Do you still drive a stick shift? Did you ever?

[hollydolly]

Funnily enough even tho' I learned to drive in the UK... and have driven for over 40 years ... with the gear sticck on the left..... when I started to drive in Spain, where the gear stick is on the right like the USA... it was more intuitive strangely...

 

[Rider77]

Yes I drive a Manual...I have always driven a manual except with rental cars abroad on holidays on occasion ..which I hated tbh. Much slower than Manual cars, and less easy to control... bit like playing with a grown up toy car..than a real car....and boring..I can see how people could easily fall asleep while driving..

Both my estranged husband and my daughter have semi automatic cars, and they prefer them to manuals now.. and are always trying to convince me to get one ... but naaaa.. I don't like 'em

I learned to drive on a manual shift, and my first new car was a four on the floor muscle car. I'm pretty sure the number of teens who could smoothly drive a stick shift today are far and few between. Even my ATV four wheeler is not automatic.

 

[spookycat2]

Still driving a stick... 2014 Ford Focus SE Sedan, w/5spd.
I do wish it had more power though.

 

[Babs2u]

My brother-in-law told me of a deal on a car when I was 21. I had been working for 2 years and had some cash but no license. It was a sweet little MGT-TD and I bought it and got my licence. It was a light blue two seater convertable with a stick shift. What fun and what luck.

 

[outlander]

If you can't find 'em, don't grind 'em

Unfortunately my 97 Buick Regal is a slush box, but currently looking for something smaller with a stick which I prefer.

I refuse to drive a modern rubberband transmission, I'd rather walk.

 

[oscash]

My darling Dad died at the age of 87 and never learned to drive a car. He tried to drive his brother's motorcycle but didn't know how to stop it and drove around the town until he ran out of petrol. That was back in 1930.

 

[Rakaia]

I have also driven manual cars with the gear lever mounted on the steering column, this was common in Aussie cars.
Four on the floor or three in the tree.

 

[Pappy]

That looks like a '36 Ford Coupe. My gut feeling is that it's actually something else so I guess my memory is fading.
I still drive a manual although Wifey's car is an auto and we've had a few autos now. When I was getting used to driving an auto I used to curl my left leg up and sit on it to prevent myself from seeking the clutch pedal.

Actually my first car..a 1937 Buick business coupe. No power steering or power brakes. A monster to drive.

 

[robin416]

That looks like a '36 Ford Coupe. My gut feeling is that it's actually something else so I guess my memory is fading.
I still drive a manual although Wifey's car is an auto and we've had a few autos now. When I was getting used to driving an auto I used to curl my left leg up and sit on it to prevent myself from seeking the clutch pedal.

Oh yeah, I remember almost putting myself through the windshield using my left foot on the brake reaching for the clutch when I first got an automatic.

I still left foot brake. But with a lot less pressure as the first time I hit the brake pedal.

 

[Been There]

I drove a lot of stick shift vehicles, or standard transmissions in the military.

 

[Rakaia]

No power steering

I thought that the power steering was two Armstrong units.

 

[Pappy]

Oh yeah, I remember almost putting myself through the windshield using my left foot on the brake reaching for the clutch when I first got an automatic.

I still left foot brake. But with a lot less pressure as the first time I hit the brake pedal.

I also left foot brake always have. Just feels right to me.

 

[Pappy]

I drove a lot of stick shift vehicles, or standard transmissions in the military.

Our motor pool had lots of different vehicles. The most fun to drive were the tanks.

 

[Tom52]

Our motor pool had lots of different vehicles. The most fun to drive were the tanks.

Were tanks manual transmissions?

 

[Pappy]

Were tanks manual transmissions?

We had one old tank built my Ford that was a Manuel shift. The newer ones were automatic. This was most of the tanks we fixed.

 

[Been There]

Our motor pool had lots of different vehicles. The most fun to drive were the tanks.

The Marines had very few tanks and as of today, I think the few we had have all been reassigned or transitioned over to the Army. I only remember of one Abrams tank unit when I first enlisted way back when and they had already been taken out of our command and moved. The Marines have now gone with mostly amphibious vehicles. The Marines does have one unit of tank personnel used mainly for training and support. The Marines like to think of themselves as being the Guardians of the Pacific Rim.

 

[MoBeans]

I found out you don't necessarily need the clutch. In the early 70s I worked for the local town DPW. I drove an old junker double cab pickup truck with an 8' bed, it was a huge thing with a standard shift. The clutch broke and they didn't want to spend any money to fix it so they told me to just drive it. I got so I could shift without the clutch by listening to the engine rev and putting it into the next gear when it sounded just right. I could even do it when downshifting.

I got so good that nobody could tell I wasn't using the clutch, except when I had to stop. That was a problem because I had to take it out of gear to stop and then slam it into first without jumping ahead or stalling the engine to go again. After a few months of that I killed the transmission and they junked the truck. Every so often after that when I was driving a standard I would do that just for fun.

 

[PeppermintPatty]

Has anyone seen fuzzybuddy?
He hadn’t been around in ages?