Who Can drive a Stick Shift?

[Sid]

I mean really drive one, parallel parking and all, starting on a hill yada yada.

not bunny hoping all over the place.

[hanabi]

Yep!!

I've even surprised myself with my 3 point turns and reversing round corners lately

those were always things I used to struggle with, not being a 'natural' driver

I'm not too keen on 5th gear and often don't bother, but the car on my drive has 6 gears,
so will need to come to terms with that phobia real soon

[compirate]

5 speed 300zx, 10 speed Freightliner, with a 2 speed reverse! Try backing up with a trailer in 2 high! It gets fun real fast

[mudfud]

sid,

I think that this will be a very biased survey.

the people on pachitalk are hands-on, practical, fix-it people, so i'll bet that almost all of us drive stick.

on the other hand, if you asked how many of the people we BUY pachinkos from, that have no clue how they work (one woman said to me "I don't understand how the bell can ring without electricity"... I almost whacked her on the head to see if she'd hear something), you'll find most of them DON'T drive stick, and probably don't know how to change their oil either.

[Sid]

no point or reason to the poll..

just a quirky thing that came to my head.

not trying to guage anyones abilities..

[luckydog]

I owned cars with 3 and 4 speed stick shifts before i got married, my ex couldn't drive a stick, so we had all automatics for 25 years.

when i first retired i got offered a job moving cars from a dealer to different car sale locations about 4 times a year. about 20 of us would drive around 200 cars to the sale and bring back the ones that didn't sell or trade ins. a van would bring us back and we would jump in the next batch of cars.

the first time i had got a car with a stick shift i thought i might as well drive it instead of swapping for an automatic, within the first mile i was back in the groove

I drove new and used cars for them to sales for 2 years with a lot of them with stick shift, i even drove a big dual wheel pickup with a diesel and 5 speed stick.

its like riding a bicycle once you learn, you never forget

[compirate]

not trying to guage anyones abilities..

Asking if you can or can't do something, sounds exactly like gauging someones abilities!

We need to get those non-stickshifters outta here! Cloggin up the place!

[d mowery]

As they say if it got wheels I can drive it , 2bys , 4 bys 6bys and them big mothers that bend in the middle and go pshssss when they stop and RC cars

[Sid]

Asking if you can or can't do something, sounds exactly like gauging someones abilities!

We need to get those non-stickshifters outta here! Cloggin up the place!

yeah but just because the response can be guaged doesn't mean thats my intent..




The Streets shall fill with the blood of the non Stick shifters.

[RandomTask]

All of my cars since 1990 have been manual shift.
I currently drive a Land Rover Discovery 5-spd when I'm not on riding my motorcycle to work..

[hanabi]

I think Sid has won the Lottery and is going to buy us all cars and he is just making sure he gets us the right one!!

[luckydog]

in that case my favorite color car is dark blue

[Sid]

yes just go to your local dealer everyone..
Get a quote for the car or truck or motorcycle that you want and send it to me and i will make sure its taken care of.
Just make sure the dealer issues the quote in pachipoints

[RaymondV]

My 1st car was a stick, so I learned on the fly
1984 Dodge Omni

[hanabi]

I learnt to drive in a Manual (stick shift) car many years ago, then we ended up with an old classic Granada which was a really nice car but AUTO,
and although a huge, wide, heavy car it was much easier to drive

Then for some reason I stopped driving for a few years, was just happy to be a passenger...

I started driving again last year in a manual (stick shift) car and feel much more confident this time around

[Sid]

the first new car i bought was a stick shift.

bought it paid for it without test driving it (as i didnt have a clue how to drive a stick)

had them give me the keys and i picked it up after the dealership closed.

I was determined to learn how to drive a stick. that evening i picked it up and started my long journey home... ( not so much distance wise but from the time it took me to get it home )

interesting side note.. i had gotten a super deal on the new car 1991 Hyundai excel,
the dealer ship was offering a $2000 push pull or drag trade in sale. so i had bought a 1977 puke green volare the day before for $100 and traded it up..

i still remember opening the trunk of the Volare and looking down into it and being able to see my feet...

[Meathead]

Why would you have put your feet in the trunk, Sid???

[luckydog]

my first new car was a 1967 volkswagen beetle. 4 speed, black with radio, pop out side windows and whitewall tires. sticker price was under $2,000.00

my second new car was a 1969 camero with 3 speed stick, radio, heater, whitewalls, metallic green with a black stripe across the nose. sticker price was under $3,000.00

car payments back then were around $75.00 a month with 3 year loan

I always paid then off early

[Meathead]

I learned to drive in a manual (three-on-the-tree) Ford Econoline van.
My first car was a 1972 Datsun 1200, stick.
My second was a 1980 Chevy LUV pick-up, stick (& a piece of sh*t! I can't believe I still see those driving around on occasion)
My third was a 1972 Ford Mustang that was my first automatic and actually, my favorite car.
Since then, I've owned three more automatics, and three more manuals. A lot of vehicles here don't have the option of manual transmissions anymore.

[Sid]

Why would you have put your feet in the trunk, Sid???

i didnt put my feet in the trunk...

the rust bucket was so bad there was no trunk, by opening the trunk you saw the ground.. hence the being able to see my feet and the $100 i paid for it