fastest way to destroy the old non 1st gear syncro boxes!

[Pedro]

The 3 speed column shift in the EH could be a bit of a problem as you did your best to win a traffic light Grand Prix. If you tried to slam it through from 1st to 2nd a circlip would often pop off and you'd be left with a dangling stick incapable of performing anything.
HMMM that reminds me of something.

[Lunch]

A mates dad had a van with column manual when we were younger, we used to pinch it on occasion while he was at work, learnt to drive manual in it, it was pretty cool, my BA ute was column auto, I enjoyed even just selecting gear in that, plus the looks I used to get when I told people it was a 3 seater with a column were good..

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by Lunch

A mates dad had a van with column manual when we were younger, we used to pinch it on occasion while he was at work, learnt to drive manual in it, it was pretty cool, my BA ute was column auto, I enjoyed even just selecting gear in that, plus the looks I used to get when I told people it was a 3 seater with a column were good..

Father in laws shrine (76 base of base model kingswood 6 seat wagon) is a 3 speed column shift manual. I'd love a bench seat in a 2 door utility. Being the one skiing in the middle trying to fit around a floor shifter and not get to personal with the passenger to the left is not cool. I'd be after a column auto like the ba my brother in law had.

[Mercury Bullet]

Originally Posted by Charliewool

Back in the EH, HD, HR etc days... The craze was to cut a hole in the floor and fit either a Speco-Thomas or an Impala "stick-shift" to replace the grandpa column shift.
Was the absolute fastest way to destroy the old non 1st gear syncro boxes!

lol we had (still have on our tip somewhere) 2 FC's we used as paddock bombs on the farm. First business was installing a 3 on the floor tranny. Don't know why but it was a job that had to be done.
Then we cut the roofs out to shoot standing on the back seat.

Those poor cars...would do 40mph downhill with a tailwind.
Skiing behind them on an up-turned bonnet was fun though.

[Davehoos]

Left over bits from marina 6 cyl.

plus the way to get the Bathurst race car under the cost cut off point.

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

The three speed floor shift in my '74 Charger is an option listed on the plate. A "normal" base XL would have had a three on the tree. I owned a Charger for a short while back in the 1990's that I got rid of when it turned out to be more rust than metal when I looked into it, and it was the high compression 265 hemi two barrel motor...with a three on the tree. Weird.

[galaxy xr8]

My very 1’st car was a 3 on the tree (XW 500 wagon) , all the mates had floor shift’s and what not, I had no interests in changing mine and to this day it still remains a 3 on the tree.

[Davehoos]

I got my P on a XD 3 speed and got it back again with the rodeo.

my first new car was a 4 speed on the tree rodeo. The family XD was dealer swapped bench seat wagon.

around the farm plenty of floor shift modified holden, I had a number of leylands and half was floor shifts.

This part of OZ Sydney built pommie cars and AMI Toyota was more common with 3 speed. the Datsun with the floor shift or auto was luxury.

I once got excited seeing a Japanese bench 3 speed bluebird in the 90.s having been to the USA and finding floor shifts rare.

[FalconXV]

Haha I was racking my brain so hard when writing that article trying to find obscure cars like that. Then today, long after its been published, what pulls up to me on James Ruse drive today? A bloody late 80s Navara with a bloke column shifting manually. LOL.

[LUV DE COUPE]

Mate had a xb 302 coupe three on the tree

[Marquis]

Many moons ago i had a XC wagon 4.1 3 on the tree. Easy to drive , but always thought it should have had an extra gear. No use shifting for the same amount as an auto ��

[Sabantien]

Drove one years ago. All I remember is it was a ute of some kind. Probably my brother's work ute. Took no time at all to adjust, but I don't think I'd like to have one permanently. I have a feeling when I was at QUT a few years ago I drove a uni ute with it too, could be wrong on that though.

That said, we borrowed a manual Ranger to pick up a new oven, and just driving that for half an hour put me off a bit. Now I drive an auto daily, I don't want to go back to a manual of any kind. It wasn't enjoyable, just tedious.

[Gypzy]

My first car, a MK2 Cortina, had column shift. Mums garden hose was perfect to cut up and use as spacers in the linkages. Mums garden hose was good for other things too.

[roKWiz]

Had a mighty Mitsi L300 with a four speed column, used to haul stone around in it loaded up to the window sills then go camping on the weekends with it.
It did everything I asked of it.