Adam H P15 D30 Posted April 9, 2012 Report Share Posted April 9, 2012 Yesterday my oldest decided she wanted to learn how to drive a clutch. She got her permit 2 weeks ago Well..... there is only 1 car with a clutch in the fleet of vehicles, my 49. Here are some pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1940plymouth Posted April 9, 2012 Report Share Posted April 9, 2012 Please give your daughter a pat on the back for me, she is to be commended for wanting to learn how to drive a car with a clutch and not being ashamed to be seen with an old car. Not your typical teenager, again, good for her Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Young Ed Posted April 9, 2012 Report Share Posted April 9, 2012 Good for her. Driving a manual transmission is becoming a lost art. Its hard to find a modern car with one. I learned to drive in Dads 39 Plymouth(floor shift 3spd), 50 plymouth 3spd on the column, and the 94 dakota I still drive with a 5spd. Oh and Moms 83 Caprice Classic wagon with an automatic. The plan was always to take my test in the 50 but for some reason I ended up in the replacement for the wagon-a 90 lumina sedan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TodFitch Posted April 9, 2012 Report Share Posted April 9, 2012 Good for her! And good for you! Question though: Where the heck did you find that big a parking lot that was empty? I am unaware of any like that here in the South Bay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam H P15 D30 Posted April 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2012 Good for her! And good for you!Question though: Where the heck did you find that big a parking lot that was empty? I am unaware of any like that here in the South Bay. Hey Tod, That's Skyline College, right in my back yard. She was origionally embarassed to be seen in the car but it has grown on her. She did pretty good. Never stalled (fluid drive). Haven't told here about the fluid drive part yet. In time, I will tell her. Going to put disc brakes on it if she wants to keep driving it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Elder Posted April 9, 2012 Report Share Posted April 9, 2012 Good for her. Driving a manual transmission is becoming a lost art. True, hyd. assisted manual shifting really isn't all that hard compared to unassisted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pflaming Posted April 9, 2012 Report Share Posted April 9, 2012 I had a 60's swept-line 1/2 ton. Our daughter was at Westmont U in Santa Barbara, CA and needed a vehical so she learned how to drive the truck and took it. When it came back the bed had a lot of sand in it. When asked about the sand, she said, the truck was the favored vehical on campus and the girls hopped in the back and went to the beach!!!! Just one time to school and your daughter's friends will be drooling!!! Great story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old rat 49 Posted April 9, 2012 Report Share Posted April 9, 2012 That's great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4852dodge Posted April 9, 2012 Report Share Posted April 9, 2012 When our youngest son got his license he wanted to drive the 48 one ton. I taught him to drive a stick and off he went. It was the most photographed truck in the parking lot and he was weekly pulled out of study hall because a teacher wanted to see the truck. After he got married his wife wanted to learn to drive a stick and the Dodge was called on again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam H P15 D30 Posted April 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2012 So now she wants me to paint it yellow and give it to her to drive?????? We will see, right after the disc brakes go on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerseyHarold Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 My kids (18 and 20) are anxious to learn to drive a stickshift. I'm on the lookout for any dirt-cheap stick vehicle I can find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
52b3b Joe Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 I've been driving a stick as long as I have been driving. All through high school I drove my Corvair with a four speed, then I moved to a Ford Ranger with a five speed, and now I drive a Dodge Dakota with a 318 and a five speed, I don't like automatics, the shift too much at the wrong times it seems. I like to control what the engine and car is doing! I'm 21 yrs old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TodFitch Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 I've been driving a stick as long as I have been driving. ... I'm 21 yrs old. Driving for five years now? First automatic transmission car I got was after I'd been driving 36 years. Seems like using a manual transmission is like riding a bicycle. You just get in the vehicle and everything works without conscious effort. Well maybe not. A couple years back my wife and I took a trip to England and Wales. The rental car was a 5 speed diesel. Between always having to look the wrong way for traffic and using the wiper to signal turns I did have to consciously think about moving the shift lever with my left hand. Stalled it a couple of times when I got third rather than first... Regarding learning to drive a stick shift, two things come to mind: First, "back in the day" a VW Beetle was a good car to learn in as it was pretty forgiving and non-intimidating. The second one was how my mother taught us to drive on the column shift family car (Dad did not have the patience). She had Dad set the idle up just a little then had us practice driving around our rather hilly neighborhood without touching the accelerator. Didn't take long to learn how to use the clutch and learn when to shift with that type of lesson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackster Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 great for her! you should be very proud! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merle Coggins Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 Before I was even of driving age I was driving our farm truck around the farm. It was a '55 Ford F200, 6 cyl with 4 speed. There was a pin broken in the shift lever so it would spin around. In order to move sideways through the neutral gate you had to swing it sideways some so that you could push it over to the proper position, especially to push through the spring to the reverse position. It made for interesting shifting. I was also driving tractors from the time I was big enough to be able to push in the clutch. I remember in High School Driver's Education class we had simulators (which very closely resembled the cockpit of our 1970 Dodge Polara). These simulators could be operated as an automatic or 4 speed. At a certain part of the course everyone had to learn shifting the manual trans on the simulators. After that you could pick which way to drive them. I always used the manual trans after that. Merle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
52b3b Joe Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 Driving for five years now? I've been moving the cars and tractors around since I was 8 or so, but legally, yes 5 years . I may have drove a few times down the road before I was 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meadowbrook Posted April 11, 2012 Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 I was born in Brazil and back then when the 1st automatics were available in affordable cars (GM J cars), folks did not like them because they felt out of control with the much reduced feel of engine braking and also they felt like the engine spun and spun without the expected acceleration. So automatics were nicknamed 'floor polishers' Also, being a south american country, if you were a man and stalled your car, you essentially ceased to be a man and were jeered by anyone within earshot. I will not go into what women were called who stalled their vehicles:rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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