Re: '65 426-S Sport Fury 4-Speeds

Yes, I know about how the openings were cut out, but I was wondering at what point in the assembly process was it done. But the word "retrofitted" can cover a multitude of sins, anywhere from cutting the basic floor pan with nothing else on it, to some other point on the line, to even when the vehicle rolled off that line. Of course, I doubt that it happened very far along down the line, but it is an interesting situation. I can just imagine some guy cutting an opening in the floor while a hoist is holding an engine and trans waiting to be dropped in. My wild imagination gives rise to all sorts of scenarios.
Joe

On Tuesday, January 24, 2017 at 5:08:34 PM UTC-7, Joe Godec wrote:

The group may have noticed that I have been fortunate to have recently acquired a 1965 Plymouth Sport Fury with the 426-S ("Commando 426" or "Street Wedge," i.e., 426 CID/365 HP) engine and 4-speed that is the virtual twin to the one I had back in 1964-1967. In fact, it was shipped from the Hamtramck plant on November 21, 1964, which is the date I took delivery of my first '65 in Pueblo, Colorado.
At any rate, I have maintained an interest in that particular car over the years and picked up a few publications about it. There is one reference, The Standard Catalog of Chrysler 1924-1990, by John Lee, which speaks about the 4-speed transmission with the 426-S costing more than the TorqueFlite ($545 versus $483) because they were "factory retrofitted" and "installed in cars originally assembled with automatic." This does seem to be the case with my car as I have just pulled the 4-speed to have it overhauled and the floor board under the console does indeed appear to have been cut away, albeit very neatly, but still cut out rather affording an opening that was not stamped or pressed. I am sure the vehicle came from the factory with the 4-speed as both the VIN plate and a copy of the build card indicate that as being so.
Can anyone shed some light on this?
Joe Godec