No, with six gears the column shifter has never been. To our knowledge, with five not, too, but we should be careful because three changing lanes were quite normal later.

However the column shifter began its career with two changing lanes, namely standing for three possible forward gears. The first was close to the steering wheel down, the reverse gear at the same level up.

With the column shifter you can more easily change from one front seat to another. A seating bench gives enough room for three people in a row. Maybe that is why it was considered unsportsmanlike, but rapid gear changing is even possible with column shifter, too. Floor-mounted shifters sometimes have longer switching distances.

With the disappearance of the seating bench the column shifter became rare. The fixing of driver and passenger was more important. Not later than the multiple adjusting possibilities of today's steering would have made her a full end. 02/16