69 Walnut 4-speed shift knob
 

Hey all, hope one of you experts can help me. I bought a used 69 walnut shift knob and I don't know if it's real, or and old reproduction.

This is one off eBay that claims to be genuine GM:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/F-gAA...lH0/s-l500.jpg

This is the one I bought:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/V-cAA...Ek/s-l1600.jpg

This is a current reproduction:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/jrsAA...OM/s-l1600.jpg

The one I bought seems the have more space between the red background rings. Is the one I bought a GM part?

Thanks

I have several originals, this one is an NOS one I bought directly from a Pontiac dealer in the 80’s. It was in a sealed paper package. The original one on this car (factory installed) is identical, (still have it). I just changed it because the original one had worn out stain on the wood part.

Yours looks original to me. As I mentioned I’ve got several and there are slight variations between some of them (perhaps different production batches).

Reproduction ones are very obviously not the same as originals. Font is all wrong, and there is no “depth” to the rings.

I’ve noticed that later NOS (later GM box for packaging) ones have a glossier laquer on the wood but the factory installed and early NOS (in a Pontiac paper bag for packaging) have just a matt staining on the wood.

Btw, that guy on eBay asking $1,500 is a bit optimistic! The hugest I’ve seen a used knob sell for is about $200 and NOS top out at $500.

The Factory price in 69 was about $5 and even when I bought one NOS in the $80’s it was only about $10-15.

Thanks for the advice. I now have the shifter, pedals and this knob to swap a 69 350HO convert from an auto.

Here's another repro on eBay for $50. The "R" seems more correct (The Part's place version the "R" looks like a "B" with the bottom half of the "B" removed), but the workmanship is hard to define in this pic. After looking at it more, the "3" in the original has a point in its center and the repro it's squared off flat? Maybe it's just the lighting, but there's definitely major differences between the real one and the different repro versions.

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ht0AA...tS/s-l1600.jpg

I think the repops have an aluminum threaded insert. originals I believe are steel.

I remember buying 5 of em new from a pontiac dealer in the late 70's. I paid a few dollars for each and sold em for $150 each a few years later

My origonal 69 shift knob ended up on a Keg tap for an evening. Got it back .