diff --git a/bin/httparty b/bin/httparty
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
diff --git a/lib/httparty.rb b/lib/httparty.rb
index 6f9ec57a..1476f313 100644
--- a/lib/httparty.rb
+++ b/lib/httparty.rb
@@ -296,6 +296,17 @@ def query_string_normalizer(normalizer)
       default_options[:query_string_normalizer] = normalizer
     end
 
+    # Allows setting of SSL version to use.
+    # You can get a list of valid versions from OpenSSL::SSL::SSLContext::METHODS.
+    #
+    #   class Foo
+    #     include HTTParty
+    #     ssl_version :SSLv3
+    #   end
+    def ssl_version(version)
+      default_options[:ssl_version] = version
+    end
+
     # Allows setting an OpenSSL certificate authority file
     #
     #   class Foo
diff --git a/lib/httparty/request.rb b/lib/httparty/request.rb
index db556a08..6ec2080b 100644
--- a/lib/httparty/request.rb
+++ b/lib/httparty/request.rb
@@ -113,6 +113,10 @@ def attach_ssl_certificates(http)
           http.ca_path = options[:ssl_ca_path]
           http.verify_mode = OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_PEER
         end
+
+        if options[:ssl_version]
+          http.ssl_version = options[:ssl_version]
+        end
       end
     end
 
diff --git a/spec/httparty/request_spec.rb b/spec/httparty/request_spec.rb
index f233dd12..04201ebb 100644
--- a/spec/httparty/request_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/httparty/request_spec.rb
@@ -165,6 +165,11 @@
       request.send(:http).use_ssl?.should == true
     end
 
+    it 'uses specified ssl_version' do
+      request = HTTParty::Request.new(Net::HTTP::Get, 'https://foobar.com', :ssl_version => :TLSv1)
+      request.send(:http).ssl_version.should == :TLSv1
+    end
+
     context "PEM certificates" do
       before do
         OpenSSL::X509::Certificate.stub(:new)
diff --git a/spec/httparty_spec.rb b/spec/httparty_spec.rb
index 5650b4be..d23baa98 100644
--- a/spec/httparty_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/httparty_spec.rb
@@ -38,6 +38,13 @@
     end
   end
 
+  describe 'ssl_version' do
+    it 'should set the ssl_version content' do
+      @klass.ssl_version :SSLv3
+      @klass.default_options[:ssl_version].should == :SSLv3
+    end
+  end
+
   describe 'http_proxy' do
     it 'should set the address' do
       @klass.http_proxy 'proxy.foo.com', 80