My car is an original bench seat car with column shifter. I plan on retaining the bench seats but adding a ratchet shifter. The Promatic 2 shifter comes with a longer shifter handle for truck applications. I think it will clear the seat. Has anyone had experience with the Promatic 2?

My goal is to ditch the shifter housing and make a custom Leather boot to cover the shifter to replicate a 4 speed Hurst shifter found in cars with bench seats.

 

I have no experience with that shifter, but your idea might actually work. I'd suggest mocking up a shifter stick and see how it feels before spending the money. I'm thinking you may actually want a bench seat stick from a four speed shifter and modify it to fit the Promatic. Looks like you'd just need to drill a hole and mill a slot. If you go that way, it doesn't make sense to pay extra for the truck Promatic. The only difference is the taller stick, apparently.

 

Joe, that is a good idea. The shifter stick may not be tall enough even with the truck version. I noted on another forum that a member had made a mounting bracket to mount the shifter assembly higher instead of swapping out the shifter stick itself. I was planning on going that route. Not sure if it is mandatory that the shifter assembly be mounted flush with the floor.

The difference between promatic 2 for cars vs. truck is about $30. I think its worth spending the $30 to see if I can make the truck version work.

 

Drag racers frequently mount their AT shifters on brackets to make them easier to reach, so floor mounting is not mandatory. The problem is that jacking up the shifter mechanism defeats your attempt to camouflage it as an MT shifter. Using a taller stick fixes that problem. Either way works.

 

I've always been a fan of the Hurst Indymatic (no longer in production but still available) and B&M Unimatic for bench seats. Mr Gasket makes a version also.


B&M Unimatic

 

These are nice but they are not ratchet shifters from what I understand..

 

Did you ever get the shifter installed and how do you like it? I've reached the point of doing this on my car with a bench seat.

 

Resurrecting an old thread. Just wondering how this turned out. I might be shopping for a ratcheting shifter myself for my bench seat '71 with 200-4r.