The slapstick in my '69 works. I haven't done anything to it other than remove all the old, dried out lubricant from the mechanism and lube it with Remington gun lube. If the spring does not pop up, the slapstick will not work.

I had 'Cudas, and all the console autos had slapsticks. They were very positive action, until I had one button stick in and the car hit neutral at 5000 RPM. I was lucky not to spin a bearing in the big block when it went up over 6500. So don't trust the slapstick too much.

I'd like to fit a Hurst dual gate to my console.