1947 Chrysler Town and Country -- 3 Speed Transmission Questionr

I have the aforementioned vehicle it seems to have a manual 3 speed transmission. I am completely new to this era of vehicle, and I don't want to disrespect it. I am trying to figure out what to expect for the shift lever movement as it has a hard time going into reverse, and I can't get into first at all but seems to have no problem with 2nd and 3rd. I am happy to post pics or have you call me... I did search the forums for about half an hour tonight looking for info on this vehicle. And most of the tranny info I came across was for some sort of fluid matic which I don't think this is because it has a clutch (but I could be wrong).

Im so embarrassed that I don't know anything about this darn car. I did buy a new 6v battery for it, and it runs like a million bucks.

oh one other question, when the clutch pedal is released no matter what gear there seems to be a ticking sound in the transmission area. is this normal?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Both body styles of the Town and Country cars only came factory equipped with Fluid Drive (fluid coupling-not a torque converter) and the M5 hydraulically operated transmission.

Are you sure it has a 3 speed transmission? I kinda doubt it.

The Chrysler M5 transmission has reverse-pull lever back towards you and then up.

Then there are two forward driving ranges-low range-to use...clutch pushed in then just push the shift lever straight up..let the clutch out accelerate to 7-10MPH let up on the gas and the trans will shift into 2nd gear of the low range. It's normally only used for going up real steep hills.

Then there is the high range. 90% of the driving is done in high range. To use it..push the clutch in then pull the shift lever straight down all the way. Let the clutch out accelerate to say 15-20MPH let off on the gas and the transmission will automatically upshift into high or 4th gear. Drive to your hearts content.

This is a very brief explanation of how to use the chrysler M5 transmission and fluid Drive. Search "allpar" and a very detailed explaination of this transmission is given.

Your right. My father in law told me it was

forward up for reverse

forward down for 1

back up for 2nd

back down for 3rd

After reading your comment I went and tested it works like a dream using it that way. Thank you so much.

Ill have to do some reading on allpar later. Again Thank you... here is a picture of it. I took tonight.

Looks like a nice C38 woodie sedan! I'll be working on one in a couple weeks.

If you do a search for Fluid Drive in the Dodge and Chrysler sections you will find plenty of info. The Fluid Drive system is one of the first automatic drive systems. As such, it has characteristics of a manual trans and automatic trans.

It requires a special driving technique, simple once you know how. I have explained all this at least 100 times, see if you can find the info by a search.