"Three on the tree"

[Marshwheeling]

The first cars I drove were a Jeep on a neighbor's farm that had three on the floor, then a buddy's dad's Karmann Ghia that we would roll down the driveway in the middle of the night. That was a four-speed. A kid in my high school car pool drove a Lark VIII that had three on the tree. I drove that a few times as well as another buddy's Falcon.

My stepfather had a Benz 220S with four on the column. That was a sweet car. I got to drive it to Florida and back on a family vacation. The first car I owned was a '57 MGA, 4-speed.

 

[Muley Gil]

I learned to drive in a '65 Chevy Impala, straight six with a three on the tree. My first pick-up was a '66 Chevy C10, 283 w/ a three on the tree. It used to hang up on me until I had an oldtime mechanic work on it.

I later had a '75 Dodge P/U with the three on a tree. 318 V8 and it also had an eight track player. It would hang up BAD while shifting.

I have driven a '51 Buick Special with the 263 straight eight and a three on the tree. Also another friend's Chevy van, six and the 3 on the tree,
and even a '48 Dodge with a three on the tree. The Dodge had a torque converter. You could put it in third gear, dump the clutch and it would craaaawl away. Even slower than my '52 Buick Super with the straight eight and DynaFlow tranny.

 

[gdnagle]

First to drive was a 50 Ford convertible, 3 on the tree. IIRC you turned the key on then pushed a button on the dash to start. My first was a 63 Galaxie 500 XL 4 door auto on the floor. First real car 65 Mustang 289 4v 2+2 4 on the floor had that car till it rusted away. At the time It was cheaper to buy another then fix it, then they got popular. Come to think of it everything but one vehicle had floor shifters except the little ladies Buick Rendezvous and all but the mustang for awhile had bucket seats.

 

[snowman]

My Dad always wanted me to learn to do things early -before I was really ready. So one evening when I was NINE he had me drive the family car home from one of the fields. It was a '59 Ford wagon, six cylinder, standard trans. After that, when I was 14, he had me run an errand to the grocery store in town with one of his pickups(think maybe an early '60s Ford F100), also with 3 on the tree. On that trip I blew a brake line just as I was pulling into the parking lot of the store, and had the presence of mind to put it in high gear, dump the clutch and kill the engine just in time to avoid hitting the store owner's LTD. After I had my license he bought a '66 F100, with a 352 and, again, 3 on the tree. Then my first car was a '64 Galaxie 500, 289, 3 on the tree w/overdrive(which didn't work -mileage was terrible).

So I scarcely knew what an automatic was until I got to college and drove a Plymouth Duster with a slant 6 and auto.

Regards,
Andy

 

[Arik]

I was always curious about those. Is it comfortable? Doesn't sound like it

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[P&R Fan]

In January of 1965 my Mom was pregnant with me. My Grampa bought a new Ford F-100. Three on the tree, posi, heavy duty springs and shocks and the 352 Truck engine. When he died my Dad got it. When he died I got it. Still have it. It only has about 54,000 miles on it. Haven't driven it for a while because it needs king pins. After I fix those I'll be able to hook up a chain and pull stumps.
BIG stumps.

Jim

 

[arjay]

Learned to drive with my dads 67 Chevy van 3 on the tree.I upgraded to a 51 ford PU with 4 on the floor double clutching through the gears [emoji4]

 

[whitestang]

My first car was a 61 Chevy Nomad wagon. My second was a 63 Fairlane 2 door with a 170 six and a three on the tree. I learned to drive a three on the tree as my dad had a Ford F100 with a three on the tree.

 

[shouldazagged]

To this day I prefer a manual transmission, and mostly have driven them, but now bad knees and feet make me look wistfully at automatics sometimes.

I once owned a 1959 Simca (French car imported by Dodge) that had four on the column. Kind of different in other ways too.

 

[Marshwheeling]

I once owned a 1859 Simca (French car imported by Dodge) that had four on the column. Kind of different in other ways too.

And they say the Citroen was ahead of its time...

 

[skeetshooter]

47 Chev business mans coupe,,I was 16 (1952)

 

[Frank46]

I had driven my buddies chevy nova to get some real world experience in driving. My first car was a '74 dodge ex taxi cab I bought off my brother. That lasted a year before it was stolen. Then came the 70 dodge dart with the 318 last year dodge made high compression engines. That car was fast as the tune ups were done locally by a man who did race cars on the week end. Frank

 

[captorquewrench]

My father and my grandpa (mom's side) and uncles all had various pickups with 3 on the tree. Mostly F150s, mostly I remember dad's gray one (too young too drive it) and grandpa's blue one, that my sister and I had taken out some. I worked to the floor while she steered. Amazingly no disasters.

I drove the hippie bus, a 1970 VW van. It was gray, and we called it the toaster. It had blue and white gingham curtains, did 0 to 60 in about an hour, sounded like a swarm of angry locusts, and experienced completed brake failure on a curvy dirt road on a hill at the lake. Like someone else in this thread, I had presence of mind to stall it out, but that high center of gravity and dirt road...well, we still slid a ways.

That van! Hahaha, the college memories of having the hippie bus.

Except for 2 years in a pontiac grand am (worst decision ever, no lectures please) I've always had a standard transmission. Unfortunately, options are more and more limited with each vehicle purchase. You know you can't even get an F150 with a clutch any more? Blasphemy! But it's the Mr's so my dignity is intact.

 

[BobC357]

Well, I was flying planes 3 years before I was driving but, my first ride was a 62 Mercury Comet. First driving job was driving a dump truck and running a back hoe. The thing about 3 on the tree was there were different shift patterns depending on brand. Reverse wasn't always the same. Three on the Tree today would be a great anti-theft device -- nobody knows how to drive one

 

[captorquewrench]

Three on the Tree today would be a great anti-theft device -- nobody knows how to drive one

That's been true for about 20 years now. Kept my truck from being stolen. http://smith-wessonforum.com/lounge/381830-ughh-thieves.html

 

[Bat Guano]

Bought a nice little '53 Chevy pickup for $495 when I was in the service; 216 c.i., 3 speed. Went places in Montana with it that I shouldn't have and it always brought me back. I could get along nicely today with that little rig...

When I got out of the service I upgraded to a '63 GMC suburban with the 305 c.i. V6 and a 3 speed. After a couple of years the synchros went out in the 3 speed. I went looking for a 4 speed for it and found a SM420 of about 1947 vintage in the weeds in a wrecking yard. Bought it for $65, brought it home, and tore it down, laying all the parts out on the garage floor as I went. Replaced all the bearings and snap rings and painted it up real pretty. Taking the much lighter 3 speed out the bottom of the truck was a snap, but putting in that big 4 speed all by myself was a killer. Being young and stupid I got it in anyway. It was a little noisy, but the combination of the V6, 4 speed, and positraction made for one hell of a capable 2WD.

Maybe if I make it into Heaven one of those trucks will be waiting for me with the key in the ignition. That would be a nice touch.

 

[Cyrano]

I learned to drive on a 1937 Chrysler with three on the floor. My folks always had manual transmissions so when I got my first car, a 1956 VW with 4 on the floor, it was no problem. After that was a Bugatti 57S with a Cotal electric geabox, and after that an Alfa Guiletta with 4 on the floor (all syncromeshed). I'm used to auto transmissions now, but can drive a manual one with no problem.

My greatest challenge with a manual transmisison was with a Bugatti Model 39, a 1.5 liter straight 8 racing car, supercharged, with tank body. It was right hand drive, of course, and the gear lever was operated by your left hand. It was a crash box, no syncromesh, so even shifting up was a challenge, and down was even worse (heel and toe and pray). It was a very hot little car and I managed to get it up through the gears and back down again without leaving gear teeth all over the track. Wish I'd had enough money to buy it; wonder where it is now.

 

[BCDWYO]

I learned to drive on a Rambler station wagon with 3 on the tree.

 

[snake803]

1951 Hillman Minx....4 on the tree... Just outof high school 1961... paid $500.00 for it.....
JIM.............

 

[quneur]

My first experience was a old hunting truck. Don't remember the exact make but it had a utility bed where we stored our guns and equipment. I believe I was 14 when the adults left me alone with the truck while they 'walked' the field. I was told to take the truck and pick them up. First time behind the wheel ever.

Took me 15 mins to get it moving without stalling. So, in first gear, drove it over dirtroads to the pickup point.