1960 Rambler - My Mom's car for a couple of years in the '60s. The front seats reclined all the way, forming a handy bed with the back seat. It was fairly reliable, but quirky. The "3 on the tree" shifter would often hang up shifting from 1st to 2nd, so she'd have to stop, open the hood, free the linkage, close the hood, and get in and try again.


When I was growing up, my Dad had a Vauxhall sedan, model unknown, possibly a Wyvern. I was just old enough to remember replacing it with a Holden Torana. Anyway: Dad had several stories about the Vauxhall, notaby involving the gear linkage, as it was also a column shift. Apparantly it used to "fall down" and to change gear, you first had to "pick up" the linkage, somehow re-engaging the gearbox. However, sometimes that didn't work, and you had to go under the bonnet and reset the linkage from there... He said doing that twice in a few metres in a busy shopping centre convinced him it had to be put out to pasture.

Wade.