[scrambler81]

After reading Jedi's new car thread, it seems like a lot of guys have a tale to tell on this topic. So, what about it? Any good drama? Anybody bounce their Dad off the windshield? Roll back into a cop car? Kill their big brother's new clutch?

 

[montegogt]

Driving a 62 chevy pickup in a field. 3 on the tree. Lot of gear grinding. Un-syncroed first gear.

 

[computer guy]

I had a 75 VW Rabbit that I learned on. Scared my Dad ( He likes to be in control) so My mom helped out with the driving. (My Practice sessions.)

My Dad said that there is a Telephone pole and I kept driving towards it.
After the 3rd time I finally turned the wheel straight and went by it.
My sister burned the clutch out on it 3 times but overall it was a neat little car.
4 on the floor.
Richard

 

[CtotheB]

Believe it or not, I learned when I was 4. My dad had a 1971 Datsun 510 and he let me shift it. I still can't believe how he taught me so young. I also learned how to double clutch when I was 6.

 

[scrambler81]

My Dad was a D.M. at Ford Motor Co., and part of his package was 2 company cars, one for my Mom, and one for the oldest college age kid. When my turn came around, I ordered up a 1981 Bronco with a 4 speed with the granny low first gear. Anyway, I had to pick it up at the Ford office, which was about 15 miles from home, through heavy traffic, lots of lights and a couple of circles. When my Dad walked me out to the lot, he asked "Hey, did I ever teach you to drive a stick?" When I said he hadn't, he said "Oh, hell!", handed me the keys and said "Well, I'll see you at home", and he walked back into the office.
Jumping out of lights with that crazy first gear, I'm still amazed I didn't kill anybody. By the time I got home, I'd given up on first, and just started out in second. Took it out and ran it through the woods that very night.

 

[dr.olds]

my first was a 1969 ford ranger 3 on the tree,came home from school one day at age 13,my dad said were going to get a load of hay out of the field and your gonna drive.his buddy had a 66 chevy pickup and I couldnt drive it to save my life ,after dumping bale after bale off trying to take off I was fired from driving the chevy LOL.

 

[jedimario]

I actaully learned on an '89 Honda Accord. Took me a while to get to where I could get the thing moving, but once I got that down shifting was no problem.

 

[CTWLSMIKE]

My Dad gave me one lesson in a VW Dasher on a busy main route on a Saturday afternoon. After several stalls and horns beeping and odd hand gestures, we gave up after maybe 10 miles. 4 years later I bought my first brand new car, a 1987 Nissan Pulsar SE, that only came in a 5 speed manual. Never even test drove it as I had to wait for it to come in. Drove it right off the lot with no problems. Hmmm, did I actually learn something from that one fateful lesson?

 

[carnut2256]

Driving a 62 chevy pickup in a field. 3 on the tree. Lot of gear grinding. Un-syncroed first gear.

Wow, same here!!!! My brother in-law did up a cool looking '62 1/2 ton stepside, metallic silver, black pinstriping, chrome reverse with baby moons and a custom tonneau cover. Tossed me the keys regularly as a 17 year old, and never complained that it came back on "E"

After that, I got a '55 post sedan with a '67 Vette 300hp 327 and Muncie rock-crusher. Later during MP school, we were put into jeeps for "training" and I power shifted mine and promptly dropped a drive shaft :drunk: (Told the drill sgt. that I had never driven a stick shift before :tongue: ) Your tax dollars at work :wave:

 

[SkipperC]

We actually had a 1977 Chevy pickup with a 3 speed on the column in drivers training. The first car I drove with a stick was a 1965 Corvette Sting Ray convertible that my high school sweetie's brother used to let us borrow. :thumbsup:

 

[60sMetal]

85 Nissan Sentra in the stadium parking lot. What fun :thumbsup:

 

[Icedawg]

My Grandfather stuck it to me. It was a 1970 brown Pinto runabout. Every day he drove to the shop until one morning he was sitting in the passenger seat. That was my lesson. Within a month I was driving a 1961 B61 Mack,an old Caterpillar dozer. I look back that was one of best days of my life.

 

[Inciteful]

Trying to drive a 2005 GTO off the dealer's lot. Needless to say, my mom doesn't want to do that again as she was with me. This is one of those stories that you can tell on a really dull evening to liven it up. No, the car was not totaled or damaged in any way, but it was a great way to see me with a red face driving a stick shift. Born and raised on automatics! :thumbsup: Though I "technically" drive stick on my video games.

 

[Ricky2400]

I learned on a '76 Toyota Corolla (4-speed) when I was 22 years old (1985). It was only a matter of easing the clutch out without stalling the car. Funny, a couple years later I became a bus driver (NJ Transit) and had to drive the old GM "Fishbowl" coaches which had 4-speed double-clutch transmissions. Oh, for the good ol' days!

*Don't CRUSH 'em...RESTORE 'em!*

-Rick

 

[noddaz]

1976 Volare' 3 speed slant 6. My sisters car.
What a beast...
But by then I had already been riding motorcycles for a few years.
So hand foot was not that big a jump from ....
Well.. Hand foot...
Scott

 

[Toy Vettes]

My girlfriends 74 Camaro. She told me to bring the rpms up to 4000 and pop the clutch. For the next few hours I couldn't even back out of a parking space without smoking the tires!

 

[Scott Moen]

Hi All,

I didn't know how to drive a STICK until I was about 20 years old. I started working for a company and one of my jobs was to make pickups and deliveries in the '73 Ford F100 Pickup Truck. The only problem is that it had a "Three on the Tree". My Boss looked at me one day and said ... "You're learning to drive stick today." He took me out and we went once around the Industrial Park. He then had me pull back in at the shop and he gets out. He then says ... "I don't want to see you back here until you've learned how to drive this thing !" Too FUNNY :lol: I bet I was out there driving for an hour before I was comfortable using the clutch. That's how I learned to drive stick !

A funny story ... I was out making some pickups one day and had a bit of a problem. Those that have driven a Ford "three on the tree" know that first gear is front down. Second gear is up and back. Third gear is back and down. Well I was 30 miles from the shop. I started off from a stop light. I went first gear, second gear, and then shifted down for third gear. Unfortunately when I shifted down for third the gear shift continued to go straight down and stay in my hand ! ! I was in third gear, but the gear shift had broken and come right out of the steering column ! ! I had no idea what to do. I pulled over at a pay phone and called the shop. They told me to do whatever I needed to to get back to the shop. Luckily I was able to stick the gear shift back into the column and gently shift it to get back to the shop. I never did live that adventure down

Take care all and have a great night and coming weekend !

Scott Moen
Mustang Enthusiast & Collector
[email protected]

 

[carnut2256]

When it came time for my daughter to get a car for college, the best deal we found was on a Nissan 200 SX with a 5 speed. Kelly had no desire to learn and was less than happy with my attempts to teach her. Fast forward a year and a half, and she's a gear slammin', clutch poppin', stick shift lovin' girl

"I love my 5 speed, I'm so glad I picked this car!" she says now

 

[TheDarkCutlass]

is it sad if i said i don't know how to drive a stick?

I know the concept, i played with a stick geo metro wheni worked at the junk yard over my lunch break a couple times. But to go out and drive a stick in Hampton Roads traffic, don't know. And whenever i move my brothers car (pos diahatsu!) he always complains im burning up the clutch!

*shrug* just never had a need to learn a manual, all my cars i had were automatic.

 

[NYSWLHUNTER]

LOL! I remember when I was 19 and had no job or money I scraped up $100 and bought my neighbors 1989 corsica 5 speed V6! You couldnt turn the car off as because the ignition switch was broken and it had no parking break! SO what I did was i got in it, pushed the clutch in and put it in 1st and pounded the gas! I thought the only was to shift was real fast and angrily! I beat that car to breaking! After awhile I got used to it and started my career in burnouts and reverse engine popping. Fun thing it was until the fuel pump died NOBODY taught me how to drive!!! Clear the sidewalks!

Dont even get me going on the 800HP supercharged 04' vette though!