"Martin Underwood" wrote in message
s.com...

Why was there a trend for column gear change in the late 50s and early
60s?
Previously, cars had had the gear lever on the floor, hadn't they, and
they
soon went back to that afterwards. Shortly after passing my test, I
remember
trying to get the hang of a friend's old Renault 16 (one of the last cars,
I
think, to have a column gear change) and failing miserably: I think the
secret was that you needed to be very slow and deliberate, rather than
going
straight from one gear to the next as you would with a normal gear lever,
because the linkage felt very springy as if there was a lot of slack and
springiness in the cables that actuated it.

My father drove a Hillman Minx in the late 1940s, with a column change. It
was quite easy to operate, as was that in the later Peugeot 404, which had
4th in an extra plane, like today's 5th, and reverse opposite 1st. I fancy
that it was aimed at the export market to North America, where bench seats
and column changes on somewhat larger cars were normal.

Interesting also that in the early 60s (eg Mark 1 Cortina and Mark 2
Anglia)
they went in for very long gear levers, with the pivot point somewhere
under
the dashboard. The amount of travel on the gear level knob must have been
tremendous - or else there was very little angular movement at the pivot.
By
comparison, I can remember how revolutionary the Viva seemed with its tiny
gear lever only about four inches long, pivoted so much further back where
gear levers are now. Similarly you had cars like the Hillman Hunter which
had the 3-foot-long handbrake on the right hand side, between the driver's
seat and the door. All this was *long* before I was old enough to drive,
so
they were just academic curiosities - I never got chance to try any of
them.

One of my colleagues rented a Hillman Minx from Avis, and found, as he went
to release the handbrake, that it was missing. Handed back to Avis very
rapidly and told them in no uncertain manner why they were No.2. (pun
intended). Remote control gear changes were unusual at that time. Maybe
that's why the column change was popular.
--
Terry Harper, Web Co-ordinator, The Omnibus Society
75th Anniversary 2004, see http://www.omnibussoc.org/75th.htm
E-mail:
URL: http://www.terry.harper.btinternet.co.uk/