I thought the ratchet shift set-up on my 73 RR with the T-style console shifter was actually pretty decent. The noise, quality and ability to store anything was poor, but the mechanism itself was decent enough.
That's the Slap Stik gate to which I was referring that needs to be transplanted into the '66-'70 junk. It's a positive-stop shifter--it's
not a ratchet shifter. Ratchet shifters, such as B&M's QuickSilver and MegaShifter, pop back to the same position every time you shift. Pull it back with the lockout disengaged (on the QuickSilver you lift on the knob, if memory serves, and on the MegaShifter you lift the "brass knuckles") and it moves the transmission and the needle back to "1". When you shift, the lever moves forward taking the transmission and indicator needle with it, then it
pops back to exactly where it was. It ratchets. The factory Slap Stik does not do that. It moves forward a position and locks there until you release forward pressure, then will move forward only, one gear only... and stays in that gear.
I fucking
detest ratchet shifters. I don't like shit not staying where I put it, and I hate even worse having to look down at the unlit, junky-looking shitbird indicator to know what gear I'm in when stopped. My buddy had a QuickSilver in his '69 'Cuda and it felt junky despite being brand new. The only aftermarket auto shifter I've driven that I liked was the Hurst Quarter Stick I had in my Cordoba, and even that was a pain in the ass because you needed to squeeze and release the lockout lever repeatedly to move it all the way through the gate, and I think you had to hold it for 1-2 and release it for 2-3. Still, it stayed moved when you moved it, and the stops were like a brick wall. Hurst is now owned by B&M, so no doubt you're just getting a Pro Stick with Hurst stamped on it now (the current one doesn't look like my 1993 unit). Operation is the same, but the quality is lower; when I had mine a friend had a Pro Stick that was much flimsier. Par for the course for B&M.
I think the Z-Gate is a non-ratchet, positive-stop shifter a la Slap Stik. I know it was always B&M's least-expensive NHRA-approved shifter, and I considered one at one point (for what, I can't remember) but the chintzy feel of that more-expensive QuickSilver kept me away.
Other than the crappy feel of the A- and B-body (through '70) console shifters, the button is in the
worst possible location. Because of it, to push the button you have to position and move your hand like you're artificially inseminating livestock. It's fucking awkward. You can't properly grasp it like a floor shifter should be. That was also a problem with the '70 "hideous walnut knob" E-body Slap Stik. That knob was on everything in '70, and resurfaced on late-production E-bodies and some '74 B-bodies when Chrysler was throwing all the leftovers at 'em. "Hey, we've still got a bunch of those ghastly, semi-useless '70 Challenger shifters lying around... we should really use those up." :doh:
I got the impression he thought beating the shifter made him look cool. It didn't; in fact the effect was quite the opposite.
