Not a production gearbox. If you know, you know. Ask a TMGPS regular about the knob.
Somebody had a shift knob custom made, as a joke, about 30 years ago. The idea came from an old steam tractor with three or four power takeoffs for running machinery, and the knob came out pretty close to that. Seven forward speeds, spoked out like a machine that never existed. It lived on his car.
Then, at a car show, someone took it off the car.
He did what any of us would do. He posted a photo of the knob and asked the internet to help find it. He is still looking. Every year he drives a different car to that same show, hoping to spot it. He also follows the Society on Facebook and shows up in the comments all the time, so there is a decent chance he is reading this page.
Meanwhile the knob went on a tour of its own. In June 2007 it turned up on the Pelican Parts forum, listed for sale as a rare Ruf 7 speed shift knob. The seller played it dead straight: green 4 and 5 push down, red 7th pull up and honk the horn. The comments argued over whether Ruf ever built a seven speed, and one member asked if it had been posted on April 1st. Eventually the seller admitted he had picked it up at the LA Lit Show swap meet and kept it for laughs. Years later the same picture was making the rounds on Facebook as a Ruf seven speed dual clutch. It worked on exactly the people you would expect. There is no Ruf gearbox shaped like this. There is one knob, and it went missing.
So if you saw this knob at a car show, a swap meet, a garage sale, a listing, or the back of someone's parts bin, tell us. The trail goes cold at that Los Angeles swap meet, so if you were buying or selling there in the 2000s, we especially want to hear from you. We will pass it along.
This page was last edited on November 11, 2026.