Puff the Tragic Wagon

You could make a major pile of cash with all of that Mopar stuff at the Jefferson swap meet. Out of 3500 swap venders about 3490 are either mustang or camaro. :(
 
v8440 said:
I have a rebuilt '72 440 here. In fact, it's the turd out of your challenger.
Click to expand...
Oh, you mean my engine and transmission? :D

As I recall, that 440 was included in the original purchase in March of '14, but once we were there I said, "Nah. We'll leave it here. I'm putting a 340 in the car anyhow." It's not like we had room for it, and you went into such great detail about what a dog it was anyhow. I could get an engine from you easily enough; I have the connections. I'm just not really hell-bent enough on a 440 to make it all happen.
 
It looks like the ol' girl's getting a 4-speed. For a while there, I was really digging on the idea of the pushbutton automatic but reality reared its ugly head. While the automatic conversion was by no means difficult, several factors came into play:
  • Though I have a shifter assembly, and cable, I don't have the actual pushbuttons (or dash bezel) for the car. Those will cost me as much, or more, than pedals.
  • I currently own only one automatic and while it's a heavy-duty 727, it's for a small block. The wagon must have a big block.
  • I know of exactly one big-block cable-shift transmission and it's a slip-spline '65, but my ex-wife's cousin owns it...and knows what it's worth. :doh:
  • Any automatic I might obtain is going to need a rebuild, which adds expense.
  • Cable-shift valve bodies are oddballs. More money to modify that than a linkage-style unit.
  • Cable-shift transmissions use a different input spline and pump, so either change the mainshaft & pump or get a custom converter. Ka-ching!
  • Imperial Services makes a kit to convert a later, normal-spline linkage-shift trans to the pushbuttons. $300+, and wait time of a year or more.
  • The Imperial Services kit would allow an overdrive A518, but that requires a $600 adapter kit or a $400+ bellhousing.
Unless we're talking about tools, generally I'm a cheap bastard. Now, considering the 4-speed alternative:
  • I already have more 4-speeds than I can actually use in my lifetime.
  • I already have a big-block aluminum bellhousing for the '70-up 130-tooth flywheel (same as a small block) with a pivot & clutch fork.
  • I already have multiple 130-tooth flywheels.
  • I already have multiple shifters with linkage.
  • My bench is littered with clutch-linkage bits and I've got a few countershafts lying around.
  • I found a set of '61 pedals for $125, from a Plymouth wagon no less. :dance:
So, the choice here seems pretty clear to me. My fleet will remain 100% manual transmission. Worse things have happened to better guys. :D Besides, I've fallen in love with a particular steering wheel, and the same company makes a matching shifter knob for a manual transmission. :dance:

For the time being, I'm going to keep the pushbutton stuff I have got. At some point in the future I may want to use it on a project yet to be determined, and that stuff isn't getting any easier to find. Laugh all you want, but one of the areas where I really felt Chrysler missed the boat was a console-mount pushbutton shift, so maybe someday I'll build one... who knows?
 
Good! I was "row your own" from the start for that thing! I couldn't be more pleased with this decision.
 
meanwhile i have some pushbuttoms and 2 pushbutton BIGBLOCK trans...one was a known good unit with converter from a 65 newport

your right about the push button console...ive always thought the same thing...tho the push button on the wheel was crazily ahead of its time and would fit right in today with the paddle shifters
 
I have pushbuttons as well, but they have to be '61 Plymouth full-size pushbuttons. All the pushbutton arrangements are different, using different buttons and fitting different bezels. I have a set of excellent '62 Dodge pushbuttons that won't fit in my dash no way, no how.

Though your transmission "was a known good unit with its converter", was is a key word here. How long since it was driven daily? It's almost a lock that it needs a rebuild now. Even if you gave me the transmission and delivered it, I'm not willing to spend the money it takes to rebuild that 1-year-only nightmare, either in its original configuration or updated to more-modern internals (but you're absolutely stuck with the '65-only valve body, which is expensive to modify). No, if I were going to go automatic it would be an A518, but barring that I'd wait the year for the Imperial Services conversion kit just to have a transmission that's not packed end-to-end with suck (rear pump, no part-throttle kickdown, etc.)

Pushbuttons in the steering wheel were very cool, but Chrysler never did it to my knowledge. That was an Edsel thing ("TeleTouch Drive"... guaranteed you'll have the wrong number every time. :D )
 
yeah i think it was eddy as well..but something makes me want to say nash may have done it as well?...console shifted push buttons would be very cool..the closest thing i know of is i think fiat had push button on the lowwer dash in the center
 
I think that was maybe on the '64 Chryslers? I'm not sure, but I've seen it as well. It's sort of upright, below the radio, right?

One item that will not make an appearance on my wagon? A Pistol Grip. It would just look totally out of place in the car. I'm not sure which shift handle it will get (meaning the chrome lever) but it will have a round ball for a shifter knob. Remember, this car is actually older than production-line Hurst shifters, and wasn't even available with a floor shift of any sort. Buyers could choose either a column-shift 3-speed or a pushbutton automatic--that was it.
 
You're right, a pistol grip shifter would look totally out of place in a '61, and not in a good way.
 
Well, for one thing it would be the only woodgrain in the interior. That styling trend hadn't started as of '61. :doh:
 
I neglected to mention I scored a set of pedals for the old girl a couple of months back for $100 shipped. :dance:

Damn, my inventory of spare 4-speeds is dropping rapidly. I've only got four backups now that I have three cars that need a transmission. Good problem to have, actually. :D
 
Sweet score on the pedals! I've been eyeing up my C-body pedals for the wagon lately....:shifty:
 
I bought a 440 for it just this afternoon. That came with an automatic, which may become a birdbath or something.
 
doc...i have a yard neer me that "might" have some bits for that thing....and i have ZERO issue going in for a wander..its been years

allamericanclasics.com
 
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