Is this a CB performance T-handle shifter? (DDS?)

[Gerrelt]

I've bought this second hand T-handle shifter (in the Netherlands):

What brand will this be? It's probably a knock off of the Gene Berg shifter, because it has the square rod, just like the EMPI shifters. But the handle is different.

This is the only shifter I could find that is a perfect match:

https://www.cbperformance.com/product-p/6316.htm

Probably a shifter made by the same factory as the EMPI ones, but ordered with a different handle?
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[madmike]

Hey Gerrelt, I have the Short Version I believe it's just an 'Empi' , Better then Stock ,, I hope
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'Black Ice'Drag Buggy 'Turbo'
Rail Buggy 1915 turbo
76 Drag/Street bug 2180cc 'Turbo' 11:85 @113 mph"If I go any faster I'll burn up the Hamster" ,gets 28 mpg. also 10/09/22 11.90 @115 mph
"If I'm ever on Life Support,UNPLUG Me, Then Plug me back In see if that Works"

[Rome]

I have the exact same shifter; the previous owner had it in his '77 Beetle which I bought 30 years ago. I soon removed it and replaced it with a GeneBerg shifter but kept this one. A few years ago I cleaned it up by polishing the aluminum shaft with Autosol chrome polish so that it was shiny again, and painted the T handle with black wrinkle-finish paint. I remember that the reverse actuation button in the handle did not work so that there was no mechanical block from accidentally going into reverse. When I redid the shifter, I did not see any brand stampings/markings anywhere, though I did not pull down the base's boot.

My CB Performance catalog from 1992 (I'm a hoarder) already lists the shifter with the same part number. The description section was carried over from 1987 and lists it as "The original Dyno Soar Shifter". The price list #193 indicates a racer price of $36.95 and retail price $42.95.

[Gerrelt]

@madmike: I've found something while taking it apart, see below, it's not an EMPI.

@Rome: Did you have the bottom plate that goes with it? That needs to be there to have the reverse lockout. I think a standard bottom plate might work too.
I think you are right on the Dyno Soar part.

While removing the shifter boot we found a patent number!:

While googling the number 3597992 we found this samba link:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=585701

It's the exact same shifter. I think it's a Dyno Soars shifter. I don't think the copies will have the patent number stamped into it?

We also found this "D" stamped in the base:

The "D" from Dyno Soar?

Sidenotes:
1. To remove the push button, it works exactly the same as a Gene Berg shifter, as shown in this Youtube video:
https://youtu.be/v1qsTxQ9Wv4?t=150

2. The grub screw, that holds the handle, and the four bolts at the base is a strange allen key size. A 3 mm is too small, a 4 mm is too large. It might be 3.5 mm or some imperial size?
I had to file down a cheap 4 mm IKEA allen key, and jam it in the grub screw to remove it. I did not remove the 4 bolts at the base.
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[Rome]

[madmike]

Ha, Mine has it also but stamped with a J ???= Junk= Empi

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'Black Ice'Drag Buggy 'Turbo'
Rail Buggy 1915 turbo
76 Drag/Street bug 2180cc 'Turbo' 11:85 @113 mph"If I go any faster I'll burn up the Hamster" ,gets 28 mpg. also 10/09/22 11.90 @115 mph
"If I'm ever on Life Support,UNPLUG Me, Then Plug me back In see if that Works"

[Gerrelt]

Could be from "J bugs" ?

The "D" on mine could also be from "Dee engineering", which is actually Bugpack I believe.

While searching I found that there are also versions with an "A" on it, which might be for A-RPM. That's a company started by Dean's brother?
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[Gerrelt]

I can now confirm: the grub screw allen size is 1/8 inch, just like the 4 bolts that hold the base.

Apparently somebody tried to unbolt the 4 base bolts with metric allen key's or something, they were all 4 mangled.
Luckily, the weren't very tight so I was still able to unbolt them with the 1/8 inch allen key.

I bought an 9 piece inch allen set, specially for this shifter.
That's a tool I will probably not use often.. The funny thing is, that this foldable set is produced by the "Allen" company, so an original Allen tool.
But I digress...

The four bolts for the base were too mangled to reuse, so I ordered new ones. Of course the thread is not metric, but in inch size too.
The bolts that fit the base are: UNC 10-24 (3/16) x 1 (= 3/16 thickness, 1 inch long)

It's too cold now, so we still cannot paint the parts. The shifter is not finished yet.
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[NJ John]

I mail ordered my first ever VW shifter back in the 80’s. And that’s what I got. No name on the box or specified in the ad. The company was a Bugpack dealer,Autoventure in NJ.
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1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage

[stevemariott]

The patent # is just the patent #. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe this shifter was ever in a DDS Catalog. Thus, I would not consider these shifters to be a Deano Dyno Soars item.

If anything, they likely came from Ken Lowry and ARPM. But that's just my educated guess after reading various comments about them. In any case, the same shifter, with and without the patent number, and sometimes with a different handle (EMPI), has been sold by different companies for years.

https://www.amazon.com/00-4498-0-Polished-Aluminum-T-Handle-Shifter/dp/B00BBJV5ZS

I have no clue what the letter on the base might mean, but I doubt it tells us much. Someone who was part of the manufacturing process years ago would know. I have the same shifter you're describing in my Manx buggy - it has an H on the base.

A Berg shifter I owned years ago also had an H on the base in the same spot - the bases for these shifters and Berg are interchangeable.
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1963 Manx copy
1968 Bus