Art & Inspiration Anyone teach their wife to drive 3 on the tree?

My wife and I were planning on moving this fall, but it looks like the housing bubble has popped, and we will be here for at least 6 more months. In preparation, we had been selling off everything we can, including my OT daily driver. This leaves us my '48 plymouth, and my wifes SUV.
I am taking a temporary delivery driver job, so have to use the late model car. This will leave my wife with only the plymouth to get around town with the kids.

SO!
Have any of yall had luck teaching your ol' ladies to drive a 3 on the tree?
Any tips or advise would be greatly appreciated.
In 5 years, my wife has refused to even sit in the driver's seat. She has driven a 5 speed manual a fair bit, but is worried about the shift pattern, and my technical explanations only make it worse.

 

Sure.
But she already knew how to drive a floor shift. Just had to teach her the pattern on the column.
Just be patient
EZ PZ

 

I taught my nephew to drive three on the tree when he was 14 and as you know it's not hard to learn.

For tips I'd say, first tell her not to worry and that she can't hurt the car beyond stalling it. I think that's the biggest worry of people learning.

Second, have her dry run though the shift pattern, engine off, unit she gets a feel for it. You know the muscle memory thing.

Lastly, if it's non-syncho first. Not to downshift into first until stopped. I wouldn't bring this point up until she's actually practicing driving.

I think a dirt road or empty parking lot are the best places to learn, not anywhere where there is street traffic.

 

About 50 years ago I tried to teach my sister to drive my '56 Ford which was 3 on the tree. It was a memorable experience but not exactly a fun one!!! I don't think the clutch in that car ever for gave me!

 

Ditto.

 

If she has the clutch/gas thing figured out, it’s just a lever on the column instead of the floor.

 

See the photo posted. It,s allways a big H. H for hopeless, helpless, hotrod, hairdresser. Probably not in that order for a woman

 

I gave up.

 

I told my wife that she needs to drive my 51 every once in awhile and she is okay with a clutch but it’s been years since she has driven a column shift. Other than the fact that the transmission isn’t synchronized I think it will be just getting used to it kinda like riding a bike………I hope

 

My wife was driving a 3 on the tree car when I met her....and she'd driven a couple 4 on the floor cars already.

Automatics were a new thing for her.

 

I taught mine years ago.

The trick with my truck was the "loop and swoop" method. You had to make a loop at neutral before going into second, or you were forever driving in first unless you stopped and un-stuck the shift levers. Straight into second was a guaranteed very slow trip to your destination.

She got really good at driving all types of man-trans junk, because that was all we had. Bless her heart!

 

Start the lesson parked in the driveway.
-Have her sit in the Passenger's seat with this picture in her hands and watch you go through the gears as you verbally describe what you are doing. Go slow, be patient, ask her if she has questions and answer thoughtfully.
-Then, have her sit in the driver's seat and have her just manipulate the neutral gate, knowing where the neutral gate is, I feel, half the battle. The neutral gate at rest is at the middle of the 2-3 shift, Important Point!
-Finding first gear. Have her repeat that till she is comfortable. When she is comfortable with finding first, ask her to find reverse.
-First to second. Tell her not to round the corner, keep a right angle.
She drives a five speed so she can handle this, what she may not be able to handle is your stress of someone driving your beloved old automobile.

 

My wife could even unstick the levers herself. Until I fixed the bushing, and it didn't stick any more.

 

\\There you go Jim, Brenda also learnd how to unstack the gears with a 3 on the tree.

I taught her how to drive, the Ranch Wagon was originally a column shift 3 speed. HRP

 

Mine could too... after she got stuck going to work one morning and finished the last two miles in first. Her brilliant young husband had failed to teach her this important piece of information, a fact that was not easily forgotten for some time after!

 

The method I liked was grasping the gear lever palm up for 1st and reverse. You use palm down for 2nd and 3rd. I hope your shift linkage isn't too worn or you can get the 1st to 2nd lock in low. Then you become a member of the greasey finger club, from re-aligning the levers on the column.

 

Would a four speed be ok ?

1970ish.

Had a girlfriend that wanted a car. She took me to a Chevy dealer to look at a car she liked. Turned out to be a...blue, 1969 Z-28 ! Mind you, this would be her "first" car. And, she'd never driven a manual trans. car...of any kind.
And YES...it WAS an original, low miles Z-28 Camaro.

She bought it, and I was lucky to be the caretaker of said...1969, Z-28 Camaro !

We did some show and tell around town on how to drive a four speed, in a high winding little hot rod, that wasn't happy going 25mph ! We finally went to a semi-local college to borrow their giant parking lot to practice clutch, shifter and throttle manipulations.

Long story short, she figured it out, and actually became a pretty good driver of the Camaro. The school that we used was one that I was attending. The school had a "Sports Car Club", another long story for another time. Anyway, we, (the club) put on weekend slalom (todays "Solo 1") events, every now and then.
As I said, she became pretty good at wheeling the Camaro around the courses, beating many guys, on any given weekend.

Mike

 

Didn't have to teach my wife, her first stick shift driving experience was with an MG-TD. My daughter's first manual tranny was an OT F350. I taught both of them how to drive a 13 double over. If my bunch can do that, your wife shouldn't have any problem with your 3 on a tree. I bet she's more concerned about your reaction if she screws up. Be patient.

 

Hello,

When my brother was still in his recovery, sometimes he had appointments during the day and I was in school. So, since my mom could not drive, he had to wait until I got home to take him to his doctor’s appointment. That went on from the first and continued until my brother told my mom to learn to drive the 58 Impala. It was still a 3 speed on the column and had a very strong clutch pedal action.

So, my brother’s excuse was that he could not go outside for long periods of time, so, it was up to me to teach our mom how to drive a stick shift in the Impala. We spent a few sessions in the driveway going over the basics. The first thing was braking and stopping, as well as coordinating the clutch and gas. Then going around the block and so on.

The main thing was starts. The heavy duty clutch was so strong and our mom was 5’2 inches tall. So, she had the seat moved forward to reach the pedal action. But, it was the letting out of the clutch pedal that got to her. It was hard enough to remember the shift lever motion and positions. So. The starts were the hardest to teach.

Coordinating the clutch pedal and gas is a simple thing for us. But, there are some people that just do no get it, so they buy automatic shift cars. Our mom was a person who just wanted to have a car to drive my brother to the doctor’s office, so that gave her the impetus to “stick it out”… pun intented.

Once the clutch was let out, then the steering and handling seemed simple. Braking, no problem. It was just the beginning of adjusting the clutch pedal, letting off of the brake and pushing the gas pedal to go. So, the first time the clutch came out fast and we did some bucking bronco action down the street. I told her to push in the clutch and it would stop. So, she did and it stopped bucking.

Now, the key was since the clutch pedal pressure was so “heavy duty,” she had to just let it out slowly. Slowly to most men is a natural thing in foot action. But for the first time stick shift driver, it has all sorts of connotations. Slowly when it comes out, slowly when we start moving, slowly when going to the next gear, etc. The person is nervous enough, so a calm voice of how slowly it should come out is necessary.

After many starts and stops, including more bucking bronco actions, I realized the clutch was too hard and she had to do something else. So, I told her to let the clutch out slowly, until she felt the car clunk and move forward slightly. Then release the brake pedal and now the car is moving forward. We tried that a few times and now she understood. Brake, no forward action. Clutch barely out, it starts to creep forward. Once she got going, the next gear was a snap and so was third. Even reverse was easy, once she got the clunk and creeping action down pat.

Jnaki

Finally, we started our longer drive down PCH toward the beach. She was ok for the first few stop lights, but had one bucking bronco action, calmed down by putting the clutch back in and then releasing it again. Finally, her 2nd gear + 3rd gear shifts were great and now, we continued to practice more stop light or stop sign starts in first gear.

If the clutch is a normal strength and not a heavy duty action, she would have easily moved right into smooth movement. but due to the necessary heavy duty clutch for our 58 Impala drag races, it had to be installed. We spent three weeks driving around any chance I had after school. she was getting better with each time. still, a few bucking bronco starts always popped up. For being a teenager, I was realtively calm and there was no need to get mad, raise my voice or actually yell. I am sure my mom thanked me for that presentation mode.

So, one day, she said she wanted to have the Impala as an automatic like dad’s Buick. No clutch, just step and go. We both instantly thought of the powerglide for the Chevy and said no. But, our mom said she would pay for the conversion to an automatic. That caught our eyes and pocket books.

The C&O Stick Hydro was made for drag racing and high performance driving. It was a competitor to the B&M group, but the one thing going for C&O was that they would convert or make the installations at their shop, whereas B&M did not. It took a few days and a extra hydramatic core transmission for a trade in deal.

When I drove home, the automatic was the best thing that happened to the Impala. On the starts, in manual, each gear was able to be used, while accelerating. But, also, if left in drive, one stomp moved the Impala instantly off of the line and flew through the gears with me hanging on, plus making sure we were going straight. Instant power and quickness for the Impala, and no tire spinning or clutch to worry about… just straight line acceleration.

And it was an automatic for our mom. Once she got into the now converted 58 Impala, she loved the simplicity of the automatic transmission and the size of the Impala. not as large as the Buick sedan and not as small as our neighbor’s cars. It was just right. She drove with confidence and drove it weekly.

Note:

The automatic gave her confidence that no other motion could give. But, she did learn to shift the 3 speed with ease and could have liked it if we did not have such a strong clutch motion action. YRMV
Yes, she even drove the Impala with the Skylark Wire Wheels to her shopping forays and visiting friends. Just put it in drive and go… The @themoose memories were classic in this timeline. Thanks…

 

Car is a pretty good driver, linkage is reasonably tight, and the rubber bushing that holds it all together was replaced a couple years ago (aver the old one "left the building " at a stoplight. DOH!)
Clutch is stock, although does want to chatter coming from a stop, but hopefully I will be putting in a fresh clutch in a few weeks and installing a fresh bw OD.

I am not too stressed about the car, it is just a plymouth with a 10+ year old earl shribe paintjob, so nothing too valuable or irreplaceable.
I will try to get her in the seat today, the picture posted already helped her undestand wtf i was talking about.

 

You said she refused to try for the past 5 years , what makes you think she will try now?

Good luck brother! HRP

 

Desperation!
Our family never NEEDED her to drive it.

 

Sure!-----Taught my wife before leaving for Korea!

 

I think as soon as the person trying to learn realizes that the general H pattern path is basically the same as a floor shit and just twisted side ways it will seem less daunting.

it really does feel incredibly natural to shift it, I think it’s been built up by a lot of people that it’s some magic trick to drive one.

can you drive a floor shift with out looking down at the shifter? Then you can drive a column shift 3 speed

 

She can do it!!

I taught my wife to drive a 13 spd. Double clutching when needed. Pulling a 45 ft trailer.

She CAN do it!

Ben

 

My Wife never learned, but Little Truckdoctor learned when he was 11.

 

"Floor shit"......??? Who shits on the floor?

 

So where is the column shit on a car in Oz...left or right of the wheel?

 

Don't know about the column shit, but the column shift is on the left. We're good down here. We can shift a three on the tree or a floor shift with our left hand......

 

Since she already knows how to work a floor shift, that picture will be good for her. Help her to understand it's still an H pattern, just in a different position. We learn so much visually. Show her the relationship by flipping your hand from floor position to column position and back.

My wife?
Never had to teach her nothin'.

Well... there was that one time I tried to teach her how to spit.
Didn't work out real well.
Boy, did she make a mess.