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[Tigers] Shifter lever length

To: wwwdg@webtv.net
Subject: [Tigers] Shifter lever length
From: "rande" <rande@thecia.net>
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2010 21:08:35 -0400
"I believe the shift lever part numbers in the Tiger parts book might
be for the "Cobra Style" short shifter (or not) (drawing shown in the
Tiger book is the short shifter), Part number 6100016 (C4JZ-7202-A) LHD
was Superseded by 6100663 (C4JZ-7202-C) RHD, don't know why LHD & RHD
would be different. Also these numbers were for the complete lever with
the knob, boot and chrome ring."

David, I have two parts catalogues. In the January 1965 Tiger supplement, there
are two distinct part numbers depending upon whether the car was LHD or RHD
and they don't supersede. In the January 1968 catalogue, as you noted, they
are both listed as the same numbers, and the LHD part numbers supersede to the
RHD part number.

This is just my guess, but I read that owners with the early(shorter) shifter
lever complained that they had difficulty reaching over the console to shift
accurately. Owing to the fact that the shifter hole on the tunnel is skewed
to the left(I think on all Tigers), and all of the Tiger toploader shifters(the
part below the lever) are also on the left side of the case, it was really going
to be a stretch for drivers of RHD cars to make shifts. Rootes probably reasoned
that they would try to placate the LHD short shifter owners  with the part used
on the home market(RHD) car. I looked at the R&T road test of the Tiger Mk 1
(Nov.1964) and even they wrote that "some drivers might prefer to add an inch
or two extension on this handle, as the knob is slightly lower than the top
of the central map box, and reaching over it without dragging the wrist takes
a bit of practice..." In the picture of the interior, the shifter lever is the
short version with the concave knob.

The thing that's a bit amazing is that by January 1965, six months after owners
first starting taking delivery of Tigers in the States, they hadn't made the
supersession to the longer lever for LHD cars, though they already knew that
the RHD cars would need a longer lever.
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