I Am An 18%er

Shocking statistic. I was riding a dirt bike with a clutch and shifting gears at 11 yrs old. I've heard of kids as young as 6 being able to ride a dirt bike with a clutch. After that, driving a car with a clutch just came natural at 16 yrs old.
 
drkelly said:
After that, driving a car with a clutch just came natural at 16 yrs old.
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My 2 oldest were like me and shifting on dirt bikes at 8/9 so they had no problems learning stick. My youngest only rode a xr70 and never learned to shift (she switched to horses at 10) so with her now permitted I dread teaching HER stick because it won't be as easy as the 1st two were
 
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Can I drive a manual...absolutely. Do I want to...rarely. Sports car where you can rip through the gears, cool. 5000-6000lb truck on East Independence trying to make it to 77 or 85...not so cool. It's very unappealing to me constantly shifting in traffic, or just leaving it in gear cruising on the highway. I understand tranny gear ratios, but I can't think of a single time an auto trans hasn't been able to pull something that a manual did in my experience. Then it just comes down to complexity...manual wins hands down there with cheaper rebuild costs. A bit skewed since modern autos have been getting the focus to become more efficient, but from what I'm reading, the autos are getting or are more efficient than the manuals of today (given, that usually results in the 'gear hunting' game we all hate).
 
CasterTroy said:
I dread teaching HERO stick because it won't be as easy as the 1st two were
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Do you have a little car with a stick shift? It's better if it's something anemic. Find a flat-ish section of quiet road about 100 yards long. Without touching the gas, have her put it in first, ease out on the clutch, get the clutch fully engaged, then put the clutch back to the floor and stop the car. Do it until you run out of road, then put it in reverse and do it again. Once she gets that down, shifting is no big deal, and bullshit like starting on a hill is a non-issue. She'll know how to ease out on the clutch, stop at the engagement point, then slip off the brake and onto the gas.
 
UTfball68 said:
Can I drive a manual...absolutely. Do I want to...rarely. Sports car where you can rip through the gears, cool. 5000-6000lb truck on East Independence trying to make it to 77 or 85...not so cool. It's very unappealing to me constantly shifting in traffic
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I think it fundamentally comes down to a question of "do you enjoy driving?" Toyota has proven that there is a huge swath of the population that is indifferent, and just wants an appliance that conveys them from one location to another. I drove that new F250 a couple of weeks ago, and it was just.... boring. All it needed from me was to point it generally in the right direction. And with the lane management shit, they don't even need much of that.

Yawn.
 
Learned clutch on a 60s John Deere. Ya gotta be smooth when you have a few hundred pounds in a broadcast spreader. When I was 17-18, daddy taught me how to shift without using the clutch. Sure came in handy when I blew a clutch line on the other side of town.
 
My grandfather had arthritis real bad in his knees and feet so whenever he could get somebody else to drive him he did.As a result I was driving him around at age 11.76 Ford F150 w a 300 6 and three on the tree.My wife is 44 and still drives a stick,shes been driving since she was 16 and has only one auto in all that time.
 
My father threw me the keys to his 4 cylinder t speed s10 one day when I was 18 or so. Stalled twice in the neighborhood but not again. Had watched him for years.
Took a long time before I was confident but I knew how not to stall.

My brother and sister were taught in parking lots.

Funny thing is my 18 year old sister has been driving stick since she was 16. Shes also worked at autobell carwash since she was 16. Shes a manager now. One of the big reasons is she can drive stick. So many men and women can't it is disturbing.
 
I learned on an old aircraft tug, and a lawnmower, and then an old Suzuki motorcycle. I still prefer a manual transmission but manual Excursions don't exist, I would love to swap a 6speed in but until the transmission in it fails and then the spare I have fails, I will stick with the torqshift.

I do have a 16 speed semi automatic in a military truck though. You have the shift the gears manually but there is no clutch pedal, it's weird. Caterpillar 7155 transmission.
 
drkelly said:
Shocking statistic. I was riding a dirt bike with a clutch and shifting gears at 11 yrs old. I've heard of kids as young as 6 being able to ride a dirt bike with a clutch. After that, driving a car with a clutch just came natural at 16 yrs old.
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The first bike I ever learned to ride was a Kaw 350 big horn,I was about 11/12 and by the time I was 15 I was riding a Honda CB750 to summer school.As a parent now theres no way I would have cut me loose on a that big of a bike at that age,esp considering I didn't have a liscense and I was driving about 65 miles a day round trip.
 
1-tonmudder said:
I don't think anybody will be surprised by that.
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I am sure the lawnmower came first though. My dad used to work at piedmont airlines and bought an old tug they were getting rid of. Drove that thing all around in the woods behind the house.
 
Tacoma747 said:
I learned on an old aircraft tug, and a lawnmower, and then an old Suzuki motorcycle. I still prefer a manual transmission but manual Excursions don't exist, I would love to swap a 6speed in but until the transmission in it fails and then the spare I have fails, I will stick with the torqshift.

I do have a 16 speed semi automatic in a military truck though. You have the shift the gears manually but there is no clutch pedal, it's weird. Caterpillar 7155 transmission.
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M920 ??

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My grandmother taught me on the 1980 4-speed Dodge D-50 that they later gave me after I turned 16. Tooled around their golf course neighborhood for a good while that day. Memories!

My Frontier is a 5-speed and my Blazer is a 3-on-the-tree. First time I took the Blazer in for an inspection (when I lived in TX) the kid came in and asked me how to drive it. I had to put it in the bay for him. He thought it was an automatic since the shift lever was on the column.

I used to think knowing how to drive a manual was a required life skill but the absolute laziness of America has all but erased that. Like posted above there are far too many people that just want a "transportation appliance" and don't care about driving. I think driving a manual keeps you engaged with actually DRIVING THE VEHICLE. If more people drove manuals I hazard a guess that there would be fewer accidents in general.
 
I had a discussion with my mom earlier this morning about how I wanted a truck with a manual. Ironically I'm sitting here with one hand in a cast, but I still want one. She looked at me funny and asked why. I told her about how I dislike automatics because they shift when you don't want them to, and don't shift when they should, and how they ruin the driving experience. She then asked what I meanthink by "ruin the driving experience " so I politely said if I have to explain, she wouldn't understand anyway.
 
Tacoma747 said:
I am sure the lawnmower came first though. My dad used to work at piedmont airlines and bought an old tug they were getting rid of. Drove that thing all around in the woods behind the house.
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Neither you, nor your boys will ever be able to appreciate how fortunate you've been
 
CasterTroy said:
Neither you, nor your boys will ever be able to appreciate how fortunate you've been
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Its pretty funny, they love to ride in the HMMWV, but I picked Corbin up from preschool and he didn't care one bit he was getting in the HMMWV, just cared that I brought the dog. The teacher that brought him out said all the kids inside were talking about it though. They will grow up thinking it is normal to have a bunch of military trucks and a bulldozer haha. Sure wish my dad had a bulldozer when I was a kid, that thing is FUN!
 
CasterTroy said:
Neither you, nor your boys will ever be able to appreciate how fortunate you've been
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That's for damn sure.My dad was a hard ass about every thing.No burn outs,no donuts in the snow no poppin wheelies on the lawn mower,nothin.
 
CasterTroy said:
*wishes he had a dad :(
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Hey you got a son, so at least any memories you missed out on you can make with him. My son's haven't driven a Ferrari like yours has! (granted, they are 2 and 4 haha).

1-tonmudder said:
That's for damn sure.My dad was a hard ass about every thing.No burn outs,no donuts in the snow no poppin wheelies on the lawn mower,nothin.
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I don't think I ever popped wheelies on the lawnmower, we got a 4wheeler sometime around 2000 maybe and I am fortunate that I didn't get killed on it, because that 4wheeler has gone places made dad would never imagine haha. I honestly think the more stuff kids drive, the better drivers they will be. I rode all over the place on main roads when it snowed (on the ATV). Granted, I never got in 'trouble', which may have been why I never had a curfew (guess I never needed one).
 
sgtbriangreen said:
Some of the older 915s had these too. Still licensed on 916, 915, 920.
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I was an 88m for 6 years in the early eighties. Loved them and hated them...

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