If you're of a certain age, you probably remember shifting gears with a big stick on the side of your steering wheel. From the 1950's up until the early 90s, they were nearly ubiquitous on American made cars. Then they just sort of vanished.
So what happened?
Steering column mounted shifters first started appearing in the post war car boom for a couple of reasons. One was purely for convenience.
Most manual transmission vehicles at the time only had three gears. The gears were laid out in an H patter, with first and reverse being on one side, and second and third on the opposite. Since the latter two were the most common, a driver could change gears without taking their hands off the wheel by just flicking the lever. The newfangled automatic cars simply followed along.
Around the same time, family cars were getting larger. Unlike today, most sedans could seat six people on a pair of bench seats. Three people in the front, and another three in the rear. A floor mounted shifter would get in the way of the front-middle passenger, and vice versa. So it was moved to the steering column, within easy reach of the driver.
Things started to change through the 1970s and 80s with the introduction of foreign cars to the US market. Vehicles from Europe and Japan had comfortable bucket seats, a stylish centre console, and the brand new concept of driver arm rests.
The sporty layout proved a hit with drivers. Suddenly the steering column mounted shifter looked old fashioned and a bit drab. Plus the more complex mechanics involved were hitting automaker's bottom lines. So the lever was instead connected directly to the transmission, mounted in the centre console of the new 5-seaters.
There were a few holdouts of course. Most automatic trucks still feature their gear shift on the steering column, while some cars have race inspired paddle shifters. However, the once popular wheel stick has now disappeared from modern American vehicles. Replaced by newer, arguably worse designs.
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