I remember these, mom had a three on the tree slant six satellite back in the day i used to drive

 

I learned to drive on a 62 Chevy Biscayne 6cyl 3 on the tree. Dad "rest his sole" I almost gave him whiplash taking off with the clutch. I am 54 and I still remember that first drive.

 

A 3 on the tree is good for getting an old car home & then it's changed to 3 or 4 on the floor & the girl staddles the shifter.

 

Back when I first got my old Ford ('40) there was this local old guy who would smile and wave every time he saw it so one day I stopped and had a bit of a BS session with him and he went on to say that back in HIS day he had one exactly like mine except for the shifter being on the other side of the steering column. It sems that was a pretty common mod for guys to do so they could drive while holding onto their Hunny and still have a free hand to shift, he smiled when I asked him who did the steering, A few weeks later I let him go for a drive (him driving) and he drove it home to surprise his wife and she said,,,"but the shifter is on the wrong side" to see that old guy smile while he drove was priceless,,,,Peace,,,Moosie

 

Owned this back in 1967 or so...three on the tree...shifted like crap till I replaced those teeny weeny shift linkage bushings..



Rich

 

My gosh, am I really that old (54)?

When I got the 72 I had my son and sons-in-law looking at the car. I told them they couldn't drive it until they knew where the high beam dimmer switch was. They had to look it up; they had no clue where it was. One of them still can't drive it because he's never driven a stick and I won't let him learn on my corvette.

 

You guys sure know how to make a fellow feel old!!. .... I was just a young squirt when I tried a 3-on-the-tree...Still remember that non syncro 1st gear.... The sound of gears grinding is right up there with scraping chaulk on a blackboard... Sends a chill down your spine.

 

from back in the day

 

Weirdest thing I ever drove car wise was a Mercedes Diesel with a four speed manual transmission , column shift , it was my Uncles that my Dad and I would monkey with the fuel , adding and then subtracting fuel when the Uncle was checking his mileage As I remember I couldnt at first get it started because I didnt know which lever or button worked the glow plugs,,,Peace,,,Moosie

 

this post brings a smile to my face. I had a young lady (just a friend) in my old 67 ford truck. When I shifted,her eyes poped out of her head and ask..."How old is this truck?". Also,the smile is there from remembering back when we were at the drags. Man a guy ended up with a sore hand from hitting the dash or windshield when power shifting,or trying to. The only thing I really hated about "3 on the tree",was replacing (numerous times) the shifter housing cause where the locater pin for the shifter arm hole,would wallow out.

 

I bought the turkey for $300 bucks just to haul bricks from Tecate,Mexico for a patio at our home...300 bricks put rear fenders down on tires...so we put Caddy front coil springs between rear axle and bed....rode great with a load..but empty,like a tank...we lifted bed with a forklift,and stuck those springs in there...
I called them my "Baja Highjackers"...

Rich

 

That the same truck in every which way but loose as I recall

Right turn clyde

 

Dunno...but the folks here sure liked it...!!

 

My dad had a brand new 58 Belair 283 with a three on the tree.That thing would always get hung up on the 1st to 2nd shift.You had to crawl under the car and fool with the linkage to get it to work again.

 

How does a 3 on the tree with overdrive work? Never driven one, but I have driven a regular 3 on the tree many times. My 70 pickup came that way, but was converted to floor shift before I got it. I'm hoping I never get confused in the truck putting it in reverse which is the same place as first in the Vette. I've never had that problem so far I guess because it's a completely differnt seating position, so I hope I never do.

 

[QUOTE=brdd;1558924019]When I got the 72 I had my son and sons-in-law looking at the car. I told them they couldn't drive it until they knew where the high beam dimmer switch was. They had to look it up; they had no clue where it was. QUOTE]

A kid from church was showing me a Pontiac Sunbird someone gave him. He was very proud of it. He asked me if I knew where the dimmer switch was. I showed him the button on the floor.

He looked at me and said "COOOOL....You can dim the lights with your foot?????" I couldn't help but laugh. He thought that was something new. I guess to him and his generation it is.

 

77/350 - The high beam switch on the floor. I was playing with the carpeting in my 77 and found it still had the switch on the floor. Did some checking and discovered 1977 was the last year for the floor switch and/or the first for the column switch in corvettes. Mine still has both. In case I have a brain fart and forget the column switch I can always thump it with my left foot.
chuck

 

had a 61 ford fairlane,3 0n the tree,that had overdrive. Twas a pull **** on the dash. Cant remember how many times that thing was replaced,cause I could never remember if it had to be pulled with foot on or off the gas or when to push it back in.

 

You're older than me.

Teach that kid to drive in that Corvette; the memories will last forever.

I taught my sister to drive a 4 speed with my '67 427 coupe. My future BIL and I were teaching her and it was really nasty to drive with that clutch. She was having a terrible time to get it to go. We kept telling her to push on the gas some as she let out the clutch. Finally, she pushed harder on the gas than we expected and I swear that car jumped off the ground! Of course, she panicked, hit the brakes, and stalled it, so it wouldn't restart, leaving us stuck in the middle of the road. We had to push start it to get it going.

After that, she never had a problem with any 4 speed she ever drove.

And more than 30 years later, we still remember every detail of that ride.

I taught my baby brother in my '68. We took it about 50 miles that day and he did great after a shaky start. That 427 had enough torque that mistakes like 3rd take offs were only awkwardly embarrassing.

Three on the tree, I miss those. My list of those I drove: My dad's '52 Plymouth, grandpa's 58 wagon, my other grandpa's '67 AMC Rebel, a '54 International Carryall, my dad's '60 Ford pickup, '64 Econoline at the radio station WCDR, several work trucks at a truck company during high school.