There are many forums out there that are often asked this question. What is best to drive; stick or auto. The simple answer is ‘personal preference’. We have many people come in asking for the auto to be swapped out for a modern box even the latest six speed boxes. Then on the other hand we have had many three speed stick swapped out to a traditional C4 auto. Some cars will drive better with a stick and some with auto. In fact as far as we are concerned there is no right or wrong. We have one such case for our Park & Pic where the manual was swapped out for a more modern ‘clever’ auto box.

Park & Pic

Lance’s ’69 is a great looking car and a very fitting tribute to the Boss 460.

The Aladdin’s cave that is Mustang Manic will take it’s toll on many a wallet, Lance was once of them. He came in with a similar question about the manual gear box and could we make it a little easier to drive while we had his car in for the initial windscreen replacement. We took it for an energetic test drive and everything was exactly as it should be. We gave him the not to unexpected news that it was indeed a good driving car. We offered him the opportunity to take out one of our big block auto’s out to see what he thought. As a result of that test drive the car was booked in a few days later for some extra work.

Lance eventually left with a new automatic gearbox, high anti stall torque converter, limited slip Powermax diff system, oil trans cooler and a few shiny bolts here and there, oh and not forgetting the windscreen to see where he was aiming his ride.

Recently his car came back into us as we had his special order centre console waiting for him. The car is completed (for now) and we have yet another happy customer, who loves the automatic gearbox and the more sedate driving experience, but he did say “It has the capability to bite you if your not careful, just how how I like it. A really good choice to swap over to auto.”

A seriously nice looking upgrade and looks like it should be there.

Customer Cars

A twist on the automatic gear box is the overdrive gearbox which gives you an extra higher gear for effortless cruising which is another very common upgrade for us to fit.

However, there is a another gem of a gearbox out there called Gear Vendors (GV). We have featured this before fitted in Yogi’s ’69. The gearbox is technically an ‘auxiliary’ as GV like to call it. Not only does the GV have overdrive up for each gear, it also has underdrive. The underdrive is a very useful weapon when nailing it from the lights, leaving a long line of 11’s down the road. Only applicable at the drag strip of coarse. 😉

Our Right Hand Drive Rudd speed car has had one of these gearboxes fitted.

We need to remove the back of the gearbox housing in order to fit the new parts. Then we send the prop away to be shortened in order to fit the new gearbox parts.

The new tail housing in place.

There are a few bits that need to be feed into the car in order for the GV to work correctly and sometimes that is the longest part of the job, depending if there is a console in place or not.

With everything in place, the extra GV is subtle but will give you 25% fuel efficiency due to the gearing and the constantly monitored gear is indeed the correct gear for the driving style.

No mods for the exhaust or gearbox bracket, it just bolt straight into place. Not a cheap hobby for this upgrade, but the benefits are well worth it. Just ask Yogi!

Stay Safe & Take Care