My Grandfather taught me how to drive a stick while I was sitting on his lap at 8 years old.
I still remember it was in a little Datsun and as soon as he thought I had figured it out and turned me loose, the first thing I did was to rev it up and dump the clutch to throw gravel everywhere.
He chewed my ass for it because he thought I didn’t know what I was doing.
Heh.
I have always hated automatic transmissions and still do.
If you have ever torn into one to fix it, put it back in only to find out some stupid little seal didn’t work and had to tear it back out and back down again to find it, put it all back together and reinstall it again, you will understand.
Hate those motherfuckers.
Gimme a clutch and a stick anytime.
Bought an old honda civic 5 speed years ago, because 38 mpg DUH. Taught my son to drive it at about the same age I started on a CJ5 standard jeep on a ranch. I think he was about 12. He loved it. He got to drive around in the hood late in the evening for practice. Taught my middle daughter on it when she was 15 and bought her a standard. Was teaching my youngest daughter when it gave up the ghost and never ran again, she was about to get the ability.
My parents trained me on a stick shift and my first and next several cars were all stick. I taught my boys on stick also. The problem is that stick shift has become harder to get and becomes rare and costly.
Our crazy uncle taught me and similar aged cousins how to drive on the beach.
Three on the tree, 1967 chevelle ss 396.
We learned the hard way.
Stay on the semi wet sand just at the waveline and all was good. Drift a bit into the dry, softer sand and if ya hesitated to downshift and step on it, you sank in the sand.
Uncle would toss us all out, get in the drivers seat while we unloaded shovels from the trunk. Dig a bit then all push together. Uncle would romp it out of the hole and down the beach a thousand feet or so. We would have to carry everything to the car, load it up, then the next victim would take the wheel while the rest of us layed into the guilty party.
Of course, we all learned to drive sideways to keep the car moving.
He also taught most of us how to swim by tossing off a pier into the gulf.
I miss that man.
That’s had to be tough getting to drive a chevelle Charlie. Any of them inherit the beast?
That was an odd bird, a Chevelle SS with a 396 and three on a tree? Ya would have thunked they would have put a 4 on the floor, it was designed as a pony muscle car not an econo box…
A very good anti-theft device…
ALL of my kids can do a stick shift. Taught them FIRST before they could drive.
I went out in the back roads one day and showed my son and his friend that you CAN start a car using all 5 gears, it’s just clutch control. THEN showed him how to start and shift without a clutch – which I learned the hard way after blowing quite a few clutches at the drag strip. You either learned or got towed home. Couldn’t afford the tow truck back then…
Driving-wise I like automatic. Course I’d never try tearing into one either.
but yea, I can drive a stick.
My first stick was on a Datsun pick up with shag carpeting and 4 on the floor. There was a little play in the gears but it would take an old dirt road like a champ!
Those who don’t know how to drive a stick have NO idea what they’re missing. Yes there were days being stuck in traffic where I wished I had an automatic but nothing beats milking every gear for what it’s worth.
taught my three to drive on sticks initially in large, mostly iced-over parking lots in western MA at night; then in the same road conditions on isolated up- and downhill roads.
learned on a old 51 chevy deluxe coupe, back roads ky. gravel at best.
first gear sucked big time, third was a left down.. but second ?
stomp that bitch and she fly like a scalded cat ! given the fact that there wasn’t more than a 1/4 mile of straight road anywhere there, it was perfect for those roads
and yes, my dad showed me how to do just that.
seems like he used to run shine back in the day when he was younger or so I was told by my uncles. I wonder how he bought a 1928 dodge for 700 cash back then,,,
or why he left in the middle of the night to the left coast in the mid 1930’s
never did hear about that or why ?
there is a lot of stories, but dad never did say anything about them
I just remember when we where back there, we never met anyone who wasn’t anything but nice to us
I’ve tried, repeatedly, to learn to drive a stick. I can never get the feel for it, so I inevitably kill the engine. Maybe I’ve had lousy teachers, or not enough practice, or something, but I’m 53 years old now and it’s pretty much a moot point.
Jab we all killed the engine numerous times. It was like learning to ride a bike. You had to skin a few knees to figure it out. But yeah. I do miss that 38 mpg beast though. Got me 2 blocks from the house after a blizzard, ditched it. Went back to house, tried to pull my 4×4 toyota out. Barely got back in from the driveway.
Hey Phil, Some of the GM shops I worked in were bumper to bumper shops. You did it all. I hated doing auto trans repairs,one mistake and you had to take it back out and start all over. A lot of the times the first disassembly didn’t show a failure. Lose a day or two of pay. Glad its over. Allan
heh, my grandfather also taught me to drive in a manual Datsun pickup.
First car was a ’50 Chevrolet – 3 on the column.
I’ve never liked automatics. I like being the one telling the CAR what to do! And… AND… the less moving parts, the better!
I learned in a ’59 GMC work truck. 4 speed. Dad just said don’t mess with the switch on the knob (two speed rear end), that was for later.
Mine was two, a 1968 Dodge 20′ flatbed with a six speed and a two speed brownie and a 1970 Datsun 1300 pick em up truck…
’67, possibly ’68, manual Datsun. 67 horse power 1300cc. Pale puke Blue or turquoise. No seat belts. Dad used to pull JD 216 forage wagons with it. That was pretty dumb, no way to safely brake with that mass pushing. How the clutch ever got them rolling in the first place was somethin’.
Had it up until about ’95. The dog used to sleep in it, so would just leave the window open for her to come and go at will
Jerry
1938 dodge two ton truck as the first thing I ever drove. As to my first car was a 53 3100 chevy truck from the back of a dealers lot. Had to do a valve job on it before I could drive it.
Can afford nicer stuff now.
Learned to drive stick in a red1970 Datsun 510 4-speed. The UGLIEST car in existence but it would go anywhere. The stick shift nut was missing and so I could pull the stick out of the floor in about 3rd gear and scare the living shit out of any girl riding in the car. No wonder I never got laid…
Learned to drive a stck shift 50 years ago: an old Ford pickip truck. Taught my wife and both children as well. Bad knees have made my transition to an automatic, but dang I loved those sticks.