DrCloud

I first learned about a clutch on a Farmall tractor -- it had so much torque you just couldn't stall it. In a car, it was a Triumph TR-6, well used, and a lot of clutch-slipping. Then it was my own Sunbeam Alpine, with more slipping that I eventually learned (the hard way) would wear out the clutch.

On a cold, snowy Christmas Eve night, I was headed home from college, in Illinois. On the one big grade on the interstate, I was cruising uphill when the engine revs increased but the speedometer reading decreased. Yikes! But I made it home and even back to school, got a new clutch, and stopped slipping it.

Compared to those vehicles (especially the tractor) the transmission in the S is smooth and sweet. HPH

SSSnakeSSS

My first stick experience came when I had no license and had to move a VW van for my employer. He just told me to move it, I explained that I could not drive a stick and he said you will learn. Well I did, and I also dug a bunch of holes in the dirt driveway in the back of the store, 'learning' how to clutch and shift and buck, and shift etc.....
As far as Connie I tried to teach her but we argued way too much and that 180 degree turn she did onto a lawn was enough for me anyways. She ended up going to school to learn to drive at $5 per lesson in an automatic. Once she passed her test I let her take out the VW bug I had and she did just fine. It still concerns her to drive a stick but she can and does when needed.

Traveler

I learned when I was 16 or 17. Dad took me to a big empty parking lot. It didn't take me long to learn how to get going without stalling. But the car I was learning on had really worn synchros on 3rd gear. It took me forever to learn how to finesse it into 3rd.

dlq04

Me too. I think I was probably about 14 and used to drive my older buddy's car. No license of course. By the time I was 16 it was a couple drives with good old dad who showed me the tricks for parallel parking, and then on to the driving test.

BTW, what's a three point turn or K turn? Never heard of those.

batguano

Three point is stop,cut the wheel, back into a side road or driveway,turn wheel to reverse and proceed in the oposite direction.
They teach that one in law enforcement training.

Lainey

We had to do those to pass our driving tests. They frown on U turns in MA.

trich1687

I learned to drive stick on a TOWMOTER (forklift) this was a 6,000lb machine that had the majority of its weight on one side as you sat down in it and the engine was on your left side. I was 16 already had my license but the family didn't have a stick car. Try holding the clutch with 3000 lbs on the forks while on a 30 degree a ramp trying to slowly climb into a trailer. Anybody ever flip one over? Soon after that I had several three on the tree crashers including a 66 Chevy Biscayne and a 70 ford f-100 that I had to crawl under on occasion to "un stick the shift linkage" as the cab mounts were shot and it bound up sometimes. I could drive the three on the tree while keeping my right arm around the girl who was snuggled next to me on the bench seat while shifting and steering with my left hand. I am sure some of you guys can remember that?

freq

3 on the tree.

dlq04

A back-up turn around? Boy that's a tough one. They should be teaching Danny Sullivan's "spin & win" to keep a challenge.

dlq04

Next you'll tell me you had a suicide knob on the steering wheel as well. Rock on.