Who Here Can't Operate A Standard Shift Vehicle?

[tedwitt]

In 1962 I learned to drive a granny gear 1954 chevy pickup.
My daily driver is a 1980 Dodge Short Bed, 318 with 4 speed overdrive standard transmission.

 

[tedwitt]

arent you the bill of sale guy? GTFO

If ya can't hack it, ya gotta live with it.

 

[BigRed]

I was surprised to learn my Granddaughters can't.

Vehicle has to be an automatic drive or no go...

How about you and yours?

Can you operate a standard shift vehicle?

Can your wife or kids or Grand-kids?

PS, my wife could NOT catch on how to operate a standard shift no matter how much I yelled at her...no, I didn't, but gently letting out the clutch while simultaneously applying pressure to the accelerator was something she just couldn't do...

Also, wonder if car makers still make standard cars/pickups?

PS, it's OK, if you don't know how to drive a stick shift...maybe you never had the chance...?

I learned on a manual transmission and still drive one today.
Wife drives a manual transmission.
Taught daughter on a manual transmission.
Motorcycle - Manual transmission.

Still prefer manual transmissions, but they are not as easy to find as they once were.

 

[surevaliance]

Stick shift is the best anti-theft technology these days!
Those dumb thieves don’t know how to!

 

[FireInTheWire]

I learned on a stick. My kids will as well when that time comes.

 

[BigRed]

Stick shift is the best anti-theft technology these days!
Those dumb thieves don’t know how to!

Some good comments in the interview with the neighbors in the first video. "Can't drive a stick? That's unmanly"

 

[PinnedandRecessed]

I'm on the younger side of the curve around here (not saying much with all you geezers) but I know how to drive a manual. I drove my share of manuals back in the day, including a wrecker for a tow company. Nowadays, autos have gotten so good that manuals aren't worth it unless you have a niche task. If I want to feel the gears, I'll take out the Road King.

 

[robertc1024]

^^ True dat. The reasons I wanted a stick car were that they're more fun to drive and I don't have to spend time in traffic. For most people, they are impractical.

If I had more than a 20 minute commute in traffic, there's no way I'd want a manual. When the wifey-mate and I go gallivanting to Austin or San Antonio, we usually take the MX-5. Dislike driving it in traffic. It's a throwback - autos shift better and faster - dual clutch autos - pfft. Manual guys are left in the dust.

Meh - get off my lawn - I like 1911's too.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

My first car in 1974 was a 74 Vega 4 speed.

I was able to shift through the gears, from 1st through 4th, with the gas pedal floored the entire time.

Was consistent enough to win my bracket, and "little eliminator" at the Corpus drag strip,the one and only time I went there.

 

[tedwitt]

I learned on a manual transmission and still drive one today.
Wife drives a manual transmission.
Taught daughter on a manual transmission.
Motorcycle - Manual transmission.

Still prefer manual transmissions, but they are not as easy to find as they once were.

Ya, what cracker head started calling them sticks??

 

[striker55]

My first car in 1974 was a 74 Vega 4 speed.

I was able to shift through the gears, from 1st through 4th, with the gas pedal floored the entire time.

Was consistent enough to win my bracket, and "little eliminator" at the Corpus drag strip,the one and only time I went there.

My older buddy who taught me to drive his gas station pickup, three on the tree, he could power shift that truck. Foot to the floor and climbed the tree.

 

[Huntsman52]

My Jeep Gladiator is a manual. had a meeting in down town Houston and used Valet Parking at the hotel. When I went to get my Jeep the valet walked off and returned 10 min later asking if I would go with him to get my vehical..said he had no idea how to drive a manual.

 

[robertc1024]

Uggh. My sister had one of the original Honda Civics. It had a clutch cable that frequently broke. I had to drive it that way a few times where I had to rev match the engine to the transmission to not fry the syncros.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Uggh. My sister had one of the original Honda Civics. It had a clutch cable that frequently broke. I had to drive it that way a few times where I had to rev match the engine to the transmission to not fry the syncros.

Forgot all about that.
My Vega had the same setup.

It broke on the way home to Kingsville coming back from Corpus one day.
Rolled through several stops.
Luckily I never had to come to a complete stop until I got home.

 

[msharley]

Perhaps, if any man can not answer "yes I can drive a standard shift transmission", he must immediately give up his man card, do not pass go, but go directly to the sissy metro-man pink Ken-doll club house.

Show off his 30SC?

 

[Axxe55]

Show off his 30SC?

barbies ken got his ass whooped by Gi joe!

 

[Brains]

^^ True dat. The reasons I wanted a stick car were that they're more fun to drive and I don't have to spend time in traffic. For most people, they are impractical.

If I had more than a 20 minute commute in traffic, there's no way I'd want a manual. When the wifey-mate and I go gallivanting to Austin or San Antonio, we usually take the MX-5. Dislike driving it in traffic. It's a throwback - autos shift better and faster - dual clutch autos - pfft. Manual guys are left in the dust.

Meh - get off my lawn - I like 1911's too.

I used to daily drive a car with a very binary clutch (solid disc, no springs, sintered iron pucks). In I-10 bumper to bumper traffic from the Houston Galleria to Katy, and everywhere else around this town. I never got tired of the clutch. Maybe I'm a weirdo, but I just prefer manuals.

In my street racing days my ace in the hole bargaining chip was always an auto guy looking through my car and noticing it was a stick. The excuses when I out-launched them on the street were priceless. You can talk all day about torque multiplication of a converter and what-not, but the fact is if you're overpowered for the available traction it doesn't matter one bit. It's about being able to put the most power to the ground. Another fan favorite nod to the slushboxes, shift speed doesn't matter squat if I'm already 2 cars ahead of you and pulling like a freight train.

 

[RaySendero]

I, too, learned to drive a manual and still do today.
Several times I have had to drive it onto the lift jack for tires/rotation etc.
The mechanics couldn't drive a stick???
Once the manager heard it was a stick, so he drove it out for'em.
Said for the trucks age it was still shifting smooth as silk.
I told him when Mom taught me she made me pause 1/2 second between gears.
So I still do.

 

[tedwitt]

Uggh. My sister had one of the original Honda Civics. It had a clutch cable that frequently broke. I had to drive it that way a few times where I had to rev match the engine to the transmission to not fry the syncros.

I floated gears for a living for 50 years, easy after 2 or 3 hundred thousand miles.

 

[tedwitt]

Forgot all about that.
My Vega had the same setup.

It broke on the way home to Kingsville coming back from Corpus one day.
Rolled through several stops.
Luckily I never had to come to a complete stop until I got home.

Take it out of gear to stop, kill motor, put in gear, hit the starter and there ya go.
Done that a few times with a gone throw out bearing.