One of my dad's friends owned a golf course, and I worked for him one summer when I was 15. The "truck" he wanted me to use to pick up branches and do other odd jobs around the course was an old Chevy Luv. After my dad dropped me off in the morning, the owner took me over to the truck and asked me if I knew how to drive stick. I told him I'm only 15 and don't have a license. He replied with, "That's not what I asked you." and then proceeded to give me about a 30 second lesson on how to operate a manual transmission. So, that was my first experience driving (and also towing a flatbed trailer). To this day, working on that golf course was probably my favorite job ever, and I've loved sticks ever since. I've owned several automatics over the years, but they bore me. Very glad to be back to a manual with my 944 :)

it would have been 1994 and I learned on a 1984 BMW 318i.

I was 16 and it was my first car, I bought it as an automatic and decided I wanted a manual. Found a yard in the North Bay that would trade my automatic with all the accessories for a manual swap. Took me a couple days by myself and once I had it together my Dad took it for a test drive since I couldn't drive a stick. I remember going out that Saturday night with some friends, stalling all over town, good times.

Hillborne in a p/u. Early 'vette?

Aqua blue and white Metrolipitan on a closed section of a new neighborhood in Houston TX. 1968. But I had been riding dirt bikes for about 5 year so I understood the clutch concept.

Yep, remember.
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I say 'tractors' cuz they're so low-geared & forgiving...hard to stall.

Started with motorcycles at age 8. My parents had a 67 VW bug and since we lived in a rural area I would hop in a take for a spin, sometimes just around circular drive way, sometimes up and down nearby roads. Having the MC experience made picking up standard quite easy i think. Later began driving my father's 68 912.

Growing up on the farm, I don't count the tractors, as you could really start them in any gear and go from there.

When sister #3 (4 years older) was practicing for her license, she got me to go through the same drills. Our driveway was a large "T" shape, so the procedure was to back into the stem of the T, drive to the end of the lane, back up to the garage, drive into the stem, back to the end of the lane and drive to the garage. If you did it right, you could up-shift on that last bit.

The car was a '62 Acadian, Canadian Pontiac version of the Chevy II, with a '3 on the tree'. You quickly got a real good feel for the clutch. Sometimes we used the Chev p/u, also a six with 3 on the tree.

The best part was, you were reversing as much as driving ahead, so that part in Drivers' Ed. was a snap and later, when I worked on a large farm with several dual-wheel stake body trucks, I could put them anywhere.

Hmmm. That's a few years ago.
Les

Never owned an automatic until I was 35.....and needed a kid hauler. The wife never learned.

First was a 56 bug.....non synchro 1st gear crash box. Learned the clutch slip. accelerator and ebrake on the hills in SmelLA. Never moved an inch.

On my driver's test, the DMV dude put me on a hill, some asshat sucked up behind me, not 1/4 inch slip back. Got 100%......

Yes, yes. If there was a black belt in parking/placing vehicles...I'd have it.
Ever watch a truck driver place a dual trailer rig? A thing of beauty.

My oldest sister married & moved from ND to CA back in the 50's. She told me about this DMV test.

When I was 13........used to work for a pressure wash company....
Was in a 1 ton ford van with a 4 speed, no power steering.....and a 500 water tank in back with multiple pumps et....
that thing was heavy.......but nailed it early, around the same time on my Honda 250r three Wheeler.......talk about different spectrums lol

1970 age 8 on our farm.
Chevy pick up, 3 on the tree.

I had a couple short "lessons" while in college, but it wasn't until I was in my first year of grad school and bought a Nissan 200SX SE-R that I really learned how to drive a stick. Went on a test drive (stalled it once, IIRC). Then returned later that night to buy the car and drive it home (stalled it once, again). But I had a motorcycle in college, so the concept of balancing clutch and throttle wasn't totally foreign.

My father, the master, taught me properly in his bought-new '67 Austin-Healey 3000 MkIII, beginning when I was 14, in parking lots, and soloing me out when I was on my permit. San Francisco hills, coastal roads, bay area freeways, the lot. Double-clutched from the very beginning. Heel-toe came later. Terrific car to learn in and a terrific instructor.

My first car was a FIAT 128SL coupe (I was 15)...followed by a sirocco....4spd merc cougar....then there was a blip early in marriage where practical transportation (ie; boring) took priority. Now I always have at least one standard in the fleet at all times. Automatic cars are not "driven" they are just "pointed" in your direction of travel.

First attempts were on a Kubota, on/off clutch. My uncle let me take his Toyota truck around the block a few times when I was ~15. Looking back I think he was crazy. Official lessons where through drivers ed. I paid a little extra to learn on a stick, a craptastic Chevy Cavalier IIRC.

Lot's of farm and ranch kid stories, so I'll add mine.

We had a 1958 El Camino that was our ranch manure truck. It was always parked under a tree near the main stable and my Dad build a ramp we'd back the truck up to so we could load wheel barrels full of road apples into the bed. A weeks worth would fill the truck up, way up.

The truck had been my Uncles until in passed away in 1965, then we drove up to SF and brought it home.

My job was to take he manure the many other small ranches and farms in the area that had huge gardens.

I was nine when I started doing the manure runs, all on back roads, private roads, etc. It took me a few weeks and a few jams to get good, but once you master tres on the tree, a heavy clutch, a long throw and manual steering, not much bothers you.

I had the time of my life. I always had my Marlin lever action .22 by my side, just in case a Jackrabbit rebellion needed squelching:)

Similar to many on here already--14 and a "field car" 68 Bug. It was alot of fun--till I got it stuck in the marsh in the fall and it sat through the winter.

learned in my brothers 68 gto in Northridge fashion square parking lot about 10 pm, they had a nice ramp on the west side to practice hill starts (circa 1972), 70 opel gt was the first stick I owned about 1973.

The family truckster was a '72 Kombi poptop camper with the back seats refitted for us kids. The day I turned 16 I could get my learner's permit I did so amd my dad started teaching me to drive it. The thing was a terror to find gears in even for someone used to it, but I got there in the end.

Over the years I've owned very few auto cars. Back then they were still a bit uncommon compared to the (cheaper) manual gearbox variants so most people here can drive a manual. It's even moreso in Europe but high fuel costs and up front expense means cheap eco type stuff has always been the most popular. Old autos used to suck a lot of fuel.