| When I was in high school my first car was a 1955 Ford! I sure wish I still had it now or could buy one for what I paid then, $35.00! (I probably forgot to take my Paxil again, huh!) What finally happened to it will be the thesis of another missive. For now, I will relate another amusing anecdote in the past ongoing saga of our "kid years". The car I had was a stick shift since in those days an automatic was considered "uncool" and unmanly. Furthermore, just having a stick shift wasn't even enough; you had to have a floor shifter to qualify for the ultimate Nirvana of "Super Cool"! My car had a stick shift, of course, but it was on the column and in order to be in the category of "Super Cool", I knew I would have to get a "conversion system" to move the shifter to the floor. I finally found a used Foxcraft floor shifter conversion kit from "some kid". I asked if it would work in a Ford and he said, "No problem since it's a "universal" kit. I hurried home with the "kit" while having visions of installing it in no time and finally making it to "Super Cool" status! The biggest obstacle was making a hole through the floorboard over the "tranny hump" to install it. Not being one to be concerned about any esthetic details in ANYTHING I ever did, I mainly used a hatchet and hammer to make the opening over the "hump". I cut 3 sides and pried the piece up. It stayed that way for the rest of the life of the car. It was really chilly in the winter since I didn't bother to measure the opening where the "Boot" would rest, resulting in a BIG gap that let in cold air and exhaust fumes, etc. I was too busy thinking about "Super Cool" to worry about small details like that! The kit was easy enough to install and the final thing was to take a hacksaw and cut the old shifter arm from the steering column. When I first started the car, while making sure it was in "neutral", and for the first time driving with a FLOOR SHIFTER, my excitement was reaching ultra levels! I don't know how I did it, but after finally figuring out where each gear was, I found that the entire shifting pattern was EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of the way it should have been! Hey, that's "SOP" for me since most people say that I could foul up a train wreck! 1st gear was where reverse should have been and 2nd gear was where 3rd should be and vica versa... Again, I didn't let a small detail like that interfere with my "Super Cool" status since it had a unique shift pattern, I figured I was not only "Super Cool" but different too! (Alas... the story of my life)! |
