SCORED A GREAT VINTAGE SHIFTER

Forty years old and unused.

All the original paperwork and packaging was intact.

Last night at a quarter to midnight, an ad for a Hurst Competition Plus shifter popped up on Denver Craigslist. It didn't have an e-mail contact so I called this morning just after nine and left a message. Robert called me back. The price seemed fair so I asked him if it included linkages. He said he'd check. When he returned he said that all the linkages were still "in the box" with the shifter. I aksed him if it was in the original box. He said yes and that it had sat on a shelf in his garage unused for about forty years.
I beat a path to his house in Aurora, CO. When I arrived, I was amazed by what I saw. It looked like the the shifter had sat in its box on a shelf for forty years. There was a brochure, instructions, some small parts still sealed in a plastic bag and other than the knob itself looking a tad aged, it was absolutely perfect. The rods and all transmission connectors were intact, as was an unused warranty card. As Robert explained, he had bought the shifter for his 55 Chevy's Muncie 4-speed, which had a 327 in it at the time. Instead of installing the shifter, he subsequently swapped a 454 into the car and never used the 4-speed shifter. I had planned to offer him less than he was asking but when I saw it, I didn't have the heart. Good thing too, because when I handed him the cash, he mentioned that a ton of callers were lined up behind me, but since I called first, he wanted to give me first shot at it. The remainder of February's parts budget is now officially spent, and quite well I might add. Sometimes you just get lucky. 

Even the layout of the brochure feels old school.

Even the packaging is in decent shape.

SLEEVES ROLLED UP, THINKING CAP ON

Got the 29 body back over to Marty's with the Muncie 4-speed and bellhousing for mock-up.

We took a good look at the doors and after discussing the fabrication vs fresh metal decided we may be giving some more love to the folks at Brookville. Definitely need a set of door hinges and doors. We talked some more about the build plan and I showed Marty a Lime Green color reference I liked. We discussed Whitewalls vs. Black sidewalls and we're both liking wide whites. I need to call Hurst Tires and find out if they can make whitewalls all the way to the rim. I'm also going to have to call Brookville to find out the difference between 28 and 29 doors and check a few other prices.  I also need to order a pair of quarter elliptical springs for the rear suspension. As far as the look, we discussed the frame and firewall being white and the engine being light gold or the same green as the body. For the engine, we're leaning towards polished Cal Custom valve covers and a polished Edelbrock 3-2 bbl intake manifold and the Holleys cad plated, chrome linkage and chrome curved scoops topping them off.

We looked at the Aluminum steering box I pulled off of a 64 dodge and discussed the  the cowl steering set-up. There's going to have to be a fair share of fabrication needed to bolster the front cowl area for the cowl steering. We also discussed the importance of putting ass-pans into the floorboards to accomodate my Sasquatchian 6'5" frame. Boy, it feels good to be back moving on this project. More later.