Originally Posted By: SeaJay
Back when the base transmission in most cars was a manual shift, the switch from a floor shifter to a column shifter was considered to be a nice upgrade.
As I remember, almost all cars had a column shifter back then whether it was automatic or three on the tree. When the Japanese imports started coming in, they had the shifter on the floor/center console. That spurred the change there. The other big change spurred by the Japanese cars was the headlight stalk on the column. American cars had that on the dashboard with the pull knob. Halfway out was the parking lights. All the way out were the headlights. The high beams were controlled by the floor button operated by the foot. Also, the parking/emergency brake handle changed that method from the pull handle under the dash or the foot operated pedal.
So, credit the imports, Japanese and European, for changes in those areas plus others.
Back when the base transmission in most cars was a manual shift, the switch from a floor shifter to a column shifter was considered to be a nice upgrade.
As I remember, almost all cars had a column shifter back then whether it was automatic or three on the tree. When the Japanese imports started coming in, they had the shifter on the floor/center console. That spurred the change there. The other big change spurred by the Japanese cars was the headlight stalk on the column. American cars had that on the dashboard with the pull knob. Halfway out was the parking lights. All the way out were the headlights. The high beams were controlled by the floor button operated by the foot. Also, the parking/emergency brake handle changed that method from the pull handle under the dash or the foot operated pedal.
So, credit the imports, Japanese and European, for changes in those areas plus others.
