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Can anyone identify this shifter? The top is identical to several others I have but the bottom is quite different.

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'54 with Gear Start Ultramatic.

Do you have a Gear Start? A friend of mine is searching for one.

I have a Gearstart that I got decades ago to rebuild and put into my Patrician but didn’t know I also had the shifter for it. I do not have any of the other linkage though, as far as I know, but it could be there on the shelf where this was. How can it be identified? I remember getting the shift indicator too which I’ve not been able to locate.

Since I’m working on the Patrician again and will soon be taking off the body from the chassis, this might be the time to find who rebuilds them and get it done, then find whatever else I need.

If anyone has any of these parts, please let me know and for the shift indicator, even a loan would be great so that I could replicate a few.

Coincidentally, in preparation for the next round of spray-foam insulation, I had to move all the transmissions and was surprised by how totally different the Gearstart is. Trying to roll it on the dolly, it seemed considerable lighter.

Also stored with it was the throttle linkage which I presume is specific to the Gearstart. Is that so and is this it?

And finally, who rebuilds the Gearstart these days?

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Since there seems to be an interest, here is another Gearstart shot and one of a standard Ultramatic. Other than the dipstick, the most obvious difference is that the Gearstart doesn’t have the governor cover on the side.

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Here is the Gearstart torque converter and I was surprised to find the carb to transmission rod today! It’s much the same size as earlier ones but much lighter. I don’t know if the shift rod is different or not but wouldn’t be surprised if I had that too!

Sadly, the plastic indicator which I know I had seems to have vanished. In fact, the Packard parts book shows two different ones but I’m presuming that the difference is only color.

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Wonder of wonders but I believe this is the Gearstart shift linkage! When I moved my shop from California to Oregon 13 or 14 rears ago, I hadn’t worked on my cars for decades so didn’t notice it but now I noticed its differences right away. Quite a bit different geometry than the earlier type.

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Is the throttle rod in post #6 damaged? There is no mention of any different shape for the gear start in SC Vol 29 # 4 where they give the measurements for the various rods. Does the length check out?

It does not appear to be damaged but admittedly it was a hurried photo as I’m on a deadline to get the second quarter of the shop prepared for insulation. I suspect the photo itself is to blame but, of course, I’m not sure.

It appears that the Gearstart parts that I have are from a junior model of some sort as the flange is smaller on the back than it is on a couple used driveshafts I have. They are from e1951 and 1952 models but I presume that they were the same for 1954.

Are any internal components different between junior and senior?