Cruiseomatic vs Fordomatic shift levers

[1959retractable]

I was referring to the shift lever on the side of the transmission. I have the correct 59 steering column with the Cruiseomatic gear indicator.

[Ford Only]

Sorry can't be much help on that, I did swap out the Fordomatic in my 59 for a Cruiseomatic from a 1964 Thunderbird and I know I did not change the gear linkage on the transmission.
Its been several year ago and I don't remember what I had to do as far as the linkage, I do know you would have to take the pan off the transmission to do a swap, it would probably be less work to modify what you have.
Another option would be to find the linkage that was used on the 63 and use that.

[58retrac]

Hi,
I have a '58 retrac with a 352 interceptor assembled in Nov 1957 with a fordomatic two speed, which had been removed from my car by its previous owner (the original tranny is gone).
I bought a medium case cruise-o-matic from a '64 car and want to fit it into my car.
I know the Q may seem naive but before sending it to my local mechanic I need to know how difficult it is to make the swap work and are there any tricks necessary to avoid possible problems ? Are bell housings interchangeable with similar bolt patterns ?
I read the info on charlietranny and other forums, but haven't found a straight forward answer.
I would appreciate help.
Thank you
Robert