Shift lever

[Tom maxwell]

Also at the Orchard Beach Bronx NYcar show, I showed the other A model owners the method of swinging the shift lever all the way to the right which nobody was aware of. Problem was I wasn't able to give a proper answer on why Ford did this.
Was it to make more room for 2 in the front bench or was it to give a mechanic more room to work.
Any other answers

[Richard in Anaheim CA]

I don't think it is either.

That's the way the shift lever is retained just like a valve spring.

[SSsssteamer]

When I was dating in high school, to make more room while moonlight Model A parking with my sweet heart, we would swing the gear shift lever to the side like you are saying to give us more room to make love. That was the best use of this novel feature that I know of.

[Charles Coe]

The old fellow who first showed me this feature on my model A about 45 years ago, called it courting gear. I think it's just a by product of the shifter design and not intended by Ford for any given purpose.

[montanafordman]

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This thread was posted twice, maybe the moderator can combine them? Anyway I'm with others thinking this could have been an unintended aspect of the design, however I had heard that Ford didn't want people exiting and entering the car on the street side, which is why the outside door lock is only on the passenger side. It is possible it was to aid in the driver getting out of the passenger side of the car sliding across the front seats.