To say that there is a correlation between hot rodding and racing is an understatement. But while the comparison between a modern-day Indy car draws very little similarities between a straight-axled highboy, we have to give the Indy cars a nod for the development of many street rod products, both past and present. Take the Firestone Indy tires that graced most of the record-setting Bonneville cars of the past 50 years. The name gives away their lineage. Overhead valve engines could arguably owe their very existence to guys like Joe Jagersberger (the Rajo head), Robert Roof (Laurel Motors 16-valve overhead), and even two of the three Chevrolet brothers, Arthur and Louis, who had their own version of an OHV conversion for the Model T Ford, the Frontenac. During the mid-'20s, cars entering in the Indianapolis 500 equipped with souped-up Model T engines shared the roster with Duesenbergs and Millers, and gave them quite a run for their money. Hopped-up Fords were continuously used throughout the '30s and '40s in all facets of racing-Midget, Indy, and of course, the dry lakes. But what's more important to us as street rodders is not the fact that most speed equipment was developed for racing, but that ingenious hot rodders found ways to use those parts on the street, developing our hobby as we know it today.
Fast-forward almost 100 hundred years and technology derived from racing still pops up in the hot rodding world. Things like torsion bar suspensions, inboard-mounted disc brakes and coilover shocks, IRS setups, and space-tube frames can all be traced back to a racing heritage of some kind. Look under any high-dollar AMBR-contender and you're likely to find some sort of road racing-inspired suspension design.
Since the introduction of electronically controlled transmissions from Detroit, the most popular being GM's 4L60E and 4L80E, as well as Ford's AODE, 4R70W, and E40D, they have been popping up increasingly more often in the street rodding world. And like the days of yore, there is a burgeoning aftermarket for said transmissions. Companies like TCI Automotive, HGM Automotive, Baumann Electronic Controls, and Powertrain Control Solutions have been manufacturing computers and harnesses to retrofit these trannys in older cars for almost 10 years. One of the neatest things about these electronic transmissions is the ability to more precisely control the shift points with standard hydramatic-style trannys. Since the new electronic transmissions control the shift points via a computer communicating the information to shift solenoids inside the transmission, it's no longer necessary to drop the pan and manually alter the transmission. Everything can be done from the inside of the car via a laptop. While the technology may be for the more techno-savvy, the programs provided by the aftermarket computer suppliers usually suffice just fine for the average street rodder.
Not only can most aftermarket computers program the shift points to user-specified configurations, they can also be controlled manually via an external controller. This ability to up- and downshift the trans manually is generically referred to as "manumatic" shifting. Basically, all it is is a device that tells the computer which signal to send when the car is in Drive, shift-up, or shift-down. From here it can be a floor shifter of some kind, a pair of buttons perhaps mounted on the steering wheel or center column, or as these two new products suggests, F-1-style race-inspired paddle shifters.
Paddle shifters have been used in everything from off-road racing to Formula 1 and the technology is not necessarily new. What's new is the availability for easy adaptation to your street rod. We'll take a look at two different paddle shifters-one version from Twist Machine called the Shrifter and another from Retrotek. While they both really shine when coupled with an electronic transmission, Retrotek's version also works with their Smart Shifter (see SRM, August '05), enabling all those rodders with non-electronic transmissions to enjoy the same features. Check out the two products and see if there is a paddle shifter in your future.