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Not to change the subject or anything, but does anybody remember the Ford (cars and trucks) with the manual 3 speed transmission with OVERDRIVE? They had a handle under the dash that you could use to operate the transmission as a regular 3 speed which was a better choice for driving up and down hills; ESPECIALLY with a load. If you were driving a pickup with a heavy load you had little control on hills if you were in overdrive mode because once you started going down hill it was like you were in neutral until or unless you gave it gas which would not help matters in this scenario. I believe the gods of safety outlawed these transmissions in the 70s for issues like this AND the fact that when parked in overdrive mode the only gear that held the vehicle was reverse; the rest were like neutral! Add this factor to that of human nature and you have (and probably had) disasters in the making.
I have a 1965 Ford Custom Cab with this transmission and I learned quickly that you simply must realize the mechanical nature of the "beast" and you will do fine and get to trip people out who don't believe that you have an extra gear that you shift by letting off the gas for a second. If anyone is interested in owning this truck, PM me. I recently put it up for the "s" word. Don't want to get this whole thread moved to another website! LOL! But since things went this direction I figured I could tell an interesting story along with potentially finding someone interested.
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