How rough is a stock floor pan?

I'm curious?
Just how rough did the factory cut the floor openings for 4-speeds?
My car has always made me think it didn't come from the factory with a rough hole like it has. However a few people have told me it could be stock, the factory never cared how clean the cut was. But it just looks like it was hacked open by some high school kid.
Anybody want to shed some light on this for me?

 

Hey where'd my thread go???

Oh here it is.

 

While I can't account for all cars, most I've seen look like a five year old cut 'em.

 

Ok, theres one vote for what I wanted to hear.
My friends Cutlass looked like mine but we were both wondering if either of our cars came with 4-speeds.
Ya never know with 35 year old cars what somebody did back in the day.

 

My auto floor shift cars have factory "quality" cuts as does my 70 4 speed.
Harvey

 

'Factory quality' is an oxymoron......they were often hack jobs, depending on what mood the particular factory worker was in that day. This '66 was built in Fremont, looks like they used an air hammer. Another I have appears to have been cut out with a torch. If it has a spot-welded-on 'hump', it's most likely original.....spot welds are hard to repoduce by the backyard mechanic.....

Here's the pic....hump was 'modified' to fit the Hurst shifter. :af:

 

Another example why these cars when they were new on the showroom floor were NEVER as nice as the "concours" restorations that we see. Just imagine how you would get ripped by the show judges if they saw this!
Just my .02
Harvey

 

Rob, I have a 68 floor section that the 4 speed appears to have been cut out with a torch. I have a 66 auto with console that was cut with a torch. I have not looked at my 66 or 67 very close but I think they were cut with air hammer. Does anyone know if the 4 speed hump is the same on all years? Thanks Bill Sangster.

 

Guys,
I had (2) 1970 Stage 1 4-speeds and both had the holes cut out with a torch. Then the hump was spotwelded over the hole. I have also seen the same thing done on 1969 cars.
That's the way it was, and that is what we "judges" expect to see when we look at the cars. A Concours type restoration is generally not the prettiest or most showy restoration you will see, but would be the most correct. Some owners even go so far as putting the defects back in the paint jobs.
Duane

 

Thanks Bill, and everybody else for your input. I think I can rest a little easier knowing mine "might" may or was factory. I finally found the build sheet for my car. It was ontop of the gas tank in the right front corner so far that the stupid undercoating job turned the paper into a blob. Totally unreadable and looked like it was burned up.

Bill, you & Kathy going to the Nationals this year?

 

The hole in the floor of the parts car I have is really rough. The hump had 4 spot welds to hold it on, then about 15 stick weld globs around the perimeter.

The amount of care cutting the hole was zero. Really jagged.

BTW, the seam sealer was about 2" wide and about 1/4" thick around the hump perimeter.

 

I have also heard the 4-speed cuts were very crude - not many done so there were no specialized tools or procedures to follow for the kind of consistency one might think would come from the factory.

 

thanks for the input

 

Here is a pic of a factory 4 speed hole, taken from the bottom with the car on the rotisserie, after blasting.. yes, they were very rough.

Gonna have to put away the plama cutter when I put this hump in the new floor.. and get out the torch.

This is a 70 STG 1 4 speed car (Henry's to be exact)