I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone who has actually liked rotary automatic shift knobs. You know the kind: they’re just a round knob that you rotate to select P,R, the occasional N, your go-to D, and sometimes L, if you’re feeling saucy. They’re often placed close enough on the dashboard to get confused for the volume knob, and, really, I’ve yet to meet anyone who is genuinely excited about these things. Or so I thought! Because there seems to be a thriving arty subculture for custom rotary shift knobs, especially for RAM 1500 trucks, for reasons that are so far unfathomable to me.
This subculture seems to be thriving on Etsy, the online marketplace for craftspeople and artists and knitted vibrator cozies and bongs made from gourds and Game Boys or whatever, and it’s a very distinct category from just custom conventional shifter knobs, like for stick shift cars, which has been a thing for decades.
Why, back in the ’80s, I had this wooden tiki head shifter on my old ’71 Super Beetle:
(That’s not my ’71 Super pictured there. It’s my ’73 standard, but you get the idea.)
Those were the days! Big, heavy, unsafe chunks of wood on top of a long, spindly metal shaft that vibrated along with the whole drivetrain!
No, this is different. I’m talking about custom knobs just for rotary shifters, and in that category, the RAM 1500 rotary shifter knob options do seem to dominate. The options are, charitably, bizarre. Just look for yourself at this random sampling of options I found:
A lot of these appear to be 3D printed, but some look like they may actually be injection-molded plastic. We have horned death metal-looking skulls, ones with inane expressions like that “Dirty Hands, Clean Money” one (I suspect a “live, laugh, love” one has been made, and perhaps a “gas, grass, or ass, nobody rides for free” one as well, at least I hope). There are knobs that mimic the cylinder of a revolver, knobs masquerading as nicotine pouches, a Marine Corps example that resembles the wheel of a sailing ship, and my favorite one, the one that seems to be the bestseller: the Oreo.
You can replace your shift knob with a shockingly-detailed recreation of the famous Oreo cookie if you decided that what was missing from your experience driving a truck like this …
… was the very specific tactile sensation one gets when touching an Oreo. Now, to be fair, when it comes to cookie tactile interest, an Oreo is way up there. The embossed pattern of the cookie parts on the Oreo – which I imagine are made from a combination of coal dust, cocoa, and a sweetener/binding agent like weevil honey – has more in common with manhole cover design than cookie design, and as such is a tactile treat.
Is that why the bestselling rotary shift knob for RAM trucks is an Oreo? Because it feels good? And reminds one of a manhole cover? Oh, and there’s a golden variation, too!
Hot damn! What a world we live in!
Interestingly, this is not the only example of a dash control on a car that seems to be modeled after an Oreo. Volvo 200-series cars from the mid-’70s into the ’90s had dashboard vent knobs that sure as hell looked like an Oreo, an Oreo viewed from the side and inserted into a little slot:
Now, I don’t think this was in any way sanctioned by Nabisco’s automotive licensing arm any more than the Etsy seller’s Oreo RAM shift knobs were, but I think it’s significant to note Oreo-inspired dash controls have some precedent.
I’m still not sure I understand why, though. There are other peculiar ones, like this one, pitched as a “less aggressive” RAM shift knob, which I have contrasted here with one of the revolver-cylinder knobs, which actually does feel a bit more aggressive:
Do people find their stock RAM shifters too aggressive? I mean, this doesn’t seem that aggressive?
Maybe it’s kind of passive-aggressive?
When it comes to personalizing one’s ride, there are an astounding number of options, and that’s fantastic. This one is just a particularly baffling one. I’m glad there is an option to shift your truck with a cookie, though. It’s hard to find a problem with that, conceptually.
I’m one of those cranky old bastards that wishes automatics still had a lever sticking out of the transmission housing. I just don’t like the idea of being unable to put the thing in neutral if there was an electrical failure.
But, If we’re gonna live in a post-hardware world where the shifter is only connected to the trans via software, it might as well be unobtrusive.
That said, in something sporty with a “sequential” mode, I appreciate a lever that you can up/down-shift with, because I want to be able to shift while turning, and nobody mounts the paddles to the column like they’re supposed to, so they always end up upside-down on the wrong side of the wheel. In that case, it’s nice to have a stick on the console that’s always in the same place.
People here seem more levelheaded, but if you ever glance at the Instagram comment section of a post concerning a rotary shifter, people go ape. I don’t understand it; if it’s not a manual, would you not want the input device taking up the least amount of space that could otherwise be used for drinks and phones?
Well said; my car has a ” looks like a manual” shifter, but I could care less either way. You only use it when you start and finish a drive so whatever.
The only two acceptable shifter locations are floor and column. Come at me bro.
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The Oreo one is funny and while I wouldn’t get one, I see the appeal. I also saw one that just looks liked an A/T tire and that’s fun as well. The Zyn one is just sad though. Somehow I find it sadder than if it was like a Grizzly or Kodiak container.
I don’t understand why Jaguar went away from the rotary knob back to that humongous growth sprouting out of the center of the console in the F-Type.
Love the rotory shift knob should have came out with that years ago. ????
The only issue I have with a knob for a shifter is it doesn’t give you a position dedicated to each selection that you can blindly control and roughly know what gear you are in. The column shift in my Oldsmobile I could use blind folded and know exactly what selection it’s in the same boat with most “floor” automatic shifters.
I’ve used a few rotary knob shifters in rental cars, I find I have to look at them to know what selection I’ve made which is only annoying if you are saying making a multi point turn.
Instead of free spinning, if the knob just stopped at either end, I feel like that would help immensely with muscle memory vs having visuals be necessary.
Driving my wife’s ram with one, you are correct. Multi point turns are a bear in the thing, not least of which because you have to look at the stupid thing because if you just go stop to stop you can’t necessarily feel that last little detent to know you’re in drive or reverse. I have to multi point turn it at least every other week to get it around my barn to drop off hay.
It took me about 20-30 seconds using a ram with the dial shifter to figure it was the best solution for an auto. It is so effortless and intuitive. I am a gearhead and usually choose a manual transmission when it’s an option but manoeuvering a big truck around in tight spaces and using it for work it is a nice system. I was didn’t expect it to be something I liked.
If you ain’t row’n it, then the smallest and most efficient input mechanism possible to select your intent is preferred.
tldr; rotary approved
Mmmmm, I like oreos.