Standard transmissions

[712edf]

First thing..... John Deere 4020 diesel tractor. Then JD 3010.
First auto... Grandpa's 1967 Chevy C10 longbed with 283 & 3 on the three. Learned it all the in the pasture. trial & error.
Later I got to use Uncle Bob's 78 Chevy 3/4 4x4 4 speed to tow start the old Farmall diesel (Bob was on it). You have to get a Farmall up to about 30mph to get her to crank.
Bucky

[NNICKB]

My parents were furious that I bought the car.

First stick I drove at age 13 was a BMW Isetta, 4 speed on the wall. With 13 hp on tap, it was pretty unforgiving if you didn't shift when you were supposed to. My Dad bought it for me.

A few years later I purchased a Plymouth Superbird, also a 4 speed. But otherwise a rather different sort of a car. Dad was beyond furious when I whipped into the driveway with it, packed with some of my buddies...

[TommyDodge]

In the spring of 1970 (I was 17) my dad bought a 62 shove me truck with a 6 and 3 on a tree and my mom got a brand new furd LTD so I figured I better learn to drive the stick. I remember the shift point like it was yesterday, 10-15mph from 1st to 2nd, and 25-30 for 2nd to 3rd. Always started out in the snow in 2nd gear, never had a problem.
My first Dodge a 64 330 had a /6 and 3 on a tree, and I still would really rather drive a stick. The newer sticks aren't as much fun though, you have to start them in neutral and depress the clutch. All the safety minded idiots have ruined it. I used to love to shut the motor off and then slow down until I was going slow enough to push the clutch in and then turn the key to on and take my foot off the clutch letting the car/truck start itself

[Bob Thompson]

My first solo drive was in a standard equipped Morris Minor Traveler. It was modified to carry the milk cans up to the road to meet the collection truck. I was nearly eight at the time.

[Gordon Maney]

My first solo drive was in a standard equipped Morris Minor Traveler. It was modified to carry the milk cans up to the road to meet the collection truck. I was nearly eight at the time.

You probably had a milk moustache....

[Bob Thompson]

I always represented that as "Quality Control". ;-)

[Aaron S]

I drove various tractors and lawnmowers (back when lawnmowers actually had clutches and were not just belt drive) around our ranch beginning when I was eight or nine. But I officially "learned to drive" in dad's '69 Cheverolet half ton pickup, 350 / three on the tree. It had a very stout clutch which, coupled with the fairly high first gear on the Saginaw three speed made getting the truck rolling quite challenging for a novice (quite a change from the tractors where low gears negated any need for finesse on the clutch). Dad had me take off my shoes so I could feel the quarter inch or so of movement where the clutch actually engaged, he then had me cross my right foot under my left leg and practice starting off at idle (much as someone here mentioned before). I recall it being very frustrating at the time, but I did eventually get the hang of it. When I turned 16 that became my truck, being the oldest one in the family fleet. Though it had no tachometer, dad had put a loud exhaust on it and I got where I could gauge the rpm by ear so well I could shift up and down through all the gears just by manipulating the throttle, using the clutch only for stops and starts.

I still own that truck, though it has been sitting dormant for ten or twelve years now. I really do need to get it back on the road again but I have too many other projects already underway so it will sit awhile longer. I have had many people try to buy it from me, thinking that it was just an old truck that could be had for cheap. I get the strangest looks from them when I explain that the truck as it sits is worth more to me than any amount of money. That it was the only vehicle my dad ever purchased brand new from the dealer (until quite recently, when he got a 2010 Cummins Dodge). That I will never be able to let that truck go because it has been with me for my entire existence on this planet. That it carried me around before my birth, and all through my childhood, and high school, and off to college, and it is still there waiting to carry me again when I have time to wake it from it's slumber. That having such a constant throughout one's life is not all that common of a thing, and it is not something I take for granted. It may just be a thing, but it is not the kind of thing that can be bought.

[Chewie]

Well,

Nice story, Aaron.
Too bad it's a chevy.
-grin-

[Chewie]

I wish it had been an old Dodge truck..

I taught myself on my dad's little datsun car. Taught myself because he really didn't know I was using it. I think I was 14 at the time. It had a broken odometer and a forgiving clutch that made such use easier. I remember him making some odd comments about bad gas mileage a time or two..
His mileage improved when I got my truck.
He's never said anything (that was 30 years ago!), but I'm sure he knew.

[Doc Dave]

The video on the manual transmission was excellent. I understand better now how the synchronizers work.
The narrator/demonstrator obviously has a great knowledge of the engineering in the manual trannies and explained it very well.
I do wonder, however, if the man realizes that he has a very annoying habit of frequently clearing his throat? That detracted a bit from his delivery.

[rxinhed]

My first stick shift experience was what my father thought to be a simple task, pulling the car into the garage. I was 11. The car was a fresh-from-the-body-shop Spruce green 1956 Austin Healey 100. The distance to go forward was about 30 feet. In a split second, I managed to have the car nearly sideways in the garage, two 10 foot burn outs, 4 left curving skid marks, and nothing hit.

The resulting yelling, beating, and other punishments were not my fault. I was too small for the car. This was the first and only time I'd ever been allowed to sit in the driver's seat with the engine running, and my father gave me no instruction about the operation of the pedals.

The following day, the car took 1st place in a show for Concourse.

My father now has a 400hp clone of the other AH, and I have declined the driver's seat thank you very much...even though 34 years have passed.

New, fast Healey:


Dad's fleet of Healey cars about 12 years ago:


Cheers,
Russell