Where did you learn to use a manual transmission?

[bamamate]

First manual was a friend’s small dirt bike. Think it was an 80 or something around that. I did OK on the launch but couldn’t keep the front wheel on the ground for the 2nd gear shift. Sadly he moved away. Then I graduated to practicing 3 pedals on the piano with a Frisbee steering wheel and whatever I could find for the shifter. Think I used a banana a few times. I watched the in car cameras during televised races, brand new feature back then, to see how they did it. Also, every chance I got I played an arcade video game, night driver or something similar, that was a stick. My older sister got a stick shift Le Car and my dad took her out every day after work for a month before she felt confident to drive to school (this was in Birmingham, AL. (lots of hills). I rode in the back seat and watch and listened. When it finally came my turn dad threw me the keys to sis’s car and said take me to the store. Got in and off we went. He never gave an instruction or said a word. I think the years of simulator practice paid off.

I prefer manual automobiles and have had a few. My last car, now my daughter’s, is a 2000 Nissan Maxima. Tried to find one with a manual but there aren’t many manuals anymore. My current cager is a GMC Sierra which manual isn’t an option. Still have my, was mom’s, ’79 Z28 in the backyard on blocks which when I redo it one day I hope to convert it to a manual.

 

[TonySilver]

Hello,

I, officially learned to drive a manual tranny car when I bought my 2nd car, a Saab 900. We still have that car, if I had not bought the car I think my dad would still be promising to teach me how to drive manual.

I am proud to say that I learned on my own. It did take me a good week to become somehow competent. On the other hand, I taught my brother how to drive manual in a similar situation, when he bought his jeep wrangler a '95, difference was he learned in 1 hr. I guess, I am a great teacher. lol.

Tony

 

[BttrThnWrk]

I was a late starter. My first car as a teen was an automatic. My folks didn't drive, so I had to pick it up myself. If Driver's Ed was even generally offered in Chicago area schools back then, the school I went to didn't have anything like that. I had to pick it up by myself on Chicago streets. It's a wonder I lived through that.

The first time I drove a manual was in the Army - I piloted a 5 ton dump truck for awhile. That was interesting, too - especially learning the stick on the muddy roads around Ft. Lewis, Washington.

 

[danrev]

I actually learned to shift first on a 3 speed manual 1959 Lambretta scooter. The clutch lever and grip shift were on the left handlebar. You twisted the grip to change gears. You could ride scooters at 14 in Alabama. When I got my learner's permit for a car I started out on a 1959 Chevy station wagon with a 3 speed column gear shift. My dad soon added a VW Beetle and I loved the gear shift on the floor. Always drove manual transmissions in my cars until a few years ago. Got tired of shifting in stop-and-go traffic. Getting lazy as I get older. But I taught all my 3 kids to drive a manual transmission car. Even if they own an automatic car I told them they might get into an emergency situation where they would have to drive a manual and it would be good to know how.

 

[hapenglish]

I learned on my neighbor's'78 Honda XL 75. He had just moved to town and we were about 13. Bald tires in the snow on neighborhood streets actually made learning to modulate the clutch and gas easier, I think. Just drop the clutch and spin away, learning to use throttle and sheepskin (wheel spin, thank gob for incorrect) to help control the machine as it slithered around... watching me and Todd trying to explain the 4' diameter 'crop circles' in the snow up and down our street must have given my parents and adult neighbors some kind of payback for that little bike having virtually no muffler... ;-)

First learned stick in a cage in a yellow '76 civic like someone else here but ours was a wagon. Ahh all fond memories

 

[Dennis M]

When I was learning to drive my folks had two cars a '51 Ford and a '62 Falcon both had 3 speed column shifts. My Dad wouldn't let me learn at first as I had a older sister and he said we could not afford to have two teenage drivers on our insurance, so I didn't get my DL till a week before my 17th birthday which was about two weeks before I started my senior year of High School. I got my first Motorcycle a 250 Suzuki about 2 months before graduating, didn't own a car till I was 22. My current car, a Chevy HHR, I special ordered to get a stick with the larger engine that was available on them.

 

[Cyclerosis]

First car I ever drove was my dads pink 57 Plymouth Belvedere with a 3 on the tree at the age of 14. He rarely used that car but never 'seemed' to notice its varied placement in its parking spot in front of our Detroit home. After that, it was an easy transition to my sister in laws 62 Beetle. Looking back, I'll bet it was funny for an adult neighbor to observe the behavior of us wannabe drivers that could barely see over the steering wheel.

 

[lipsee]

Hello,

I, officially learned to drive a manual tranny car when I bought my 2nd car, a Saab 900. We still have that car, if I had not bought the car I think my dad would still be promising to teach me how to drive manual.

I am proud to say that I learned on my own. It did take me a good week to become somehow competent. On the other hand, I taught my brother how to drive manual in a similar situation, when he bought his jeep wrangler a '95, difference was he learned in 1 hr. I guess, I am a great teacher. lol.

Tony

Saab 900 comes fully equipped with very weird front brakes,,,what a pain to change the pads when you do,nt know what you,re doing!!!

 

[lipsee]

Back to the thread,,,My first was a Nuffield Universal Tractor,,,,down on the farm ,,suppose to be working,,,but in fact having the time off my life!!!!

 

[Harald]

snip
"Whaaaa? You are 18/20/22/25/28 etc., years old, and you only have a motorcycle licence, no car licence?! But...but...!" and stare suspiciously at the licence trying to see if it was a forgery or something, lol.

I don't think that's an option in any of the United States. When I moved to Washington state back in 1989, I had been without a car and riding a motorcycle exclusively for about 5 years in Florida. When I went to get my WA drivers license, they wouldn't allow me to just get the motorcycle license. I had to get the car license first and then get a motorcycle ENDORSEMENT on the car license.

Because I didn't own a car, I had to borrow a car from a guy at work to go take the test. Luckily I still remembered how to drive a manual car because my loaner was a Mazda RX7 with manual trani!

 

[max cooper]

I learned to use a manual transmission with my 1st car. This was about 1967. It was "are you ready ?" a 1959 Goliath Tiger. It had a 4 speed on the column and was actuated via a steel cable running through a metal housing . It was a 4 banger with front wheel drive. It was stored in a barn and I bought it for $250 . It was built in Stutghart. Spelling? Ran great but the trans' kept hanging up in 3rd or 4th gear. Eventually sold it and the rest is history. Wonder what it would be worth now ?

 

[MO Cycle]

This is one of those times when I'm not sure if I should fess up Let's just say I was an "adventurous" kid who had mostly raised himself, but went on to be a very different person.

A couple of weeks after my 13th birthday, I learned to drive a stick when I stole a Fiat Spider off a used car lot. I had ridden in stick shift vehicles and talked to some older kids who drove them, so I had the gist of it but hadn't actually driven one. As a kid who spent his paper route money for food and clothes, who occasionally shoplifted to have anything more than bare necessities, I knew there was nothing like a car in my future. In fact, the bicycle I had worked so hard and saved up for had just been stolen from the school bike rack. By then I was an angry, hard-luck kid, but I still had a can do attitude and I wasn't going to let something like a stick shift stop me from having a red convertible sports car - if only for the night or maybe even a few days. The used car dealer had a reputation as a thief as well, so I had a justification in my young mind.

The dealership had a habit of leaving keys in the cars between test drives, so it was easy to swipe them one day as I pretended to be some kid admiring cars, opening doors and looking in them while they were busy pitching to someone unfamiliar with their reputation for odometer spinning and dirty tricks. They probably thought they had misplaced the keys or someone forgot they pocketed them, so I went back in the evening after they were closed and learned to drive a stick on my own. I wasn't very smooth, but I understood how a clutch worked and the shift pattern was on the knob. Right as I was really getting the hang of it, the Fiat broke down. Damn, I don't think I'd had it for a half hour and drove maybe 10 miles when the engine started running rough, then it quit and wouldn't restart. (On the upside, I might have saved an honest customer from the same fate!) Still, I felt like I had been ripped off. I had gone through the trouble of stealing the keys in broad daylight, waited till they were closed, walked down there and took all these risks, and then the car I was teaching myself to drive a stick with turned out to be an unreliable piece of crap. I was pissed! I had to walk several miles back to the dealership, break into their sales building by busting out and climbing through a rear window, find the key board in a back office, and haul *** out to a Mustang Fastback while the audible alarm was going off. I had that Mustang with an automatic for almost a week before I left the keys in it and parked it where somebody else would steal it. Joke was on them - the needle was on empty.

Eventually I got caught with guns and cash in the middle of a commercial burglary. (Not quite 14 years old by now.) I had set off a silent alarm, (brand new technology in those days,) was swarmed by police and nearly shot. While it was hard to appreciate at the time, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. After months in juvenile hall, an escape and a couple of more months, I was flown in handcuffs to live with an uncle on a farm in Kansas. Soon after I got there, I was driving a stick every morning before school as I hauled loads of hay in a 55 Chevy. I learned to put it in granny low, hop out and jump in the bed as it rolled along while I broke bales and scattered hay flakes out to horned cattle. Next, I was driving the tractor and then a dozer. And soon after that I was running errands for my uncle in a van that had 3 on the tree. I still wasn't old enough for a learner's permit, but it was rural and no one questioned it. My uncle certainly knew I was arriving with some "driving experience" he could make use of.

It wasn't easy learning to live in a family, having rules, chores, grade standards and accountability for all those things, but I learned to appreciate the trade off for regular meals and a stable situation. After a year I was on the honor roll - winning a bet that cost my uncle a new saddle. What a contrast; where all my prior driving had been felonies, I was now invited to push clutches and throw sticks on all sorts of things! Fast forward some decades to the best of all - I had a carefree ride on my NC700X today, and that's some easy shifting.

"What's your life's story and when did you learn to use a clutch?" That was the question, right?

 

[mahbin]

My dad had a 38 chevy pickup with a four speed granny gear box. Had to double clutch it in and out of the gears. He said if you can drive this you can drive any think. He was right by the time i wad 14 I was racing shifter carts All over califoria, and keeping up with the professional factory guys. But a 90 mile a hour wreck down the back stretch at Oakland speed way put an end to that. I think most kids now days can't drive a manual shift!

 

[hapenglish]

nicely done. thanks

 

[davidc83]

Taught myself when I was 18. I bought a brand new 1977 Ford Courier pickup truck with manual transmission. I had my buddy drop me off at the dealership and told him I would get it home one way or another, I drove it out of the parking lot and spent the next 4 hours driving around and learning the clutch/shift patterns. Never had a problem shifting a motorcycle when I started riding at 19.

 

[Hot Wing]

Learn by doing. I was 15 1/2. My first bike was a well abused 1966 Bridgestone 90 Sport, the fast one. I think I paid $115 for it. The aluminum cylinder Sport was oil injected and rated @ 9HP as best as i can remember. It could wax my buddies Honda CT 90. It had all that "extra" two stroke power. We rode those things everywhere.

The Bridgestone would be the perfect bike for the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute. Three crank shafts, because It was eating the lower end main bearing, and or pistons. Maybe the oil injection wasn't all that good, or maybe a 15 year old just beat it to death. My Dad said I'll show you how to repair it once, then it's up to you. I got all the practice I wanted taking it apart and putting it back together.

Good Times!

 

[MZ5]

Does a multi-speed bicycle count?
I learned to 'drive' a manual transmission in a tractor. However, a Honda trail 70 (with automatic clutch) was not too far behind, nor were the trucks which had electric 2-speed rear diffs.

 

[anglachel]

Does a multi-speed bicycle count?

I've been on a lot of bicycles and I've never seen one with a proper clutch...


Closest would be the 3 speed geared hub setups where you had to stop pedaling to shift, but even then it wasn't a mechanical disengage of the power source, it was more of the power source dropping to 0 RPM.

 

[TonySilver]

Saab 900 comes fully equipped with very weird front brakes,,,what a pain to change the pads when you do,nt know what you,re doing!!!

Yes, you are right. Some things with the Saab ate upside and down. But once you do it a bunch of times, it becomes 2nd nature

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

 

[Agent]

My grandfather had a 1968 Dodge 100 pickup with a slant six and three speed. I learned to drive a stick in his backyard. That truck wouldn't go over about 50 wide open, but it would pull a house off the foundation. He offered to sell it to me. I didn't have the $200 at the time and my cousin totaled it a week later.