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Another reason to drive manual transmission cars

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:lol: How sweet it is...
 
I have only recently began to realize how many people do not know how to drive a stick.

I had driven many stick vehicles, cars, trucks, and tractors before my grandfather let me drive his car with an automatic on a regular basis, at age 10.

When I took my first driving test to be licensed the person giving the test said I was too relaxed and would not pass me. So the next time I acted like I was not so at ease and easily passed.
 
How is "too relaxed" a criteria for withholding a drivers license?!? Sounds kinda like some adult's justification for just bein' a POOP.
 
I'm about the same as Tom. I drove my dad's Pinto on a private gravel road lots of times when I was a kid (sitting in his lap), and before I got my license I got a ton of left-seat time in our Honda before taking the exam. The examiner kept snapping at me to "keep both hands on the wheel" - I finally got tired of it and asked him how the *bleep* he expected me to shift with both hands on the wheel. He finally shut up and let me finish the test...which I passed.
 
tomshobby said:
I have only recently began to realize how many people do not know how to drive a stick.

When I took my first driving test to be licensed the person giving the test said I was too relaxed and would not pass me. So the next time I acted like I was not so at ease and easily passed.
Click to expand...

<span style="color: #000099">Tom, when I took my exam the test was a 1/2 hour
drive out in the real world with real traffic.

My new Wrangler is my very first automatic tranny vehicle.

d</span>
 
You should be the father teaching a 16-year old teenage girl how to drive a straight shift in the 1971 VW Karmann Ghia you'd just spent 2 years totally disassembling & restoring as her first car!
 
I took my driving test in my Mom's Fiat. The guy looked at the 5 speed and said " If you can shift this thing, you pass."
 
Drove my TR3 up to Sturbridge Village a few weeks ago. One of the younger guys (age 25) asked if he could drive it.

I shut off the engine, put it in neutral and let him take the left seat. He looked completely mystified as I explained starting: ignition key to on, lightly hold down gas pedal, pull choke 1/2 inch, release gas pedal, push starter button, gradually push in choke as it warms.

He finally figured it out and got it started. I suggested he drive it slowly at first, since it doesn't have power brakes.

Guy asked "what are power brakes?"

Finally figured out the difference, said thanks, and buckled the seat belt. He pressed the gas pedal.

Engine just revved. No movement.

I suggested he push in the clutch pedal and shift into first.

He looked at me, then switched the ignition off. Said it was too complicated.

Got into his shiny black Dodge Ram with dual rear wheels, and drove home.

Back in the 1950s, my Dad taught me to drive in a stick-shift 1955 Dodge Coronet. Said if you learn a standard transmission, you can drive anything. Father knows best.

T.
 
I have only owned two automatics, a 68 Camaro with 2-speed powerglide for about a year at the end of college when my 52 Buick 8 with 3 on the tree gave up the ghost, and my current Acura TSX. But when I bought the Camaro from my sister, she bought a 70 240-Z in 1971, she could not drive stick, so I took the Z to college and she kept driving the Camaro until she finally decided to learn stick. Soon after that I traded the Camaro on a Vega Kammback 4-speed (it was what I could afford needing a car to haul camera equipment on the job. If I didn't have the TR3 now, I would need to sell the Acura to get another stick. This works better for my wife to use car.
 
GregW said:
I took my driving test in my Mom's Fiat. The guy looked at the 5 speed and said " If you can shift this thing, you pass."
Click to expand...

When I took the actual drivers test at the DMV, I did it in an '78 Toyota FJ40 Land-Cruiser. The tester looked at me like I was insane. Halfway through the test, we had a torrential downpour start. The passenger side of the windshield fogged up as the wipers were going crazy and the defrost fan was making enough racket that the tester had to yell his instructions. I got us back to the DMV without incident and as we pulled into the parking lot his side of the windshield finally cleared. He said that since he really had no clue if I made any real mistakes but I got us through the storm and back to the office that he was satisfied and that I had passed. Then he walked back inside shaking his head. A friend of mine ended up dating his daughter and we had a good laugh about my drivers test at a picnic at his house a few years later.
 
GregW said:
I took my driving test in my Mom's Fiat. The guy looked at the 5 speed and said " If you can shift this thing, you pass."
Click to expand...


I had a similar deal with my drivers test. My first car was a 1982 Toyota Cellica GT. Though my dad forced me to learn how to drive in my Mom's 1984 Dodge Ram 1500 van. It was actually nice since once I learned how to parallel park the van, the Toyota was a piece of cake. When I took the test, the examiner looked at the car and said, "I've never given a test in a five speed. Let's see if you can actually get it out of the lot." During the test, since it was in the middle of December, I hit a patch of ice, and the rear end started to come around. I just put the clutch in, did a little counter steer, and once the rear end was back under me, I let the clutch out and continued on. Once we got back to the station, I pulled up to the parallel parking station, and put it in. The examiner turned to me and said that the parking test wasn't necessary for me since I passed at the spin recovery.
 
Can anyone top this one?
In the 60's when I needed a CDL, commercial driver license, the test could be given in a persons automobile. And since I worked nights at a trucking firm and the testing station was on the other side of the city that is what I did.

At the time I was an avid fisherman and went fishing nearly every day. It happened that I had gone fishing the day before the test. It also happened that I had used night crawlers. It also happened to be really hot weather. If you have ever had the opportunity to know the oder of dead crawlers on a hot sunny day, it is something never forgotten. I did throw them out but the oder was overpowering even with the windows open. The guy giving the road test was a good sport and I did pass but I also only had to go quickly around the block.
 
DeltaAir423 said:
GregW said:
I pulled up to the parallel parking station, and put it in.
Click to expand...

It's interesting hearing what other people actually <span style="font-style: italic">might</span> have had to do.

My test consisted of five left turns, one stop light, never exceeded 20mph, and I doubt it was 2 miles of driving. We left the DMV parking lot and drove around a block of townhouses. My biggest challenge was listening to that guy complain about not using "both hands" when I was shifting.
Click to expand...
 
My driver's test was in a 1972 Buick Apollo 350 auto. The tester (female) first connected the seatbelt behind her (as the bell would ding continuosly unless the passenger seatbelt was latched), We left the state troopers office and turned right onto a 4 lane road. We went 1 block and turned right onto a side street into a subdivision. I had to stop on flat ground, and tell her what I would do if we were parked on a hill. Then I had to do a 3-point turn. Then we left the subdivision and turned left back onto the 4-lane road. I was a little nervous, so I was driving a bit slow. She told me to "stomp on the gas", so I did, and we left a lengthy black mark on the road. Then we turned back into the state troopers office parking lot. Pretty easy test.

I learned to drive a stick a few months later when my dad threw me the keys to his GMC Jimmy, and told me to go pick up my sister at choir practice. Took me 5 tries to get it out of the steep uphill driveway.
 
There must be a school for dumb and dumber crooks up there in Volusia county!!!
My dad put me behind the wheel of an old family VW as soon as I could reach the pedals (prior to that I would often do the shifting for him. On the command of "clutch! up/down", I would make the appropriate shift! It was another era, back then though! Until I grew too big, I would sit on dads lap and steer the car on occassion. Automatics were a rarity where (Cyprus) and when (1950s)I was a lad, if you wanted to drive you HAD to know how to shift gears!!
 
I just picked up my 2008 Suzuki company car. Requested a stick of course...

2 days later and my 9 year old knows when and what gear to put it in (from the passenger seat of course)... Already asking me if he'll get to take his driver's test in a stick shift. My challenge now is to get him to quit calling it a "stick drive"
 
I read somewhere that Miatas are rarely stolen because most thieves can't drive a manual and few Miatas are automatic. All four of our cars are manual. It's all my daughter has ever driven, except in drivers ed.
 
Re: Another reason to drive manual transmission ca

GregW said:
I took my driving test in my Mom's Fiat. The guy looked at the 5 speed and said " If you can shift this thing, you pass."
Click to expand...
Nice...
grin.gif


Back in 1980, many of us took our tests in standard transmission cars...
My test car was my parent's B210

I remember being somewhat curious about automatics at that time, and I remember asking someone how to drive one.

Everybody I knew had little 'post oil embargo cars'
Maybe slush boxes are more fuel efficient now days?
 
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