MAN question. shouldnt all men be able to drive a car w/manual tranny?

[vash]

my wife has a friend. he is a dork. he cannot drive a stick shift. at one point, a good friend offered him his Ferrari for a test drive..and he could even take it on a date if he wanted..he had to decline because he couldnt drive the car..

do any of you people even know men that cannot drive a stick? man card status? i bet i could drive a bull dozer..

[Scuba Steve]

Do I know any real men that can't? No. Do I know any men that have quotes from NOW as their status messages in Messenger who can't drive stick shift? Yes.

Is it a man card issue? Yeah, he should hand it over.

[stomachmonkey]

Yes, everyone, men and women should know how to drive a stick.

In Germany it used to be and AFAIK is still mandatory that you take your road test using a stick.

[924slover]

every man should be able to drive standard and if they don't there man card should have a big question mark printed on it.

[masraum]

All men and good women should be able to drive a manual unless they have a really good reason why they can't (like only having one leg or arm)

[cgarr]

Yep, dork and *******!

My Daughter learned in about half hour, she will never go back.

[legion]

I didn't learn until I was 25. I wanted to learn when I was 15, but my father didn't think it was relevant.

[Scuba Steve]

Originally Posted by cgarr

Yep, dork and *******!

My Daughter learned in about half hour, she will never go back.

Maybe she could teach my wife. I gave up after about 4 weekends. Maybe she's not coordinated enough.

It does a good job of keeping her away from my car at least.

[stogie25]

I think it should be worth a few points from the man card. I also think there should be several integral affirmative defenses.

[stuartj]

Good question. Some years ago my SO gave me a two day Porsche Perfomance Driving Course for my birthday. 996 generation cars. A friend and I went along. We were the only paying customers, the rest were new Porsche owners. About twenty in the group, four instructors, all professional racing drivers. My friend and I had been doing motorsport at various levels for years, and we were pretty quickly given pretty much free run with the cars.

The standard of driving in that group was an eye opener. It ranged from mediocre to ****ing appalling. There were a couple of manual Boxsters, but they were used on a slippery skid pan, all secind gear. On the track its was Carreras and a manual BoxsterS. The only manual Carrera- my favourite car of the weekend- was retired at lunchtime on day 1 with a cooked clutch. About a quarter of the group couldnt drive a manual at all, another quarter simply had NFI.

And they'd all just bought Porsches.

My oldest got his licence this week. The next week one has just got his learner permit. They are being taught to drive proper like.

[stuartj]

Originally Posted by stogie25

I think it should be worth a few points from the man card. I also think there should be several integral affirmative defenses.

Short of a disability, what are they?

[stogie25]

I was in The Corps with a guy from New York that did not even no how to drive at all. I taught him eventually, but I guarantee his man card was intact in spite of not knowing how to drive a stick or an automatic.

[herr_oberst]

I took drivers ed back in the 70's.
I don't know if you remember those behemoths that we used to drive, but they were cars with names like the Chrysler Tuna Boat and the Oldsmobile Party Barge and the Chevy Residential Domicile. Even though I was a gearhead, steeped thru and thru, the fact of the matter is I could not navigate in those whales. I just was not getting the hang of driving. My saving grace was the car I dreaded the most - the VW bug. I was thinking if I couldn't drive an automatic luxo-liner, what chance did I have with a stick shift?

Shouldn't have worried. I had that thing figured out in minutes, plus, it handled like it was painted to the ground, in comparison.
And the strange thing, after a week of driving a car I could actually maneuver, I had no issues for the rest of the term with the stay-puft marshmallows. (we drove every car for a week)

My first two weeks of DE were a nightmare, the last 4 were a cakewalk.

(By the way, back in the '70's minimum driving age in Idaho was 14(!))

[VINMAN]

I learned to drive at 14, in a 62 GMC p/u 3 speed on the column.

First step towards my man card!

[cgarr]

Here, get him one of these! Look who they market it too!

[Oh Haha]

Do you get extra man card points if you can shift without the clutch?

I can't but my dad could. He drove my 94 Z-28 one day so he could show me. I never did get the hang of it.


The worst part? My MOM could do it, too.

[vangndy]

Tell him to turn in his testicles. LOL

[Kaliv]

Growing up, I never had the opportunity to drive a stick. One of my dad's coworkers offered to give me lessons on thier Miata, but there always seemed to be scheduling conflicts. *rolls eyes* Anyway, I learned the day I bought my Porsche, age 28. I drove from Ohio to Georgia to pick it up. The PO gave me a 20 minute lesson on the car, and then I had the rest of the trip from Georgia to Ohio to figure it out. Only problem I've had with the transmission is a broken plastic bushing...which tend to break after 20 years. I've given my wife lessons, but she'll only drive in empty parking lots...although I think she's quite competent.

[Jagshund]

Yes, even if he's missing limbs.

[fastfredracing]

My brother in law just bought a new camry last year. It is a stick, and he already knew how to drive a manual. I just put a clutch in it for him, the car has less than 20k.