So I had FR change it.
My daughter had bought me a subscription to Sports Illustrated magazine (back before everything was on the net). The cover of the issue on my table was :
Posted on 04/11/2013 4:32:42 PM PDT by rawhide
I should have kept reading before answering!
Nothing to do with the photo but there was a joke in 1960 or so. It asked what is a three time loser?
“A pregnant prostitute driving an Edsel with a Nixon bumper sticker.” My first real girlfriend’s mom had a 58 Edsel in red and white. Her mother let me drive it. That dash was different.
The Big Three all had variations of that aqua color in those days. It was very popular. Manufacturers used to paint everything with it.
Hydraulic fail-safe.
Some of those old guys were pretty bright....
Holy cow! You wreck that bad boy, they’ll just hose off the dash and put a for sale sign in the window!
I can’t believe that I just figured out your handle after seeing it since 2004. Until this moment, I always read it as nas carnation. Duh!
AM radio
For those that can magnify the photo will see it is exactly that. Note it is a automatic transmission, no clutch pedal.
Having seen many of those shifters used on “Stick shift speed shifts””at the drags strip, bend and crease the dash, I will attest to that. Autoshift not so much.
Sometimes they were topped by a pool ball(#8 or cue) or a chrome Scull!
The traffic light gizmos where usually attached upper left on windshield.
So I had FR change it.
My daughter had bought me a subscription to Sports Illustrated magazine (back before everything was on the net). The cover of the issue on my table was :
I used to make a little money when I was in High School (’58-’62) by modifying the valve bodies of Iron Torqueflights for people that towed trailers, so that they could punch the trans into first gear for engine braking at any speed. Normally it wouldn’t do it until you were below 20 MPH.
It made towing in the mountains way safer to be able to outwit the trans.
Wow! I stand humbled.
My Dad had a '54 Mercury -- it's the first car I remember [I was only three, though, so cut me a break on the dashboard thing]. Heh.
I’m totally impressed.
You’ve still got ATF in your veins.
Ref the attached link below, it is funny how in the comments section, people are guessing what the levers are all used for?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cv_dusty/7356708236/
1954 Mercury
I didn’t grow up on a farm, but I sure did pull that hand brake to stop some of the old jalopies I drove as a kid. Man, do I remember that.
Our cars weren’t ergonomic, quiet, smooth riding, sure footed, or anything like the cars of today. Driving a stock late 50s car would blow most kids’ minds today.
You needed the leverage to turn without power steering....
Thanks for the back-story. Maybe one lazy Sunday afternoon, I’ll post a thread asking folks where their handles came from. Oughta be interesting.
Too true. It was a lot harder to steer those old beasts after changing out the factory steering wheels for the smaller models. Fortunately, I was young and very strong at the time.
The iron case torqueflight was governor controlled, and didn’t feed any control pressure to the rear band port if there was any governor pressure. (in motion in other words)
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And the 1964 Torqueflite had front AND rear pumps making it one of the only automatics that you could push start.
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