A Vehicle With A Clutch

Sunkist said:
I've never driven anything with a clutch, don't think I could figure it out.
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What you learn young does tend to be your modus operandi throughout life. A good example of that is:
Britain adopted the metric system in 1965. How well has it worked? In 2015, 60% of eighteen- to twenty-four-year-olds didn’t know their weight in kilos; 54% didn’t know their height in centiwhatsits.
 
retiredtraveler said:
Didn't you have a similar problem in the early 70's when you switched your money to decimal?
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Tell me about it! Metrification was always viewed as a way of duping motorists. Today's fuel price at the pump is around £1:40, but that's per litre.
Had we still had gallons, that price translates into £6:36, imagine the furore that would be? The government of the day pulled off a coup given that the word gallon is still used when describing a car's fuel consumption.
 
I learned on an automatic but quickly moved to a VW beetle when I was 20. Then another VW, then all automaic till a few years ago when I stopped driving. I am happy not driving and am saving tons of money on all stuff car. More Yarn!!
 
My dad taught me in an automatic. The first thing I did was back out the driveway, shoot across the road and over the curb into the neighbors' back yard. (I was certain that would be my first, and last, driving lesson.) Dad was surprisingly calm and said, "Okay. Now put it in D and *gently* drive back to the road...."

My older brother taught me to drive his '63 VW Bug (Manual). He didn't tell me I didn't have to start over in 1st Gear after making a turn(!). After he peeled his face off the windshield he exclaimed, "I didn't even know you could GET IT in 1st Gear at that speed!"
 
Learned to drive stick in my sister's boyfriend 49 merc. Anything to get me out of the apartment so they could neck. (wonder if people still neck). :unsure:
Still have 2 cars and 2 motorcycles with a clutch. All our race cars had stick shift.

Tell you what, If you want a challenge, try shifting an old 40 foot GMC bus equipped with a grummpy wet clutch spicer 4 speed non syncro transmission. Put thousands of miles on that bus pulling a trailer and still crunched gears occasionally. :)



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Imogene said:
Remember when starters were large round buttons on the floor, that we had to push with our left foot😎😎
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I remember starter buttons on the dash board but not on the floor . . . save one. It was a big, mid-90s General Motors car (Olds? Buick?) with the starter under the gas pedal. Switch on the ignition, press the gas pedal all the way to the floor, and it would roar to life.
 
I learned to drive a manual transmission in a 1966 VW bug. They are very easy to learn in. I have owned ten vehicles over the years that had manual transmissions. I have not driven a stick shift for a number of years but I am sure I would have no problem. It's like riding a bicycle, once you learn how you don't forget.
 
My mother taught me to drive in her brand new 1961 Austin-Healy Sprite. It had 4 forward speeds on the floor. Picture below. But we didn't think it was a good idea to take my driving license test with it, so I used a 1952 Mercury convertible with automatic transmission.

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Tommy said:
I remember starter buttons on the dash board but not on the floor . . . save one. It was a big, mid-90s General Motors car (Olds? Buick?) with the starter under the gas pedal. Switch on the ignition, press the gas pedal all the way to the floor, and it would roar to life.
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My 37 Buick had this Tommy. Put car in low gear, push down on the gas pedal and away we went. 🏎️
 
The ultimate test of clutch mastering comes when you are ascending one of San Francisco's steep hills and you are forced to stop at a stoplight and there are cars right behind you. Beads of sweat suddenly appear on your forehead and it's do or die. If you take your foot off the brake to use it on the gas pedal, you instantly roll back, That's where I learned to use the handbrake and gradually release it as you work your magic with the clutch and gas in sinc with the gradual handbrake release. If your emergency brake is a foot operation, you're certainly in a pickle.
 
Lizzie00 said:
I learned to drive in a fire engine red convertible VW Bug, year unknown.
Stick shift.
So much fun!♥️
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I learned on 58 Chevy.

But speaking VW Bugs, I bought my first in 1964. They were all over the place by then, and everyone from housewives to college professors were driving them. I loved that car. Just loved it. I bought two more after that. I drove them back and forth across the country. I drove the 1500 miles of graveled AlCan Highway from Montana to Alaska and back. I pulled a trailer with my 13ft sailboat.

Something happened in the 70s. I went to buy my fourth one, and the the price had shot up and the ones I looked at didn't even have carpeting, just a steel floor. They were always a no frills vehicle, but that was bizarre, and a few months later the VW bug was no more. More expensive Volkswagens like today became available, but didn't interest me. I ended up buying a Mustang II, the economical four cylinder version of the Mustang. But I digress.

One thing I found I could do with the Bug was not use the clutch. I think I used it to put it in first gear, and reverse, but once rolling forward, I could shift gears without the clutch. Shifting up I could just put slight pressure on the gearshift and wait until the motor came into sink with the transmission. I could go both up and down. I think I had to do something clever with the accelerator pedal too, but I can't remember exactly what that was anymore.
 
JustDave said:
I learned on 58 Chevy.

But speaking VW Bugs, I bought my first in 1964. They were all over the place by then, and everyone from housewives to college professors were driving them. I loved that car. Just loved it. I bought two more after that. I drove them back and forth across the country. I drove the 1500 miles of graveled AlCan Highway from Montana to Alaska and back. I pulled a trailer with my 13ft sailboat.

Something happened in the 70s. I went to buy my fourth one, and the the price had shot up and the ones I looked at didn't even have carpeting, just a steel floor. They were always a no frills vehicle, but that was bizarre, and a few months later the VW bug was no more. More expensive Volkswagens like today became available, but didn't interest me. I ended up buying a Mustang II, the economical four cylinder version of the Mustang. But I digress.

One thing I found I could do with the Bug was not use the clutch. I think I used it to put it in first gear, and reverse, but once rolling forward, I could shift gears without the clutch. Shifting up I could just put slight pressure on the gearshift and wait until the motor came into sink with the transmission. I could go both up and down. I think I had to do something clever with the accelerator pedal too, but I can't remember exactly what that was anymore.
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Without realizing it, you could hear when the RPMs were right to make the shift. And you probably feathered the gas pedal when shifting.

I could pretty much shift anything without the clutch. I never tried with unsynchronized gears. I know my tractor won't let me but maybe someone else has driven a vehicle with unsynchronized gears and shifted successfully.
 
I learned to drive on a 1958 Plymouth Plaza 6 cylinder with 3 on the column. My current car is an automatic but my motorcycle (2023 Triumph T100) has a clutch. :)
 
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I learned to drive in my 1947 Hillman Minx in the UK - 4 speed manual with worn syncro (had to double declutch). I bought it for £10.



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I still have the Handbook for it. There were dozens of grease nipples on it and cable brakes.



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bobcat said:
The ultimate test of clutch mastering comes when you are ascending one of San Francisco's steep hills and you are forced to stop at a stoplight and there are cars right behind you. Beads of sweat suddenly appear on your forehead and it's do or die. If you take your foot off the brake to use it on the gas pedal, you instantly roll back, That's where I learned to use the handbrake and gradually release it as you work your magic with the clutch and gas in sinc with the gradual handbrake release. If your emergency brake is a foot operation, you're certainly in a pickle.
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Most newer vehicles with a standard transmission have "brake hold" built into their braking systems at least since 2015 that I know of. This feature holds your brake in the on position for a couple of seconds before releasing so you can move your foot to the clutch, put the car in gear and go, without the car moving backward. It's handy for those really steep hill stops you described.
 
bobcat said:
The ultimate test of clutch mastering comes when you are ascending one of San Francisco's steep hills and you are forced to stop at a stoplight and there are cars right behind you. Beads of sweat suddenly appear on your forehead and it's do or die. If you take your foot off the brake to use it on the gas pedal, you instantly roll back, That's where I learned to use the handbrake and gradually release it as you work your magic with the clutch and gas in sinc with the gradual handbrake release. If your emergency brake is a foot operation, you're certainly in a pickle.
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A hill start, using the handbrake, was once part of the UK driving test (when I took it). It also included a three point turn, reversing round a corner and parallel parking between two parked cars, it was also necessary to indicate using hand signals. Not being able to do any of those was an instant fail.
 
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