The instrumental is a pretty foreign thing to radio waves these days. Back in the late 1950s and into the 1960s there were plenty of surf and hot rod themed instrumentals coming over the airwaves. One of the first to really make some waves in the form of a hot rodding instrumental was this song Stick Shift by a pair of guys out of LA who called themselves The Duals. The record this tune was on made it to #25 on the Billboard charts in 1961 and   served to kick the door wide open for hot rod themed music on the radio.

One of the most unique parts of the song isn’t the song itself but the effects that play before, a little during, and after the tune is done. These effects were added by the record company to help spruce the song up a little for the radio and we think that they’re spot on. From the sounds of what seems to be a flathead V8 accelerating away at the beginning and the cop siren pulling an imaginary someone over at the end, this is fine music and even finer theater of the mind!

This is one of those great songs to cruise to on a summer night with the windows down, exhaust burbling in the background. Given the opportunity to add theme music behind us whenever we walked into a room, this would be it.

PRESS PLAY BELOW TO HEAR THE DUALS PERFORM THEIR TOP 30 1961 HIT INSTRUMENTAL STICK SHIFT BELOW!