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Can You Drive a Stick-Shift?

Halvecto

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Stumbled onto this picture. As a kid, my Grandpa refurbished an old Cushman just like this. He taught me to drive a manual clutch on that old trike when I was about 12. Drove it around for hours each day I was at his place. He taught me to respect vehicles, the mechanics of them and basic care. Man I was proud of that. To this day, no vehicle intimidates me much. I'm no premier wrench, but I have a decent understanding of how vehicles (cars, boats, motorcycles, etc.) work and necessary respect for them.
cushman trike.jpg


I think everyone should know how to drive a stick-shift. Better drivers, at least for awhile. With all the distractions going on, paying attention and driving the car are low on the mental priority list of most people.

I think it a good thing if more kids were driving manual trans cars. Seems most take driving for granted and have no clue what they are actually controlling (or not).

I bought my second daughter a 5-speed VW Golf because I was concerned she was easily distracted. I taught her how to drive the car after just a few times out. I showed her the e-brake trick for getting started when in a pinch. She got stuck at a light on a small hill with a bus right behind her with her sister shotgun. They panicked, laughed and then she figured it out.

People driving a stick-shift tend to be more engaged and lends itself to better drivers. I didn't want her texting and driving, so keeping her hands and feet busy made it hard to do that. Cost me a clutch in short order, but no accidents or tickets. And, she was proud to be one of the few kids in school that could drive a stick-shift.

What vehicle did you learn to drive a clutch transmission?
 

rmarion

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I taught my 3 sons on a steep hill...

that's when your gonna need it.... also going down Hills in low gear... allow the motor to slow you down... not the brakes...

I learned watching my old man drive.... all his trucks where sticks...

I learned stealing his trucks when I was 14... cruzin for chicks hitchhiking...in HB at Beach and PCH.... the Fun ended when I ran it out of gas... without a dime in my pocket...

every Kid should be taught how to drive a stick
 

LhcBrad

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I have a stick shift. When I lived in California, I honestly believe since it is a 5 speed, it was less likely to be stolen.
Not to many gang bangers know how to drive a stick.
 

Mandelon

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I gave it up on daily driving. Spending hours in so cal traffic is awful, even more so when your left calf is burning. LOL

We had a Wrangler with 5 speed that the kids learned on, my wife's old little Honda had one, and I had plenty of cars with a shifter. A few needed bungie cords to keep in 4th gear! But I hear ya, lots of kids today have no clue.
 

shintoooo

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I've been driving a manual for a year now. You pay much more attention to the road and other drivers and it makes you realize (even more) just how bad people drive these days.
 

welldigger00

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IMG_0128.JPG
this ol girl is my daily driver, and she’s a standard shift. My kids both learned on a standard jeep, and my daughter drives it to school daily. My Olady grew up on a standard Toyota. We live in the mountains, so it’s paramount. Back in the day before auto trannys were what they are today, everyone drove standard shift. The autos wouldn’t hold up.


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Rayson1971

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My first car was a 65 cal bug . I had to master the stick before I could get my license. I learned in each gear there was a certain mph and rpm that I could get it into each gear without the clutch.
 

termiteguy

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My first 3 trucks were stick and both of the boys trucks were. Had a long steep driveway I made the boy pull up and down that driveway stop in the middle and take off until they could do it perfectly
 

Halvecto

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My first car was a 65 cal bug . I had to master the stick before I could get my license. I learned in each gear there was a certain mph and rpm that I could get it into each gear without the clutch.

Ha. Buddy in college had a 280ZX. He could all but dead-start without using the clutch.
 

Halvecto

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View attachment 791871 this ol girl is my daily driver, and she’s a standard shift. My kids both learned on a standard jeep, and my daughter drives it to school daily. My Olady grew up on a standard Toyota. We live in the mountains, so it’s paramount. Back in the day before auto trannys were what they are today, everyone drove standard shift. The autos wouldn’t hold up.


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Johnny! I'm guessing it's hard to stall the Cummins with all that torque.
 

musicFunsun

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VW bug, 4 speed Pinto, my older sisters vehicles, so yup! My first car was an automatic pinto:confused:, had to get a running start to get over Kellogg hill to go to work! Next car was a manual Toyota Corolla 5 speed, loved that car!!
 

HOOTER SLED-

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My first 2 cars were sticks.....62 Rag Bug...and 81 Datsun lowered mini truck....:D....and I used to cruise my older bros 911 Targa back then too...dont know why he let me do it. :D
Just sold my daily hoopty Ford Ranger that was a stick...dont know how the hell I lasted so long driving that bitch in traffic. So much nicer now in my auto Colorado....and with a/c. Budget ballin yo. :D
 

Halvecto

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In college, I had a '71 Land Cruiser 3-speed. Chevy V8 conversion. Non-syncro 1st gear. Had to feel my way into it if I wanted to get the gear before coming to a complete stop.
 
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pronstar

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Had an encyclopedia called How Stuff Works.

Read how a manual transmission works, basically taught myself.

Not much of a learning curve, was pretty easy once I knew how everything worked.


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rvrrun

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I've been driving a manual for a year now. You pay much more attention to the road and other drivers and it makes you realize (even more) just how bad people drive these days.
That’s the reason we are starting our oldest by learning with a manual. You become a part of the vehicle and not just along for the ride.
 

Carlson-jet

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I gave it up on daily driving. Spending hours in so cal traffic is awful, even more so when your left calf is burning. LOL

We had a Wrangler with 5 speed that the kids learned on, my wife's old little Honda had one, and I had plenty of cars with a shifter. A few needed bungie cords to keep in 4th gear! But I hear ya, lots of kids today have no clue.
You owned a VW bus at one point I see. :p
 

RCDave

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Three on the tree in a 57 Chevy stepside truck behind a 283. Sticks ever since.

2 of our three cars are stick.
 

bonesfab

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I have a few sticks now. A 5-speed in the bus, a t56 in my little hot rod truck, a 4- speed in a 57 Chevy and the bubble top. I call them the millennial anti theft device.
 

KevinR

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You bet. Makes me think. I’ll try to post pics of my manual transmission cars over the years.
 

was thatguy

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View attachment 791871 this ol girl is my daily driver, and she’s a standard shift. My kids both learned on a standard jeep, and my daughter drives it to school daily. My Olady grew up on a standard Toyota. We live in the mountains, so it’s paramount. Back in the day before auto trannys were what they are today, everyone drove standard shift. The autos wouldn’t hold up.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

What size silica you got there?
 

DWC

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First car was a 77’ VW rabbit. Loved slamming it into second gear to get the chirp. Had a 81’ CJ w/ a small block Chevy that i would try to lift the front wheels off the ground. Rabbit was bullet proof. Jeep, not so much. Stock 4 speed and rear end didn’t make it long. Let go on the way back from Mt Sac..
 

77charger

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Like driving stick shift cars on street but dont own one.I do have a sand rail that is stcik shift though always fun to drive at glamis.
 

rivermobster

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Toyota Hi Lux.

I was 14 or 15 at the time. No licence. Had already been driving before that.
 

Shlbyntro

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I learned to drive stick in my grammas '76 MG-B Special on the backroads of rural Michigan visiting her for the summer when I was 13 or so. My first car which I still have was a 5speed fox box. A construction crew I worked for used to let me drive their big rigs out in the desert which are completely different animals but I learned to love a Rockwell. I've taught 2 of the younger guys at my yard (not to say I'm much older than them) how to drive stick on our F550. They kept trying to shift without using the clutch to be "cool" like our big rig driver. I had to tell one of them, "Unless you feel like buying a transmission, use the fucking clutch!" and it's not even my truck lol.

2nd gear doesn't like staying in anymore needless to say.....
 

Flying_Lavey

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Learned to drive a stick in my Uncle's '93 Chevy 1500. I swear the throw on the clutch was 18" long and the shifter through was at least 2 feet and neither were light. Learned in a crowded and hilly campground on the Oregon coast. I had been riding dirt bikes almost my entire life so it was pretty straight forward. The first car that my parents bought for my brothers and I to share while going through high school was a '87 Ranger with a 2.9L and a 5 speed, light brown with a matching shell. Gutless little pig but we all drove it.... A lot.... Had to put air shocks on it cause we'd drive around with 3 or 4 friends in the bed (before it was illegal in California from what I was told). I miss having a stick shift car. I want to get one really bad.

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BajaMike

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Lots of people can’t drive a stick. I learned on a 63 VW, with my dad yelling at me every time I stalled. I went on to Porsches and GTOs. We all had to learn how to drive from a stop going up a steep hill (use the hand brake).

I had three airheads ahead of me in Laguna Beach last month.....you know Forest Ave, that REALLY steep short street in Laguna. There is a stop sign at the bottom that says “don’t start up the street until its clear” (common sense). Traffics was heavy, I had three cars ahead of me, a girl in 60s VW, a guy in a new or near new Porsche Turbo and just in front of me an old Jeep Wagoner (stick shift I found out later).

The girl in VW starts up the hill when there is a car blocking the road halfway up the hill. The dipship middle Eastern guy in the Porsche goes right behind her, she slams on the brakes before making the crest of the hill, stops with the Porsche right behind the VW, and the Jeep stops right behind the Porsche. The girl in the VW tries to go forward and rolls back into the Porsche just as he was trying to go up the hill and he rolls back into the Jeep......so now there’s three cars stuck together on a very steep hill.

I park out of the way and walk up the hill to this shit show. VW girl is crying, Middle Eastern guy is screaming he can’t drive his new Porsche up the hill and the girl in the Jeep is just sitting in shock. I can see the VW is partly locked to the Porsche behind her but figure I can pull it apart. Everyone is yelling wait for the cops and tow truck.

The VW girl gives me her keys, I rev it up a little and pull it apart and to the top of the hill and park it. I tell the Porsche guy to give his keys, he was happy to, I start it up, hold the hand brake, rev it up, pop the clutch and burn my way up the hill and park next to the VW girl. I went back and drove the Jeep up the hill for the hysterical girl and parked it next to the VW and the Porsche. Sirens are now blaring and light flashing coming up the hill, I walked on down to my car an drove away.

That’s at least three people who’s daddy never taught them how to drive a stick shift up a hill.
 

HST4ME

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1968 F 150 289 3 on the tree when I was 11 or 12.. then a chevette.. z28.. 84 chevy half ton with a 377 5 speed..68 firebird 428 nash 5 speed..someother odds and ends along the way.
 

DLC

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I learned on a shitty old dune buggy we had. Think I was about 9/10. When I was was 13, I drove my sisters Nissan Sentra around on my paper route, she bought the car but couldn’t drive a stick. I drove her over to the big church park lot to to teach her how to drive this took like 6 months which I didn’t mind...

Of course my parents didn’t know this ever happened....
 

RiverDave

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I grew up driving a Volkswagen rail my family had. All of my cars when I was younger were stickshift.
 

monkeyswrench

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Pops taught me when I was 14 in an old C10 with a 4 on the floor. By 16, knew how to drive a split gear bobtail.

My fastest cars have been autos, but the most fun have been sticks...it's like a clutch pedal adds 50%...doesn't matter if it's that Cushman up top, a 1600 single port or an old twin stick diesel...makes them more fun:)
 

sonicss31

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Best part for me was when taking girlfriend home later then her dad said to be home, I would shut the car off several houses away and then let her out. Drift down the hill and pop the clutch and off I go. Silent getaway.:cool:
 

monkeyswrench

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Best part for me was when taking girlfriend home later then her dad said to be home, I would shut the car off several houses away and then let her out. Drift down the hill and pop the clutch and off I go. Silent getaway.:cool:
In my case it was the silent approach, and leaving the radio on when saying our goodbyes:D Live and learn, but popstarting a car was handy knowledge!
 

RitcheyRch

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I learned to drive with a manual transmission and up until recently have always had a car with one.
 
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