When I bought my 66 Olds 442 it was delivered with a FO MO CO 3-speed' I ordered a 4 speed for the car from the parts dept .and was told because there was a strike at the plant and I might not receive one for a few months. I got it about a month later.Early GTOs did get a Ford 3 speed in some but took the GM bolt pattern.
Police depts. most often used the cheaper 3 speed column shifted transmissions.Ask me how many times I blew up,and overhauled one of those old Chev.transmissions behind a 265.If you're even thinking about putting your foot in it,go directly to 4 speed,do not pass go!
STOP IT MIKE.......you're killin' me!!!!!!!!!!They were rare because they were highly undesirable, kind of like getting a penis reduction.
Skip,yes some 66-67 maybe some 65 GM A-bodies got them,I believe the bolt pattern was standard Ford thats why a lot of BOP bellhousing from that era had 2 bolt patterns drilled and tapped the second was Ford pattern,the tailhousing was specific to them though i think it was about the shifter mounts and output shaft size to match gm size and spline.Heddrick the 3 speed that 6 cyl. and sbc cars had in the early 60'swas I believe a saginaw product that was physically a lot smaller than the later saginaw 3 speeds so small it would appear that they weren't up to the task of living behind the big motors but who knows looks can be deceiving,I don't know if they used that trans behind the 409.Most manufacturers had their own 3 speeds by then but they mostly weren't up to living behind the big motors,most of the manufacturers spec'd the T-85 either with or without overdrive for their heavy duty/high performance apps. including ford,mopar,and at least pontiac as far as gm,I'm assuming chevy did for the 409 also but don't know that for sure,the early saginaw is so small it just looks incapable of handling that power.The later saginaw and the ford 3.03 3 speed which came on line in ~63-64 are much stronger boxes than their predecessors with the ford 3.03 being possibly the strongest of them all.I'm not overly familiar with the early saginaw but have heard plenty of stories of their failure when subjected to spirited driving.If you are set on running a 3 speed I would definitely do plenty of research on the capabilties of the early saginaw before choosing it.Early GTOs did get a Ford 3 speed in some but took the GM bolt pattern.