Yep, eating an Arby's while driving a 71' Bronco with a three on the tree is no challenge.
Yep, eating an Arby's while driving a 71' Bronco with a three on the tree is no challenge.
Please don't let the cat outta the bag. Once you figure it out it's smooth. I learned to drive on an old Chevy pickup that was a column shift in 1974. The drivers license examiner said while I missed using my turn signal a couple of times he was impressed that I could stop and start on a hill with 3 on the tree.
I owned a column shifter for 15 years until we moved to Fairbanks. Went out one morning to start my truck up at -50 degrees below zero. Something froze and I applied too much pressure to the gear shift handle and it broke off. Drug a dragon heater out, unfroze the truck, and figured out that properly tightened a pair of vice grips worked as a gear shift. Drove it like that for 3 months until the spring thaw and we could get into the salvage yard.
It's a lost art I tell ya. Now people just get in their cars and go. They don't really drive them.
Its all I own, my 16 year old drives a stick. Was at a trends house & his friends mom had a emergent medical problem, there car was a stick so he got to drive because his friend did not know how, 2012 mustang gt the moms car. He said he had a blast, few more ponies than his beater toyota
The linkage on my Chevy was terribly worn out. Cold weather would gum it up. The spur would leave the gate sometimes on the 1-2 shift, leaving me in neutral and unable to shift out of it/into gear. I got real quick at jumping out with a pair of Chan-L-Locks, popping the hood, and pulling that thing back into 'proper' neutral where it would move and catch both r-1 and 2-3. Character building.
It got a TH-350 when I built the engine because I was po' and in a hurry to get her back on the road. Close-ratio 4 was unattainable.
That's the main reason I think everyone should drive a stick. Most drivers I know don't know what gears are. I had to teach a 30 year old and a 40 year old how gears worked on a bicycle recently. (neither can drive a manual car, obviously) What a gear ratio is. Why shifting down will make that hill a easier to climb.
If people don't know how a car works, how can they be expected to drive in rain or winter weather, or how not to rear end people? I would like some stats to be pulled on rear-end collisions and slick road accidents. See how many of the at-fault drivers know how to drive a stick. I bet less than 15%.
Out of 5 vehicles at our house, 4 are stick shifters.
When my son was growing up, all we had was stick, including tractors.
He learned at 5 years old on the tractor, and then on to the old truck at around 7 years.
When he took his driving test, the instructor was so impressed he could drive a stick,
that she just could not stop watching his feet. lol
He still has bought all sticks, he calls it his anti theft device. None of the young folks can drive a stick.
I got 250k or more out of my 11 Honda cars with a stick before I sell them. Working on number 12 and 13.
It works out great when your employer pays mileage, I pay for the car by 100k, then pocket the rest.
When my son was growing up, all we had was stick, including tractors.
He learned at 5 years old on the tractor, and then on to the old truck at around 7 years.
When he took his driving test, the instructor was so impressed he could drive a stick,
that she just could not stop watching his feet. lol
He still has bought all sticks, he calls it his anti theft device. None of the young folks can drive a stick.
I got 250k or more out of my 11 Honda cars with a stick before I sell them. Working on number 12 and 13.
It works out great when your employer pays mileage, I pay for the car by 100k, then pocket the rest.
I should have titled it No More Ford Truck Manual Transmissions...........................the article is from Ford Truck Enthusiasts.
