Does it hurt to drive it with the 1st gear lockout? Would it be better for gas mileage?

 

no it just will lug the motor

 

burn up the clutches...

 

My 65 T-bird had this, annoying as heck! Designed for Grandma cruisers, (T-Birds) not Mustangs. Did some stangs actually come with this from the factory?

 

Sure did....Most 65 66 C4 automatics had this feature.

 

Thanks for all the help guys. I went to the shop today, and sure enough, there was a plain dot and then the green dot and then L. I never even considered the posibility of the 1st gear lockout.

Well, live and learn.

Now, my car actually feels like a V8!!!!!!!!!!!

 

nice :P

 

You aren't alone... It got me also...

When I put my '65 back together I didn't now of the Green Dot.. I was concerned until I did some searching for knowledge.

Black dot was for winter driving. No 1st.. 2-3

Green dot is normal.... 1-2-3

 

lol. That green dot gets Mustang/FoMoCo newbs every time.


My friend bought a 65 at the Rod Runs a few years ago and he didn't notice that feature of the tranny during the test drive. The seller had just had the tranny rebuilt to boot.

My friend called me up later that week flustered as hell and just absolutely positive that the tranny in his new ride was crapping out because it wasn't starting out in 1st gear.

That transmission configuration always struck me as a solution looking for a problem. I think Ford got too clever by half on that one.

 

If you swap out the transmissions(C4) valve body with a newer valve body(67-69) it will shift properly. Will start out in first gear. It's an easy upgrade. The trick is finding a valve body.
Lowell