Folks Of Interest Did you learn to drive a stick or a automatic?

I learned to drive in my aunt's really nice black '58 Chevy 2 door post car,283 CI & 3 on the tree.

I loved that car and she let me drive her to the grocery store and eventually let me drive alone.

She traded the car to her brother for a darn VW,I drove it a couple of times but ended up buying my first '54 Ford 3 on the tree. HRP

 

1953 Chevy stick shift.

 

1949 Pontiac.3 on the tree.

 

41 chevy pickup with a 4 speed granny. We also had a 55 Pontiac with a 4 speed hydro. It was my mom's driver. By the time I took my license test, the ol' man had a brand new '64 ranchero with a 260/4 speed and I used it. After driving that old 41 chevy pickup, the all syncro 4 speed in the ranchero was a breeze to drive.

 

66 Impala power glide long before I was legal. Then on a 65 Corvair 140 4 speed. Fun days back then.

 

When I was 14 my cousin who had his license and a 65 Mustang, 200-6, 3 speed stick shift, used to let me drive it all over town. Not all by myself....he didn't trust me That much. I didn't own a manual until I got into my 30s.

 

My Dad's 65 Ford station wagon with 3 on the tree. He took great pleasure in me having to come to a stop sign on on incline with a car right behind us.

 

Dad's work car, 50 Plymouth Deluxe. NOT fluid drive! Looked just like this.

Picture stolen from interweb........

 

I bought my first car when I was 13. 53 Chevy with a stick shift. Had to get it home so I learned how to drive stick shift right then and there. Went on to teach all my older sisters how to drive a stick after that and I still didn't have a license. A little side note here...I paid $15.00 for the car and my Dad drove it to his job for the next three years. Damn thing was a two door hardtop Bel Aire. Those were the days. Never ever going to see them again. I was 13 in 1963 for a point of reference.

 

Farmall F-12, 3 speed at age 9.........Oh! you ment automobiles! Mom's '51 Chevy '3 on the tree' only we didn't call it that back then because that is where all car shift levers were. Trucks had floor shifts.

Took my drivers test in that car. It was an instant 'flunk' if you stalled the engine while doing the required 3-point turn. Test examiner was a State Cop and I stalled that Chevy! Instantly pulled on the parking brake, restarted the car, released the brake and finished the turn. Cop never said a word and I passed! I think putting on the parking brake right away was the secret.

 

46 chevy ton and a half grain truck. 5 speed with granny low and 2 speed rear end. 11 years old. 10 mile round trips to grain elevator.

 

49 chevy P.U it was a 4sd. on the farm. I was 10. I hit a gate post first day. My uncle didn't get mad just had a talk with me. He taught me a lot.

 

I learned on my dad's 356 Porsche and my mom's 63 Rambler....two very different cars!
Both sticks..

 

Isn't the real answer: BOTH??? Of course we've all seen some drivers whose correct answer should be : NEITHER!! LOL!!

 

Started with a '54 Ford three-speed, and still remain partial to manual trans to this day. By the '60s, they started getting rare on newer cars and the column linkage designs deteriorated to the point they weren't as much fun to drive (most wouldn't speed shift worth a damn... LOL). In that era (60s through the 80s), if you wanted a good shifting manual, you were pretty much limited to 4-speeds; not easy to find in the used market (and usually beat to death when you did).

 

59 Olds Super 88 with an automatic. Learned stick on various cars around my dad's shop. My first stick car was a 70 Torino GT with a 429CJ and a 4spd.

 

37 Ford pickup, 3 spd on the floor at 12-later took my drivers test in it at 15

 

54 Chevy 3 speed.

 

learned to drive on a 1961 English Ford Prefect 4 speed

 

Learned on a 59 Rambler American SW. (wished I still had it) Graduated to a 57 Stude with a three and over, no power steering. Living in Seattle with all those hills, hoboy!

 

Stick, 69 Lemans.

 

I learned ina 1950 ford convertible that I paid $15.00 and a Cushman scooter. it was so rusted it had 2x4s from the dash to the frame to keep the dash from falling on my lap.I had no idea how to drive a stick shift but after a while I figured it out finished the car driving in the back lots and abandoned gravel pit.I was 12 yrs old my dad was fit to be tied when he came home from work and saw it in the yard

 

Learned on an old John Deere tractor. Later learned the rules of the road with Dad's 62 Galaxie 500. A 352 with 3 on the tree.

 

We lived on a farm and learned to drive a Ford 8n when I was 10. Later dad had a 29 A we were fixing up and learned to drive that in the field. I can't remember ever having anything but a shift.

 

Stick. 9 years old driving a 1985 Toyota PU. By 12 I was driving my dad's '86 Mack 350 with 12 Spd. Used to drive around the lot where my dad parked while he drank a few beers after work.

 

I would think that most anyone under the age of 40 probably didn't have much of a chance to learn on a stick. The % of cars and pickups in the last 40 years with a manual trans has got to be pretty low. I was just lucky to come from a car family that happened to have a sports car with a stick in it back in 1983 when I started to drive.
I would bet that less than 10% of the kids learning to drive today will ever learn to drive one. My kids are going to have learn on my Y-block 4 spd Model A PU because none of my daily drivers have a manual trans.

 

48 Chevy suburban stick (3-4, i don't remember), 56 Ford four speed with granny first, 55 DeSoto automatic, and my first car was a Model A banger with three speed stick not running until after I got my license.

 

58 Chevy 3 on the tree. 4 door wagon. NEVER EVER thought that car would ever be worth anything. Who knew ?

 

I learned to drive in my Dad's almost new '68 GTO automatic.
I was teaching my friends to drive a stick before I had my license as my Dad always had three on the "tree" cars before the GTO.
Even as a kid riding in those cars I was keenly observant. I knew how to drive a stick before I ever got behind the wheel of a car myself, to this day I still love a manual shift car.
My '57 Pontiac is a three on the "tree", and the '32 is a 5 speed.
As long as my knees hold up, I will always have a stick car or two in the garage.
KK

 

59 Ford 223, 3 on the tree.......