A fastening arrangement for attaching a handgrip knob assembly to a vehicle gearshift lever rod. The knob has a through cavity comprising an upper cavity portion, an intermediate cavity portion supporting a metal insert, and a lower upwardly tapered cavity portion. The insert upper surface defining a bottom wall clamping surface of the upper cavity portion bottom wall. An internally threaded insert through bore is divided from a lower counterbored portion by an internal stop shoulder. The shift lever rod has an upper threaded stem connected by a cylindrical shank portion to an upwardly tapered rod section while the stem portion terminates in a frustoconical pilot end. A rod external stop shoulder divides the stem and shank sections. A spring steel drive washer, having a central aperture intermeshed with an upper crown portion of a locknut, is initially press-fitted in the upper cavity until its outer edge frictionally engages a serrated portion of the upper cavity. Assembly begins with the installer releasing the knob assembly above the rod stem such that the knob's lead-in cavity slidably receives the rod stem in a gravity induced torque ready manner. Initial torquing of the locknut results in self-threading of the stem through the insert and into the locknut bore causing the stop shoulders to clamp in a first anti-rotational lock. Continued torquing releases the frictionally retained drive washer from the serrated portion thereby clamping the locknut undersurface against the cavity bottom wall providing a second anti-rotational lock.