How Do You Shift into First?

[KD5NRH]

It stayed there for a month before I offered a solution to the manual transmission issue that did not involve the Former Daughter learning how to shift for herself.

You found her a boyfriend?

[RoadKingLarry]

I made both of my kids learn to drive a manual transmission before I'd let them get their license. I was driving a '97 Dodge pickup at the time. In the end they were both competent enough that they could start on a hill without rolling backwards. The truck survived and was well over 250K miles before the clutch had to be replaced.

[lupinus]

That's downright precious. I don't have much time with a manual just because I never had to. But I know enough on how the damned things work I could at least move the car down the road. The folks who don't even understand the concept or what the third pedal is, is simply mind boggling.

Toss in a button somewhere on the left side for the floor board and they'd probably have an anxiety attack.

[Scout26]

From my 2nd to my current car, all have been sticks.   I often joke that it's my anti-theft system.   

On the last two Saabs and the current Outback, the is "thing" around the stick you pull up on to the knob to get it into reverse. 


And yes, when I was looking to buy a new Outback, there were only three stick-shift Outbacks in all of the Chicagoland area.  Otherwise it was going to be a 7-9 month wait as the factory had re-tooled for a different model and it was going to be that long before the new Outback rolled off the line.

[KD5NRH]

I made both of my kids learn to drive a manual transmission before I'd let them get their license.

But was it a three on the tree?

Learned on that, then went to a way underpowered five speed that forced smooth starts, then a better five speed of my own, then a four speed with reverse at top right, then inherited the underpowered five speed.  (Suzuki Swift notchback; 45mpg came in pretty handy.)

[MechAg94]

I drove a manual Chevy S10 for over a year in high school.  I got to like driving it.  I fondly remember trying to eat a Dairy Queen dip cone while driving home.  I also remember my Dad helping me learn to drive his work truck with its manual transmission.  It was hard to even get the thing in gear even if you knew where the gear was. 

I never thought about a manual transmission as a theft deterrent.  It would also keep people from wanting to drive it. 

[Scout26]

It would also keep people from wanting to drive it. 

My sister had a stick (I disremember what) that she drove from when she got married and later my niece took to college, no one at school ever asked her to borrow to her car.


When I was Germany we still had the old M151 1/4 ton Jeeps.  Four on the floor.  The task all the NCO's dreaded was teaching the newbies to drive a stick.  (There's really no such thing as flat ground when you are stationed on a mountain.)  But maybe, maybe 1 out of 10 new privates knew how to drive a stick and this was in the late 1980's. 

Since the Army has gone to HMMWVs and MRAPs they are all automatic transmissions (Strykers as well).

In high school I had a buddy that had a 1962 Ford Falcon (that he had inherited from his grandfather) that had three on the tree.  It was gutless, and took forever (and a tailwind) to get up to interstate speed.

[KD5NRH]

My sister had a stick (I disremember what) that she drove from when she got married and later my niece took to college, no one at school ever asked her to borrow to her car.

I got lots of cute girls into my 1985 200SX so they could learn to handle a stick.

Some of them even drove the car.

[BlueStarLizzard]

My first car was a Mercury Lynx. $600 car.

The biggest problem was that Dad tried to teach me to drive it. See, my mom did all the initial driving lessons, starting the day I got my learners, which, hindsight 20/20, was a really GREAT thing. The cars we had were automatics. The only manual was Eric's truck, and me and him still weren't getting along so well at that point, so, obviously, I was driving automatics and by the time I drove with Dad I was pretty proficient.

I'm already prone to nerves behind the wheel and Dad tends to be really tense and loud when things aren't going perfect. So, every time I grinded gears even a little, he'd get all fussy and I'd get all nervous and the lesson just went downhill from there.
The best I ever did was when I drove Eric's truck with Mom. I really did fine, but on one of my first solo outings in the Lynx I got screwed up on a left turn and got stuck for a minute (left off a major road, with a hill to get over) panicked because, well, that's what I'd been taught to do and that was it. I made it home and told Dad to start looking for another car for me.

I wish I'd stuck with it and worked at it more, but at that point, Dad had me so screwed up over it, I just gave up.

and for the record, I had to basically reteach myself guns and shooting, because he really wasn't the best teacher with that either. He means well, but he just gets so worked up anytime something goes not perfect that it causes more issues than it solves.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

The most important driving skill around N Virginia is to not live there or visit there.  To play the game is to lose.

In spades


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[BlueStarLizzard]

oh, and in regards to the driving in No VA.


Me, the nervous nelly driver, who openly admits to being probably the least confident driver on APS, has made a point to NEVER, EVER DRIVE ON THE BELTWAY.
NEVER EVER. Or in in DC. (or in New York City *shudder*)

A few years ago, my boss and I made a long haul with two dogs to NYC and back for the day (and most the night) I drove from the first rest stop on the Turnpike to the last possible stop before getting on the Beltway, and then, from the first possible stop after the Beltway to home.
That's right. I made my boss do the Beltway. I was perfectly happy to do all the rest of the driving, but not that. Nooooo... Never that.

[Ben]

That's right. I made my boss do the Beltway. I was perfectly happy to do all the rest of the driving, but not that. Nooooo... Never that.

I think the Beltway is actually worse than LA. I at least recall hating it as much.

[vaskidmark]

You found her a boyfriend?

Worse!  Swapped her my automatic transmission Cavalier (with the Viet Vet stickers and personalized plate) for the diesel Benz.  Not allowed to change anything on the car.  Had to drive three friends to/from school, and to take her mother grocery shopping.

Got a new silver paint job at the prison shop for $150.00.  Took 6 workdays and looked cherry.  Parked in front of "her" car and blew exhaust at it before leaving in the AM and on getting home in the PM.

stay safe.

[BlueStarLizzard]

I think the Beltway is actually worse than LA. I at least recall hating it as much.

*adds LA to the list "does not drive in these locations"*

[bedlamite]

Pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but when I first looked at my current truck there was no one at the dealership that could drive a manual, and as I was leaving the sales manager came running out and asked me to park it in the back lot for them. 

[RoadKingLarry]

*adds LA to the list "does not drive in these locations"*

Since you're making a list, just as well add DFW to it.

[K Frame]

Scout, do you have a 6 speed Outback?

[RoadKingLarry]

When my last boat went to the Med in 1989 I had only been on board for about 2 weeks. Prior to the deployment every division had to have 2 people with  "international drivers licenses". The 2 in my division were pretty decent folks and thanks to book of face I'm in contact with them still.

When we got to Italy it was discovered that neither of the 2 drivers in my division could drive a stick. I was also a duty section leader and my "duty driver" was also unable to drive a stick.

At the time, me still a young man, it was inconceivable to me that a male of the species could possibly make it to adulthood without learning the essential manly skill of driving a manual transmission, totally inconceivable. I was absolutely unmerciful in laying in to those that were useless to my division and duty section, casting numerous disparaging aspersions on their manhood and likely heritage every time the subject came up. Basically I was a right flaming ahole about it. I still picked on the guys in my division about it for the 3 years I was there.

About 5 or 6 years ago I got into contact with one of them via a sub sailors website and we exchanged emails. One of the first things he told me was that he could now drive a stick and that his car had a manual transmission.

[230RN]

bluestarlizzard said,

I'm already prone to nerves behind the wheel and Dad tends to be really tense and loud when things aren't going perfect. So, every time I grinded gears even a little, he'd get all fussy and I'd get all nervous and the lesson just went downhill from there.
....
and for the record, I had to basically reteach myself guns and shooting, because he really wasn't the best teacher with that either. He means well, but he just gets so worked up anytime something goes not perfect that it causes more issues than it solves.

I have a theory that somehow people who try to teach like that don't seem to realize that the "teachee" isn't a mind reader and can't see what the "teacher" is seeing or thinking in his mind as to the way things ought to go.  So they get all frustrated and angry.
 

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

We used to call the stick shift " the birth control stick"


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[BlueStarLizzard]

bluestarlizzard said,

I have a theory that somehow people who try to teach like that don't seem to realize that the "teachee" isn't a mind reader and can't see what the "teacher" is seeing or thinking in his mind as to the way things ought to go.  So they get all frustrated and angry.
 

no, that's me.

Dad just gets tense and passes it on to his student.

[Frank Castle]

How i learned to drive a stick. Dad took me, to the parking lot behind the house. He gave me speech on how a clutch works , then he walked back to house.


 It took me some time, but I figured it out.

[zxcvbob]

Daughter was insistent that she wanted a car with a manual transmission, even tho' I tried to get her to pick the one that was just $200 more that had an automatic.

So then I got to teach her to drive it.  She was almost in tears after stalling it the 20th or so times in the big empty parking lot.  But eventually she sort of got it.

The next weekend, she and I went to Colorado to her cousin's wedding, via the Black Hills of South Dakota.  There was one scenic byway we went on that had a 500+ degree corkscrew curve.  :)   I was so proud of her when she drove into a one-lane tunnel (it was her turn) and a bus entered from the other end.  We had the right-of-way, and she stood her ground and made the bus back up.  (she says as we exited the tunnel, an old woman on the bus looked out the window and judged us)

We also drove thru Rocky Mountain National Park -- I did most of the driving there, but she did some of it and she did okay.

[Monkeyleg]

I think more than half the cars I've owned have had manual trannys.

As for the title of this thread, it reminds me of my ex-boss's wife (who was really the boss). They went shopping for his-and-hers matching Porsche 911's. She took one on a test drive with the salesman, and downshifted into first at somewhere around 60 mph. He was not pleased, from what I heard.

[Chuck Dye]

Repetitious?  Sure, but it saves typing!

When I was first getting into truck driving, many big rigs had a "set of sticks:" two transmissions.  Put the main box in 1st, then run the pattern in the secondary box (usually called a splitter or Brownie in the U.S., a joey in Australia.)  Once in the splitter's high gear grab BOTH sticks and shift the main to 2nd, the splitter to first (one stick at a time may be too slow to catch the next useful ratio,) rinse and repeat as needed.

Once rolling, the clutch is not used as in those old unsynchronized trannies, if you do not match RPMs, you will not get the gear and the clutch only slows the process.

A good set of sticks provides progressive gearing and the driver gets to shift both boxes straight through their patterns.  Not all are progressive, in which case the driver must learn what holes to skip.  Too often, there was no one to teach the best pattern and the new driver had to discover the skips on the fly.  As some seeming upshifts are, in fact, down shifts, the discovery process can be hard on the equipment, driver, and fellow travelers.

Two sticks not enough?  How about two trannies and a two speed axle?  For those who have gone to automagics rather than stir a 5 speed in traffic, consider a 5x4x2 (yes, 40 gears, 'though only thirty or so might be used) that can require a shift every 50 to 75 RPM.

In my current work truck, 25mph means 6th or 7th gear, depending on load and grade.