Inland shifter guys, talk to me...

[bull]

The poor old Inland has a bad reputation from what I understand. I've heard it called the Guess-a-Gear shifter and I don't have much experience with mine (January '68 Charger with Inland 4spd) since the brakes were shot when I got the car and now it's in pieces getting ready for the paint shop. I did putt around the neighborhood once when I first got the old Charger and did manage to find 2nd gear w/o much trouble. So, are they that bad? I plan on leaving mine in just for the sake of originality because they're so rare in '68s but I wonder if it's going to be a hassle. I like the T-bar reverse lock out feature and I think the knob is cool.

Also, where can you get a lower boot for the Inland? I have an upper boot that the previous owner got from Year One but I couldn't readily find a lower Inland boot in the catalog. And how do you remove the T-bar to get the new boots on, or can you go from the bottom?

One more thing. Can anyone tell me when in '68 Chrysler switched over to Hurst? I doubt anyone has an exact date but I would thin it could be narrowed down to the month.

[694spdRT]

My dad's 1966 Coronet 500 has the Inland shifter. The car has 72,000 on it and the shifter is doing fine. They are not as solid going through the gears but work fine IMO. For your car I am sure it will work fine and be correct like you said.

I have not had to put a boot on one of the inlands but, I would guess it would be difficult to put on from the bottom without ripping the boot. The console pistol grip shifter I have in the '69 has a thick lower shaft and I did manage to get one of the round boots on but, it did tear a little along the hole. On the lower boot will the hurst 68-69 shifter boot not work...that has a round shaft as well.   

[Chryco Psycho]

My favorite approach with the Inland it to throw it as far as possible & not look for it
the next best approach is to use a Hurst shifter & weld the inland stick onto the bottom of a bolt in Hurst hande & that way the car still looks stock but shifts far better

[694spdRT]

My favorite approach with the Inland it to throw it as far as possible & not look for it

 

Chryco, that's what you do with Eddy carbs and Comp Cams too isn't it. 

I would take a Hurst anyday as well...just thought for Bull's stock 383 Charger the Inland would work fine for him if it is in good shape.

[Chryco Psycho]

 Yeah I hide the inland shifters under the pile of Eddy Carbs & comp cams

[bull]

http://www.brewersperformance.com/ supposedly has a Hurst/Inland shifter conversion kit but they don't list it on their website yet. Apparently you can retain the upper portion of the Inland but the linkage portion is Hurst.