how did you learn to drive stick and when

[svandamme]

i learned by taking my mum's 2cv in a field of grass when she wasn't looking...

[red-beard]

I learned on a manual transmission in 1981. I never owned an Automatic until 2001.

[svandamme]

oh and because i had been shifting for my dad at times when he had busted up his hand.. so he would clutch and i would shift during that time.. i think was 9 or so.

[mreid]

I was 15 and living in upstate NY. Our family car was a1968 Chevy wagon with three on the tree. Learned in a parking lot then took my drivers test with that car. Had a 307 V8 and was a real dog, particularly in the snow.

[gchappel]

I was lucky. Learned to drive a stick on my friends Dodge SuperBee - yup hemi engine. 1970 or 71.
Giant Hurst shifter, clutch I could barely push to the floor. Probably cost mike a set of rear tires. There are probably still marks in the church parking lot
Gary

[BK911]

Oh wow. Dear ole' dad used to come get me a couple of times a year and head straight for the bar. I would play asteroids while he got smashed. Couple of hours later he would toss me the keys to his full size truck. I would grind the gears pretty bad and he would yell and smack me across the head. Geez dad, I am only 13, give me a f'n break!! Oh the wonderful memories!!

[shadowjack1]

In 1965 my father had a 64 Chevy, 3 speed on the column. But most cars were stick at that time. Automatics were not to be trusted and were way to expensive to repair.

[wdfifteen]

I wouldn't call it driving, more like operating, but I would operate our 1948 KB-5 International in the cow pasture on our farm. I don't know how old I was, 5 maybe. I wasn't big enough to reach the foot throttle and see over the windshield at the same time, but it had a hand throttle and I could tool around in creeper gear. I'd pull the throttle out a little, get down and push on the clutch and shove it into gear, let the clutch out, and hop on the seat and steer it around the pasture.My dad didn't seem to mind. When I got older, maybe 8, I started driving our 1950 GMC pickup, shifting through the gears like a grownup.

[jcommin]

My dad's 60 chevy, 3 on the tree, in 1967. I was 16 and got my drivers license.

[GH85Carrera]

My brother & I built a VW based dune buggy. The bug had been rolled so we threw away the body, cut 14 inches out of the middle, welded up a tube frame and sheet metal body. It was real ugly but it worked. I was 14 and I learned to drive in that thing off road.

When I turned 16 I already had a 1960 VW bug. The driving inspector at the driving license place got in and off we went. He asked me how long I had been driving. I told him two years sir, but off road! I passed with no problems.

My dad gave me a interest free loan for the bug and he paid for my insurance until I turned 18. 100% of all other car costs were on me.

[p911dad]

On my uncle's farm in Wyalusing PA. Cranky old Ford 8N tractor, an old "field car", and my dad's 55' Chevy. I was about 12 at the time, it was a progression from tractor to field car and then the Chevy, which I drove into a ditch (got confused with the brake, clutch and the need to keep steering the thing while in motion).

[pete3799]

Around 1966-67 (i was 12-13) was helping the neighbors hay. They suggested i drive their 9N ford tractor and hay wagon around the field while they loaded bales. All went well till i turned down hill (all side hills around here) and tried to stop at a bunch of bales. I stood on the clutch and the brakes but only stepped on one of the brake pedals. The left wheel started sliding and i went down the hill and through the barbed wire fence. It came to a stop after it sunk in the mud just before the brook.
First auto i ever drove ,along with my brother and sister,was a 1943 Willys Jeep that we all learned to drive on. It's still here on the farm.

[Laneco]

I drove a tractor in FFA when I was about 16. I didn't know how to drive a car (didn't start driving until I was 18) so the tractor was a fine adventure! I popped some SERIOUS wheelies before I got the hang of it!

My first car was a Plymouth Duster with a manual 4 speed. Got that car when I was 18. The shifter on that car was pretty worn out, picking the gears required PICKING with care and great kindness to the synchros. That was kind of a tough car to learn on. Real leggy gears, not alot of power from the slant six, and the worn shifter/transmission.

Funny thing is, that was the worst shifting car I've ever owned. Every other car was easy after that one. I hear alot of grousing about the 915 transmissions and how "challenging" they are to drive. I think they're a piece of cake compared to that old Duster. I guess that maybe the Duster was a good first car for that reason if none other.

angela

[masraum]

Dad taught me. The first foray was when I was 13 or 14 in the early 80s, and that was in Japan in a car with the steering wheel on the right. We waited and did it again in earnest when we got back to the states and I was 15.

[onewhippedpuppy]

14 years old in the KSU football stadium parking lot in an '80s Escort wagon. After jerking around the lot for a few minutes it was out to the public streets, where pure panic set in. After a few days of stalling at green lights I was pretty good with that little POS. My first real car at 16 was an '87 Nissan 200SX with a stick, by that point it was no big deal.

[Sarc]

When I was 15, I got a job at the mall. There was a video arcade that had a driving "simulator" type game that I would spend my whole lunch hour on. I became so good at it, I was able hustle a few kids which would yield me a consistent take of $7 or so (by this age my father and grandfather had already given me significant wheeltime in their cars, so that gave me a clear advantage).
Anyway, this game had a 3 pedal option which I thought (as much as 15 year old could suss) to be a pretty accurate representation of the real thing, having the ability to stall the car, etc. So when it came time to buy my first car, I bought a 280z 5 speed. After my father checked the car out and we drove it home, he tossed me the keys and off I went. I only stalled it once, trying to show off for a girl I saw at the intersection. The next couple hours I drove all over the Central Illinois countryside. Simple times....

[95avblm3]

You could say the roots of my stick driving lay in a long gone '70 Datsun 240Z. When I was about 4, my uncle, while babysitting my brother and I told me I was big enough to help him shift. I remember riding on the transmission hump and getting to shift the stick as he operated the clutch. His girlfriend was riding shotgun and my brother was laying in the cargo area in the back. It was so much fun if not a little (or a lot) dangerous.

Later, at about 12, my brother taught me the finer points of clutch engagement in his '83 Accord when my folks weren't around... When my dad actually went to teach me how to "drive a stick" I kinda already had the basics down.

Still, I recall at 15 sitting at a stoplight with cars behind me and my left leg trembling... part nerves, part the weight of the cable clutch.

[Gooch1971]

My grandfather had me driving his tractor with him by about 8 and by myself by about 10. We had a few motorcycles growing up. After I had a license, my brother secretly took me out a couple times in his car. The first time I drove a stick with my dad, I just hopped in and buzzed off through the gears. He had the strangest look on his face because he was expecting to have to explain it all to me.

Back when it was easier to take a test drive without the salesman, my dad taught my brother to drive a stick by test driving new cars.

[fanaudical]

My dad provided his old Dodge pickup (three on the tree!) on "permanent loan" as my first vehicle. That truck eventually went to my younger brother and I bought an old Audi Fox (four speed) for college. I drove stick for my daily driver for the next 14 years.

[id10t]

1984 (I was 13) in the 356, first in a large empty parking lot, then on roads in an industrial park, and then on a ghia track. "Dammit, keep your foot on the gas in the corners!"