so whats the reason for calling it a slap stick??????????

[geneo4116]

is there any thing special about it

[Moparal]

Just slap it and feel the power. No bow ties allowed

[bb71challenger]

To shift manually you put it down in low or 1 and when you want to go to second you just give it a bump or slap with your palm, it will go to the next gear and no further. To go to drive just slap it again, it will not go into neutral or reverse. Cool beans imo. If you look at the shifter location plate you will actually see the words "slap stick" on it.

[GoodysGotaCuda]

To shift manually you put it down in low or 1 and when you want to go to second you just give it a bump or slap with your palm, it will go to the next gear and no further. To go to drive just slap it again, it will not go into neutral or reverse. Cool beans imo. If you look at the shifter location plate you will actually see the words "slap stick" on it.

agreed, its a fairly decent factory shifter imo.

[bb71challenger]

I have never had or even heard of a failed slapstick shift till I got here. I dont know who it was but in my mind it had to be something out of whack or some weird failure. Thousands and thousands of shifts and still a satisfied customer here 

[asm74]

But you're not allowed to down-shift....  is that right?  or have I been missing out?

[bb71challenger]

Yeah you can downshift, just depress the side button and pull it down. It wont always go if the revs are too high though. All the slapsticks I have driven will hold their gear too, meaning it will not shift for you no matter the revs. I love them and no aftermarket looks good to me unless you have a race car or something really heavy.

[Carlwalski]

Push the button to down shift. Why you'd want to do that other than driving down an incline I have no idea. It's an automatic, not a manual, no need to throw it in gear before corners. Bit if fun I guess. BEST factory shifter out there in the day, easily. It's still better than the cable junk you can buy today. Hurst & B&M both copied the Slap Stik (no C in Stik) design. Steel rods, precise super fast detent shifter. Can't ask for more in an auto shifter. Many guys will tell you a Slap Stik equipped car would beat a 4-speed at the strip and a lot of guys ran them in the day for that reason. Who knows, but, as far as shifters go for E-Bodies, we hit gold lol.

[Bullitt-]

If your slapstik is not working properly check for a small spring on the drivers side to the rear.  I had a '73 Charger that did not ratchet properly & this spring that pulls down on the mechanism was missing.

[gkring]

But you're not allowed to down-shift....  is that right?  or have I been missing out?

Mopar had a great solution for that as well.
It's called a pistol grip!

I love my slap stick. On my previous 71 I had a forward pattern manual valve body instead of a reverse pattern trans brake just so I could keep the shifter.

[Quikfish]

Somebody correct me.  I'm thinking that it was the only TRUE ratchet shifter offered by the big three.  I know that Olds had the "His and Hers" Hurst but never actually drove one.

[CrazyPete]

Yeah you can downshift, just depress the side button and pull it down. It wont always go if the revs are too high though.

if you throw in a shift kit it will 

[Carlwalski]

Somebody correct me.  I'm thinking that it was the only TRUE ratchet shifter offered by the big three.  I know that Olds had the "His and Hers" Hurst but never actually drove one.

Yes, this is correct. This is also the reason Hurst/B&M copied the Slap-Stiks simple yet effective style. That's why, IMO, "upgrading" to the cable shifters is a waste of time. Risk of melting and more importantly, every Camaro, Chevelle and Mustang have the hammer cable types. The Slap-Stik is unique to Mopar and works better.

[kudakidd]

so whats the reason for calling it a slap stick?

To make guys who couldn't shift a Pistol grip stick feel better. 

[asm74]

Gunslinger + Slap Stik = Best of Both!!