Column gear shift on manual transmission

[hairnet]

2 hours ago, D.E said:

Rare option on the W123 W124:

this made me wtf

uncle dave had midi and being a builder coming from mk1 bedford astravan wonder what made that decision

 

[ChinaTom]

7 hours ago, Missy Charm said:

Someone will know the actual answer, but I suspect the last car to be fitted with a manual column change was the Nissan Cedric Japanese taxi.  The taxi  was based on the 1987-debuting Nissan Cedric private car and remained in production until, unbelievably, 2015!  It was sold only to commercial clients, of course, and was equipped with various oddities to suit the Japanese taxi driver - including, until some point in the production run, a column-change manual gearbox:

 

Quite when that feature was dropped I don't know, but other things about that photo suggest it's a fairly recent car.  The radio is certainly nineties, if not early 2000s.  

Toyota's Crown Comfort taxi seems to have gone over to floor change for the manual somewhat earlier than the Nissan, so perhaps doesn't count.  

Still plenty of Crown taxis with column manuals from the 1990s biffing around Hongkong.

[Weird Car]

Bedford midi had an optional CGC, I’m not sure if it lasted right till the end of production or just on the earlier vans though 

[Dyslexic Viking]

9 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Ahem, count the pedals: this car has a Gentleman's Gearbox.  Which means I would be very happy with it.  I love having the shift on the column, as long as all I have to do is pull it from P to D.

Yes, it was a small mistake on my part, I forgot to count the pedals on that.

And I don't like automatic gearboxes, it takes away all the joy of driving and can make the most interesting car boring.

But we are all different and we like what we like.

[fatmanblue]

1 hour ago, Weird Car said:

Bedford midi had an optional CGC, I’m not sure if it lasted right till the end of production or just on the earlier vans though 

We had a Midi at work, with an incredibly vague and baulky floor change. The added vagueness of column change must have been really something.

* Or, just possibly, something was wrong with ours. Given that the steering wheel appeared to be joined to the wheels by an elastic band, quite likely in fact.

[adw1977]

Early Renault 5s had column change.  Unusual in a supermini!

[Volksy]

9 minutes ago, adw1977 said:

Early Renault 5s had column change.  Unusual in a supermini!

More a dash change, as it was a carry over from the 4/6. 

[Dobloseven]

Would have thought a column change would make a bench seat and three abreast seating possible.With seatbelt regulations, it'd become redundant.Be harder too,to engineer forLHD and RHD. Remember right hand gear levers as well?And hand brakes.

[red5]

Mitsubishi L200 easrly and L300 at least mid 90's.

[eddyramrod]

1 hour ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

Yes, it was a small mistake on my part, I forgot to count the pedals on that.

And I don't like automatic gearboxes, it takes away all the joy of driving and can make the most interesting car boring.

But we are all different and we like what we like.

I've given you an "Agree" there, for the first and third lines.  I cannot agree less with the second line, but your third is absolutely correct.  Vive la Difference!

[Shandylegs]

3 hours ago, Weird Car said:

Bedford midi had an optional CGC, I’m not sure if it lasted right till the end of production or just on the earlier vans though 

I briefly had a petrol one as a works van in the late 80’s early 90’s. Was well pissed at the time when given it as everyone else in the company had decent cars. 

In the end I really liked it. Unloaded, cornering in second gear was usually done on throttle alone 🤣. Also loved the column change, it worked really well.

[Daviemck2006]

4 hours ago, Weird Car said:

Bedford midi had an optional CGC, I’m not sure if it lasted right till the end of production or just on the earlier vans though 

We had a 1986 D plate Midi 9 seat minivan for our boats crew bus with a column change. It wasn't a bad thing to drive, but after the cf 2.3 it replaced was a pile of shite. It only lasted 5 years before it was cutting out everywhere, and disintegrated into a pile of rust then replaced with a vw caravelle. 

[MorrisItalSLX]

In Australian motoring, the column shift manual died in 1984 with the Holden WB commercials and in 1993 with the Ford XF Falcon commercials.

[horriblemercedes]

W124 column change manuals were pretty common. I saw plenty of them when they were new. 

 

It was primarily used for taxi models and they were popular in that specification as taxis. 

 

Just to add - I believe that only left hand drive W124s were available with column shift 

[Talbot]

17 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

I love column gear shift on a manual transmission and this is one of those things that should never have gone away.

I know that the 1st generation Fiat/Citroen/Peugeot/Talbot vans had this, which was probably the last in Europe?

15 hours ago, Lacquer Peel said:

LHD only.  RHD had a (terrible) floor change.  In production to 1994.

[barefoot]

I've only experienced a column change on the '89 Trabbi that I owned. Although I appreciate that the cogs & dogs that I was shuffling around were very small, it was lighter than a featherlight thing and I made a point of shifting using just my little finger.

[Rocket88]

5 speed column change….

[dozeydustman]

23 hours ago, EspenO said:

Toyota HiAce up until 1982 at least.  

Up to 1989/90. I drove an ‘88 Hiace when I worked at Brands Hatch which was a 5-speed column shift.

It was like this one but snot green.

I think the column shift carried on in Asian market Hiaces for a few years after.

Bedford/Vauxhall Midi was certainly column shift until very late in production. Column shifters had a better action than floor.

[Talbot]

20 hours ago, Rocket88 said:

5 speed column change….

Same vehicle as Laquer Peel mentioned and I commented on above.  Fiat Ducato, Citroen C25, Peugeot J5 and Talbot Express from 1982 to 1994 are *essentially* the same vehicle.

[808 Estate]

Audi Super 90.

My very first car at 16. Mine was left hand drive as well, which added to the confusion. The fablon covered steel dashboard was a work of art though.

[Rod/b]

On 28/02/2024 at 09:42, Weird Car said:

Bedford midi had an optional CGC, I’m not sure if it lasted right till the end of production or just on the earlier vans though 

“My” J plate Midi certainly didn’t have a column change. It did have an umbrella handle handbrake though.

[808 Estate]

Didnt the early Honda CRVs have column change?