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Can you drive a manual shift?

My Dad bought his '71 Charger (in my avatar) with a 3-on-the-tree. He wouldn't let me near his new at the time Charger, so I was relegated to (and learned to drive a stick on) his '65 Chevy Biscayne, which eventually became my 1st car.

We never had an automatic transmission vehicle in our family until 1986 - well after I moved out on my own so....yes I can drive a manual shift vehicle.
 
I learned on a 51 3/4T Ford pickup with a 4 speed not synchronized. I think I was 10 when I learned to drive that. Wife learned on a 67 Bug that we had. I am teaching our grandsons on a 66 Valiant with 3 on the tree. Oldest is doing fine, youngest will learn this summer. Part of my teaching is to start on a hill.
 
I learned to drive a "three on the tree" at the ripe old age of 8, in my Dad's 1964 Impala station wagon.
 
multimopes said:
Way back when, I tried to drive stick shifted cars a couple of times with mixed results. As they weren't mine I never got much time driving one. That all changed when I saw a car I just had to own, and it was a stick. In fact, it wasn't even for sale. I just walked up to the guy and said I want to buy it.

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Well, the 383 with pistol grip 4 speed stole my heart. Three days later it was mine, the first of many manually shifted vehicles. I had a 3 speed 360 Dodge Van, 4 speed 318 Ramcharger, 5 speed 2.2 (024) Charger and a Slant 6 automatic Mirada all on the road at the same time for my wife and I to drive. I love shifting and am quite concerned they will stop making them if people stop asking for them. I was on the Chrysler Advisory Board for a spell and pleaded with them to offer a Manual tranny behind the 300HP 6 Cylinder Challengers. They wouldn't even give me a response at all. I also pleaded for more 2 door vehicles as The Chally and Viper were the only two besides the Sebring convertible. No soap! Now that my kids are grown, I want to get back in the drivers seat, so to speak.
One of the main reasons I hate the new automatics,(8 & 9 speeds), is it costs more to rebuild one than I have spent on whole cars. I can change a clutch and maybe gear sets but forget trying to rebuild a modern auto at home. This comes from a guy who (NEVER) had a Mopar automatic fail, even after 300,000 miles. I just fear extinction!
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If you don't have the challenger I bet my blood that you still regret you sell that car for shure :BangHead:
 
Having a manual in a car pretty much renders it theft-proof from the millennial crowd, I'm betting. :)
 
Weird I can't exactly remember how I learned to drive a manual; but drove the old POS company delivery pickup 3 on the tree 6 banger Ford often loaded overweight making deliveries and pick ups (machine shop my 1st job). Then they finally got a brand new Dodge pickup 4 on the floor v-8. That was cool burning the tires between 1st and 2nd. lol. My 1st stick was '70 Cuda 383 and tried to teach my girlfriend (now my wife) how to drive it. That ahhh failed and money was tight then for a new clutch. My ancient plow truck, Dodge 2500, has a 5-speed and tried to teach my nephew how to drive it...that failed too. I had given a trick to get 'the feel' by slowly letting the clutch out to engage motion without stalling and showed him like 5 times. Didn't work...I think some are just not meant to drive a stick!
 
T2R9 said:
Mom's Nova, three on the tree.

I would be amazed if there is anyone on this site that can't drive a stick!
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Amen to that.

Until a few weeks ago, I owned a 5 speed, 4 speed, and 3 on the tree. I sold the 07 Mustang with the 5 speed as it wasn't coming with us on the move. It was my daily driver...sometimes a pain because it was a manual. Next daily driver will be an auto. But I'll always have a stick vehicle somewhere...
 
Uncle taught me in his 79 cooper 1000 austin mini back in the early 80s. True test though was shifting lefthanded in Ireland 3 years ago...which I mastered and still have nightmares about it!
 
moparedtn said:
Having a manual in a car pretty much renders it theft-proof from the millennial crowd, I'm betting. :)
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One of my parents neighbors taught me in a 1960 Ford 100 on his farm. I was13.
 
Learned to drive on a 90 Laser 5spd. Been driving manual transmissions ever since.
 
Mom used to let me jam the gearz on a 64 Ford Country sedan, 223 w/a 3 on da tree when I was 8. It was also the first car I ever got behind the wheel of too! Drove it for 4 years before the rust took over for good.
 
Yeah, since I was 8 yrs old....Grandpa scooted the seat all of the way up on his old Ford and tied a wooden block to each of my sneakers. Wore out the brakes and the clutch from having the blocks resting on the pedals. Put me out on a 100 acres of pasture and said have fun, and then closed the door and walked away laughing his *** off...
 
As Johnny Cash sang, "Been to the end of the world and back,with a wheel and a stick in my hand."
First car was a 66 Valiant 170 3 on the tree.
MY wife learned to drive on a stick shift. She said when she went for her license, the DMV guy asked her "Stick or a automatic ?" her reply was "What's a automatic ?"
Both of our daughters learned to drive a stick shift before any automatic.
I took a Motorcycle safety instructor course and sat in on a beginners rider class. The instructor asked "Who has driven anything with a clutch ?" Many didn't know what a clutch was.....
 
The last time someone asked me if I could drive a standard shift vehicle I replied, " Like I just stole it."
 
My Bro learned on the 64 Country Wagon but I learned on a 54 Ford Business Coupe, six banger, 3 on the tree. The rest is history and I occasionally still drive them when I can. Pops often said that if one can drive a stick, they can drive anything. So true as these days, the auto is offered in just about everything and the newer generations haven't a clue about them...cr8crshr/Tuck:usflag::usflag::usflag:
 
I grew up on a farm in Minnesota. I don't remember anyone teaching me but we had a 39 Ford 2 1/2 ton truck with a flat head V8 and 4 speed. I remember driving that in the fields while my older brothers and dad loaded hay bales. About 8 years old I guess. John Deere tractor a couple years earlier. We didn't own anything with an automatic transmission and I don't recall driving an automatic until I got my first car. (57 Ford convertible) back in 1960. My brothers were older and their cars were all 3 speed manuals. I guess I was the first one in the family to own an automatic. The good ol days.
 
I learned on an aunt's old Pinto(I was maybe 13-14?)....She said hey, here's $20, take my car and put $10 in gas in it and you can keep the other $10 (didn't mention it was a stick car, or ask me if I could even drive yet for that matter...yeah:realcrazy:) well I couldn't pass up those big bucks! Figured it out pretty well on the way through the neighborhood. The problem came when I needed to back up to leave the gas station.. the shifter absolutely would NOT go into reverse.. an old guy came over to try to help me figure it out, he could probably see I was starting to freak out a little bit. After a few more minutes of messing with it we discovered you had to pull up on the shifter handle to get it to go fully into the 'R' position...aah the ford name was cursed by both of us that day!
 
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