Original Series IV wood gear shifter knob?

[rayodesolalpino]

I have a 1965 Series IV. The PO was notorious for “improvising” items they could not scrounge. I was wondering if my shift knob is original. It looks suspicious. Could someone please confirm?

Also, if not original…is anyone willing to part with an original wood shift knob?

Thank you,
Bryan

 

[John W]

My Series V came with a knob exactly like that one. I replaced it with an original black knob (smaller, lighter) that I like much better (hard to beat the original Alpine design, on just about everything). Wonder if ANY Alpines (GT ?) came with wooden shift knobs.

 

[ernestovumbles]

My 63 SIII came to me with the black plastic and I changed to wood this year..

No idea what was original, but I like the wood.

 

[sunalp]

That's an aftermarket shift knob. Alpines never had them from the factory. As a matter of fact I can't remember
any British sports car that did. Is your SIV early or late? They put the full synchro gearbox in with the SIVa ( later
cars) The early ones had the non synchro 1st gear. They had different shift patterns, so the shift knobs would be different.
Hope that helped.

 

[puff4]

As Sunalp noted, this is an aftermarket knob, and they are quite common, even now, though no longer available new. They were marketed by a number of vendors, but most were made by accessory maker Amco. They came in either wood (walnut) or black leather, and there were a variety of emblems representing many manufacturers. On the Alpine ones, some came with the wide yellow band, like yours, and others had a narrow yellow band. I have one in my Alpine as well, but with the leather covering.

 

[rayodesolalpino]

That's an aftermarket shift knob. Alpines never had them from the factory. As a matter of fact I can't remember
any British sports car that did. Is your SIV early or late? They put the full synchro gearbox in with the SIVa ( later
cars) The early ones had the non synchro 1st gear. They had different shift patterns, so the shift knobs would be different.
Hope that helped.

Thank you for the info and clarification on shifter knobs. I have a late Series IV with synchro gearbox.

 

[alpine_64]

As mentioned above the alpines all had platsic/ bakerlite shift knobs.

The early cars had a sort of mushroom shaped one, the later cars a more teardrop shaped one.

All were black with a white engraved shift pattern.

AMCO did most of the aftermarket dress up items and offered lots of sunbeam stuff.

They did various shift knobs, light coloured satin finish like yours. Deep walnut polished, leather and also onyx amd a polished metal one ( that weigh a ton! )

Sunbeam specialties and classic sunbeam used to stock them.. So if you want a new one a good place to start.

I bought a couple of NOS ones back in the early 2000s but never ended up fitting them as i liked the feel of the spherical ferrari style one i had on my car with a hillman shifter lever that's more upright and not laid back like the alpine ones

 

[puff4]

Yeah the all metal ones did weigh a ton - I have one for a big Healey - and they were notorious for ruining gearboxes where the shift lever was angled towards level (big Healey’s, Spitfires, Alpines, etc.). The weight of the knob kept steady downforce pressure on the shift lever when in top gear, causing premature wear on the shifting forks.

 

[Silver Creek Sunbeam]

Yeah the all metal ones did weigh a ton - I have one for a big Healey - and they were notorious for ruining gearboxes where the shift lever was angled towards level (big Healey’s, Spitfires, Alpines, etc.). The weight of the knob kept steady downforce pressure on the shift lever when in top gear, causing premature wear on the shifting forks.

Wow…didn’t know that. I bought the only one I’ve ever seen personally about a minute and a half after it was listed on eBay (saved search I get emails on).
Mine is basically a chrome type finish.

 

[alpine_64]

Wow…didn’t know that. I bought the only one I’ve ever seen personally about a minute and a half after it was listed on eBay (saved search I get emails on).
Mine is basically a chrome type finish.

That would be the one... Probably best to keep it a display shelf item.

 

[rayodesolalpino]

Thank you to all for the insight and education on Alpine shifter knobs. Very helpful. Much appreciated.

 

[RootesRooter]

Yeah the all metal ones did weigh a ton - I have one for a big Healey - and they were notorious for ruining gearboxes where the shift lever was angled towards level (big Healey’s, Spitfires, Alpines, etc.). The weight of the knob kept steady downforce pressure on the shift lever when in top gear, causing premature wear on the shifting forks.

I used to rest my hand on the shift knob on freeway trips. Then I started having the problem with popping out of third gear. A NOS shift fork from an Arrow Range car solved it. I had a suspicion that resting my hand on the knob might have been responsible but I've never found any backup for that theory - until now.

 

[puff4]

I used to rest my hand on the shift knob on freeway trips. Then I started having the problem with popping out of third gear. A NOS shift fork from an Arrow Range car solved it. I had a suspicion that resting my hand on the knob might have been responsible but I've never found any backup for that theory - until now.

Yeah, I've rebuilt enough gearboxes that every time I see someone resting their hand on the gear lever it makes me cringe and want to yell "Stop It!"

(Or resting their foot on the clutch pedal, too for that matter!)

 

[RootesRooter]

A friend of mine recently replaced the throwout bearing on his Hillman Husky for the first time. Afterwards I spotted him riding the clutch at stops and mentioned it. He told me he had always depressed the clutch in the Husky while idling - for the last 40+ YEARS. There's a few 95-year-old lifelong smokers out there, too.

Yeah, I've rebuilt enough gearboxes that every time I see someone resting their hand on the gear lever it makes me cringe and want to yell "Stop It!"

(Or resting their foot on the clutch pedal, too for that matter!)

 

[Warren]

Plus one on AMCO aftermarket.
Seen some in the box. In the US sold by was it MG mitten, BAP Geon. Seems a little hard to believe on the resting of the arm on the shifter. I get it on resting foot on clutch or brake.
Maybe y'all need a top loader

 

[Acollin]

Just another aftermarket shift knob- a little different with a narrower yellow band. There must be a ton of them out there. My series v came with the teardrop bakelite on it and this in a “bits” box.

 

[todd reid]

At the risk of stating the obvious the inserts can be swapped, so if you find a knob with a good Alpine insert you might want to grab it. One of my personal pet peeves is when the wood on the steering wheel, dash, and shift knob all look different. I spent a couple years messing around to get mine where I wanted them. I ended up starting with a "blonde" knob from a late model Jag and a "blonde" aftermarket wood steering wheel and staining them (with different stains because they were different woods) to get them to match.

 

[chryslerwagon]

I have the wood knob just like that. I bought it aftermarket in 1963 for my Series I and it now resides on my Series V some 60 years later

 

[Richard Fritz]

It looks like you beat the shift knob topic to death. We agree that the factory original knobs we're black Bakelite with white shift patterns depending on the synchro'd first gear.
What's not addressed is the threads on the knob. These vary wildly, check the thread pattern of your shifter before you buy someone's 'rare' dress-up knob. I got screwed when I bought a cool leather wrapped Alpine knob for my 7/16 x 24 shifter that was tapped for a 1/2 x 20 shifter. Check that it will fit. I had to have an adapter made.

 

[Jay Laifman]

Personally, I love the stock full synchro box knob. It just fits so well with the thin shift lever. I feel like these leather and big wood options are way oversized for the look. Of course, your opinion may vary.