Can you drive a stick shift ?

[md murray]

Alicia Buckley was just about the prettiest girl at school and freshman yr. she had gotten hold of her sister's 5 sp. Geo Prism and somehow made it from her home over to the student union where it lay like a lump half on/off the sidewalk.  Low and behold I was the only kid on my wing who could drive stick and I got to chauffeur her and her friends and naturally a couple of my friends (image about 7 of us sitting on laps, hanging out the windows etc.) for a few weeks on beer runs or whatever other endeavor must have been important to a bunch of silly 18 yr old knuckleheads back then. Anyhow, ultimately this worked out for me as a certain member of her equally impressive entourage was eventually won over by the charms of her designated driver. Thank god for my cheapskate old man and the ancient stick shift cub cadet he made me mow for years with!!

[1932 plymouth pb sedan]

I learned to drive with an old mid 60s Dodge Dart 3 on the tree and have driven mostly stick shift since the mid 70s. I taught my wife to drive a 5 speed Mazda with much reluctance she got it figured out now years later she refuses. Then comes the fun part, my son born in 93 and was driving as soon as he could reach the peddles, taught him how to burn 4 gears of rubber and how to power brake a manual transmission. My current DD is a 08 Tacoma rear wheel drive, 4 banger and 5 speed that I purchased new and planned to get 20 years out of. Unfortunately they do not make a replacement today with a manual trans in the rear wheel drive. I feel this is because this world caters to stupid people that may not be able to figure it out.(should be a requirement IMO)

I love to drive and I love stick shift manual transmissions. Billy

[TTR]

23 hours ago, TTR said:

I learned to drive in a COE 3-axle dump truck w 10-spd gearbox, air brakes, etc.

Forgot to mention the above truck was essentially a new or very late model example, owned by and registered to the driving school, used solely for educating individuals to drive in general and operate (heavy) trucks with myriad of attached equipment and features, including various "exchangeable" beds, dump feature, on-board crane/lifts/PTOs, etc.

 

Most driving schools (all were are/were private enterprises) usually had 2-3 similar trucks along with a fleet of regular passenger cars, all equipped with clutch and brake pedals on the passenger (instructors) side.

Last I heard, the cost of obtaining a driver license (for passenger car/small truck only) was around $1800, but this was about 15 years ago when I paid for it on behalf of my god-daughter.

 

To use a car with an automatic transmission for learning to drive required special permit, usually granted only to those with some serious physical disability preventing the use of clutch and/or manual shifting.

[zepher]

I learned how to drive stick proficiently in a '72 Datsun PL521 pickup truck.

After I could drive that, I was allowed to drive my Dad's Rickenbacker a little while I figured out the non-synchronized gearbox.

Once I joined the working world, I learned to drive Class A vehicles and drove all sorts of manual rigs with 18 speeds, 15 speeds, 10 speeds and even one excavator with a strange 5 speed shift pattern and a brownie box.  Although I have not needed to use my Class A license for work for about 23 years, I still keep it current along with a current medical card.

I drive my prewar cars and I miss not being able to row through the gears in my '64 Malibu SS that I sold almost a year ago.

Edited November 12, 2021 by zepher (see edit history)

[coachJC]

When I was 16 I learned to drive in my Dads 1975 Chevy 1 ton roll back tow truck 3 speed with bull low. Taught my sister how to drive a standard in that same truck. In her mid 30s she bought a standard VW a drove it for quite a few years. In 2006 my wife and I bought a 2004 Chevy Cavalier, little 5 speed car with 5000km on it. Taught her how to drive a standard in that car and she drove it for about 3yrs, then I drove it for about 10 more. When my oldest son turned 16 he got to drive it for about 1.5yrs then he bought his own car and it was a standard. I got it back and drove it for another 1.5 yrs. before something finally went in the motor with 415 000km. My younger son was shown how to drive it but never did on a regular basis because when he turned 16 the car was not the safest thing and I thought it not best for him to drive it as an everyday car. With that many kms on the Cavalier I never once did a thing with that transmission. If you learn how to drive them properly and then teach others the right way they will last a long time.

Edited November 12, 2021 by coachJC (see edit history)

[dictator27]

Learnt the.basics in the family car, a 1959 Austin Cambridge 4 speed column shifter.  Took my formal training in a driving school car, a 1961 Morris Oxford.  No classroom stuff, just ten two hour sessions in heavy rush hour traffic followed by a written exam and one more road session with an examiner (who I knew).  Passed first time.

[Trulyvintage]

@ 

 

 

 

Jim

 

 

[32plywood]

my every day driver is a stick -- 2002 chevy silverado   4.3 v6 with a 5sp.   not able to get one like this any more loaded up  LS cab.  I bought it used still in factory warranty just turned 300,000 miles.    pulled motor freshed -up  at 230.000 and put a new clutch in but it did not need it.    to bad it has Iowa rust every where.    I keep it going as a work truck --- my 14 silverado just sets in the shed and old yellow keeps its miles down.

 

I like my newer one but its not a stick  --  Allan

[Frank DuVal]

Yes, that SNL skit was GREAT! 

 

 

10 hours ago, STEVE POLLARD said:

The salesman was determine to sell him a new Nova with the automatic, but my Grandfather was persistent and he ordered a new Nova with the three speed on the column.... I think it took almost six months for that car to come in !

 

Back in 1977 I stopped in Strosnider Chevrolet in Hopewell, VA for something on the company car. Bored, I looked around the lot. There was a Malibu with a six and three speed on the column! I took it for a test drive, just to do it. They said they kept one manual shift car on the lot for farmers in southeast Virginia.

 

About 1978, dad's 66 Biscayne was rear ended. He looked around for a car to replace it. Wanted the cheapest car Chevrolet built. Of course, that was the Chevette then. But, no dealer had one with NO options. Finally, in early 1979, a new salesman at Emrick Chevrolet just needed to make a sale, and ordered a Chevette Scooter just like dad wanted, No options. But when it showed up, the AM radio was in it, as GM had a promotion to give the radio away with the car. I guess that still counts as no options, since it was included. I still have the car, as no one keeps Scooters! OK, I have seen one other at an AACA show.

[CarlLaFong]

9 hours ago, TTR said:

 

To use a car with an automatic transmission for learning to drive required special permit, usually granted only to those with some serious physical disability preventing the use of clutch and/or manual shifting.

Not in California for the 70 years that I lived there

[JamesR]

I learned to drive a manual transmission mostly from a middle aged black man who sold me a '59 Apache half ton for $275 when I was about 20 or 21 and in college. He was very nice, and the truck had a granny low, so getting the hang of using the clutch when starting from a stand still wasn't too hard. Much harder was summoning up the strength to turn that vehicle at slow speeds. Some folks couldn't have steered the Apache. Luckily I lifted weights at that age. After I had the front end lubed it felt like I had power steering. 😄

 

As I've said before, my big trick was to start the truck in granny low without the clutch (after the engine was warmed up.) Just turn the key it would lurch forward and roll along happily at 4 mph, gears whining and engine humming. Most of the time I started out in 2nd gear (WITH the clutch! 😄)

[cahartley]

On 11/10/2021 at 7:20 PM, zipdang said:

 Learned on my brother’s 1948 Willys Jeepster when I was 15. Now at 60 I’ve rarely been away from them.

I learned to drive with my dads '48 Willys pickup truck.

I think I learned mostly in reverse which I don't clearly recall WHY but that's why I have no trouble backing up using mirrors.

I drove manual shift cars for a long time.

The only car with an automatic transmission that snuck in between was a '62 Plymouth Belvedere slant 6 with the push button transmission.

I have to say I loved that car.

I didn't buy ordinary transportation cars with automatics until I somewhere in my early 30's.

I'm 70 now and have  '32 and '59 Chevys both with straight 6 engines and manual transmissions.

I love both of them....and a '27 Model T Tudor.

How many here can confidently drive a Model T?

[28 Chrysler]

I had a 1923 T, it had 3 pedals, real Hot Rods have 3 pedals, therefore that Model T was a real Hot Rod that could do a real 42 MPH.

[Larry Schramm]

On 11/10/2021 at 9:11 PM, JV Puleo said:

Back in 2917 I was in London with a friend. We were leaving on a 15-day tour around the UK taking pictures for a book we were working on and were renting a car. The clerk kept trying to get us to take one with an automatic because, he said, "Americans don't know how to drive a shift car..." I assured him that I not only knew how to drive one but that I'd been doing it before he was born.

 

Must have been the same idiot that was the rental car counter clerk in Frankfort when we were there in about 2017 also.  Also probably the same age.

[28 Chrysler]

Around 1980 a young guy who said he never learned to drive a manual transmission could not move my 1959 Plymouth with an automatic.

[Grimy]

1 minute ago, 28 Chrysler said:

Around 1980 a young guy who said he never learned to drive a manual transmission could not move my 1959 Plymouth with an automatic.

He couldn't decipher the push buttons?  🙂

[28 Chrysler]

Just now, Grimy said:

He couldn't decipher the push buttons?  🙂

Exactly right, no shifter, no clutch petal. He started the car, sat for a bit, got out and said "I can't drive a stick".

[STEVE POLLARD]

On 11/12/2021 at 11:36 AM, rocketraider said:

Steve, that reminds me of my friend Marshall who grew up in Oxford NC. In addition to being a dyed in the wool Chevrolet guy he's also a dyed in the wool manual transmission guy.

Glenn, I have a friend down in Oxford, NC......ask your friend if he knows Lynn Adcock from Oxford...... he drives a 1969 Chevrolet Impala SS427, Fathom Green.

 

Steve

[JACK M]

The bar tender last night said she was tired of taking our shit and was going to get on her broom and leave.

I said that I didn't know many young girls that knew how to drive a stick.

I'd say about ten percent of the bar cracked up. That comment went over many heads.

Edited November 14, 2021 by JACK M (see edit history)

[JACK M]

Pretty easy to see who is having a boring Sunday like me.

I think I will watch a football game and get off of this site.....LOL

[Max4Me]

I learned at about 12 years old from the probably typical friend's dad who took us out the the 'sticks' and let us sit on his lap to 'drive." Later he would occasionally let us actually drive while he sat in the passenger seat. At 14 I worked for a orange grove maintenance company. I drove all around the local cities. The owner said it was legal at 14 to drive farm equipment on the streets. I didn't know if that was true or not, and I didn't care. I thought it was pretty cool to drive at 14!

[Max4Me]

My T-shirt (though the gear range is excessive!)....and I guess they don't use apostrophes in China!🤨

 

 

[Racer-X-]

On 11/12/2021 at 3:44 PM, coachJC said:

When I was 16 I learned to drive in my Dads 1975 Chevy 1 ton roll back tow truck 3 speed with bull low. Taught my sister how to drive a standard in that same truck. In her mid 30s she bought a standard VW a drove it for quite a few years. In 2006 my wife and I bought a 2004 Chevy Cavalier, little 5 speed car with 5000km on it. Taught her how to drive a standard in that car and she drove it for about 3yrs, then I drove it for about 10 more. When my oldest son turned 16 he got to drive it for about 1.5yrs then he bought his own car and it was a standard. I got it back and drove it for another 1.5 yrs. before something finally went in the motor with 415 000km. My younger son was shown how to drive it but never did on a regular basis because when he turned 16 the car was not the safest thing and I thought it not best for him to drive it as an everyday car. With that many kms on the Cavalier I never once did a thing with that transmission. If you learn how to drive them properly and then teach others the right way they will last a long time.

 

Quoting someone from redit (I don't remember who, and I can't find it now):   Most Cavaliers will run like crap longer than other cars will run, period.

 

 

21 hours ago, 28 Chrysler said:

Around 1980 a young guy who said he never learned to drive a manual transmission could not move my 1959 Plymouth with an automatic.

 

21 hours ago, 28 Chrysler said:

Exactly right, no shifter, no clutch petal. He started the car, sat for a bit, got out and said "I can't drive a stick".

 

I used to love to take things with really weird shifters to restaurants and other places with valet parking.  Usually, the car doesn't move until I get back. 

 

In the mid 1980's, I had a neighbor with a Hurst Olds with the lightning rod shifters in it. See the video. 

 

 

We'd go out for dinner every few weeks to someplace in Buckhead (Atlanta) with valet parking.  The valet attendants would take one look inside and just walk away.  That one was "normal" if you ignored the extra rods and knobs, but the valet guys rarely made it that far.

 

Later, around 1990, I had a 1975 Cutlass Salon with a Lenco transmission and shift levers in it.  That was even wierder, with 3 levers that you pulled back for the forward gears, another lever for reverse that you pushed forward for reverse, but was locked out unless the 3 forward gear levers were pushed forward (which was neutral), and a separate knob you pulled for the mechanical parking/trans brake.

 

I've never driven a Ford Model T or any other pre WWI cars, but I've been told that if you take those to the valet parking, they'll always be right where you leave them.

[Restorer32]

In 1968 I bought a Bug Eyed Sprite for $700 and had the car lot deliver it to Dad's back yard.  I learned to drive stick running up and down the alley behind the house.

[rocketraider]

I had the 64 Starfire in for Virginia safety inspection shortly before it got antique plates in 1989 and was exempted. 20-something inspector goes to pull the car inside and comes back saying "how do you back this car up?"

 

"Put it in R."

 

"Where is R? When I pull it out of Park to Reverse all it does is rev."

 

Had to go out and show him how a PNDSLR HydraMatic works. 

 

"I've never seen a car like this."

[rocketraider]

To expand on 64-earlier HydraMatic:

 

The story goes that when Oldsmobile began using the 2-speed ST300/Jetaway in 1964 Cutlasses and Jetstar 88s, some of them ended up in the Lansing HQ motor pool. Those familiar with it know it had the more modern PRNDL shift pattern.

 

Olds employees headed out for lunch who were used to the PNDSLR HydraMatic shift pattern would hop in a J88, instinctively pull the shifter all the way back to back out of the parking space and then drive up the parking lot fence, wondering what had just happened.

 

Lot of chain link fencing got replaced at Olds that year.

 

My beloved Aunt Rene did the same thing when she moved from her 1960 Dynamic to a 1970 Cutlass. She actually refused to put the new Cutlass in the garage for several weeks as she didn't want to take out it's back wall.

[TexRiv_63]

3 hours ago, rocketraider said:

I had the 64 Starfire in for Virginia safety inspection shortly before it got antique plates in 1989 and was exempted. 20-something inspector goes to pull the car inside and comes back saying "how do you back this car up?"

 

"Put it in R."

 

"Where is R? When I pull it out of Park to Reverse all it does is rev."

 

Had to go out and show him how a PNDSLR HydraMatic works. 

 

"I've never seen a car like this."

Been there! I have a similar situation with my current '60 Buick Dynaflow, minus the "S". Although no one but me will be driving that car.

[keiser31]

I was 15 years old when I learned how to shift a four speed. Learned how to power shift quickly. Some buddies of mine and I were visiting Ace Wilson's Royal Pontiac in Royal Oak, Michigan where we lived. There was a new display of the 1967 Pontiacs in the showroom. When we got there we saw this very cool setup with two 1967 GTO driver's compartments along with four speed shifters sitting side by side. In front of them was a slot car track that looked like a drag strip. On the track were two 1967 GTO slot cars with little signs down the track that read: 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Those were meant to tell you when to shift in order to get the slot cars to get down the track. The crowd was mostly high school kids. They were trying to beat each other at shifting and winning. I stepped up and being short for my age, I heard some giggles from the older guys. We were allowed three chances to beat the last, winning guy. I let him show me his technique on the first try and he, of course beat me. The second and third tries, I power shifted like there was no tomorrow and kicked the guy's butt. I won the event. The announcer dude then said, "Good work, kid!" He then sat down and said in order for me to win some GTO posters, stickers and a model car, I had to beat HIM! I kicked his butt, too and still have the stickers. The crowd clapped and cheered for me and I was on top of the world. The sticker went onto my HO slot car carrying case. I still have that, too. You can see a couple of the stickers on the underside of the lid....

[68v]

Worked on a farm as a kid. Started with tractors and for road legal truck I drove was a 1976 Ford F150 with a 390 4 speed. What a blast that truck was!!!

[philip roitman]

First car with a manual trans I learned to drive was a Tan color 1966 Tempest convertible with a 326 V8 with bucket seats and a 3 speed on the floor. I was 13 years old. Thought this photo was good for this thread just to show that manual trans has become a great anti theft device.

 

[Guest]

My Dad taught me and my sister to drive a stick shift on his '73 VW Super Beetle. He bought the VW new and still has it. When my nephews reached driving age, they also learned how to drive a stick on this car. One of them even has a stick shift car now.

 

I think it's neat that three generations of our family have driven this VW.

[SC38dls]

Yes

dave s 

[Aussi John 1]

I learnt to drive on a ten year old 52 Plymouth Cranbrook, three on the column, synchro on second and top, see pic. I taught myself to drive a crash transmission on a fifties Ford pick up, with four on the floor, see pic. I currently own and drive a Triumph TR4 A, with all synchro four on the floor, two 29 Studebaker Presidents, non synchro. floor change  and a 35 Studebaker Commander Eight, with three on the floor synchro on second and top. In the seventies  I drove my father's 1920 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, with a gate change four on the floor, crash transmission.

[alsancle]

8 hours ago, Aussi John 1 said:

I learnt to drive on a ten year old 52 Plymouth Cranbrook, three on the column, synchro on second and top, see pic. I taught myself to drive a crash transmission on a fifties Ford pick up, with four on the floor, see pic. I currently own and drive a Triumph TR4 A, with all synchro four on the floor, two 29 Studebaker Presidents, non synchro. floor change  and a 35 Studebaker Commander Eight, with three on the floor synchro on second and top. In the seventies  I drove my father's 1920 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, with a gate change four on the floor, crash transmission.

 

Mine was the 49 2 Special Deluxe with the same three on the tree.   I wish it was a 52, the styling of the grill was an improvement.   My dad paid 300 dollars for it and gave it to me. 9k original miles.  We put vinyl seat covers on it,  he had it painted blue similar to yours (it was gray and didn't need paint) and of course he put white walls on it.   Very nice car that I couldn't wait to replace with a GTO.

[dictator27]

I doubt there any valets who would have known how to deal with a Citroen with Citromatic drive.  Four speeds, no clutch pedal, shift lever is used to start the car and the shift pattern is Y shaped.

[STEVE POLLARD]

Interesting few days.....I needed to have the alignment check on my '69 Chevrolet 3/4 ton truck, so I took it to the local ( nationally known ) tire store where I purchased the tires from a year or so ago to have the alignment done. The store manager had no clue what make or model the truck was ! After the paperwork was completed, one of the service tech went to the truck, looked inside and turned and walked away... now there is a meeting going on between the service techs, turns out that only one of the four techs could drive a standard shift , and he was the oldest of the four techs. Long story short, the truck needed a outer tie rod ends ( passenger side had a slight bend ) truck is still up on the lift today, the store manager ordered the wrong parts, he didn't realized there was a difference between 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton.... 🙄

 

Steve

 

 

[alsancle]

Honestly, how could anybody be any sort of service tech and not know how to drive a stick? That is kind of embarrassing.

[Hemi Joel]

I sort of can. Here is a very short video of my trying, but I keep forgetting to lift the right foot.  (:

 

 

[STEVE POLLARD]

Joel - did you take lessons from Bill ?  😉

 

 

 

[MarkV]

I learned to drive stick in a 1921 Chevy! Nice straight gears and mechanical brakes!