how did you learn to drive stick and when
 

The Stick Shift thread about the car thief got me thinking. I turned 16 in 1983 naturally I wanted a car real bad and it had to be a stick or nothing. My original plan was a Socorro. So I ask the use car salesman to show it to me. it was a $1200 car. I told him that I was a little rusty with the clutch. He was very nice and said lets go and drive it. I understood the concept, but got it going in my second try. A few weeks later, I bought a 80 Celica GT with a $1500 gift from my father. which I later paid back but he wouldn't take my money. My second try at driving stick was with my beloved Celica. By the end of the day, I was a master. It did take me a couple of days to not rollback on our hill. How about you?

I had a few early, aborted teen attempts. I was a master with reverse, 1st, not so much. The make it or break it moment, was when my dad and I went on a Summer father/son weekend trip to Mammoth Mountain in my mid teens. He rented a Chevy S-10 manual 4x4. He drove it towards the end of town and let me have a go through a quite residential street. Then we headed up a mountain with switchbacks. That was the real learning experience! There were turns that needed good clutch work and at certain crucial points in the switchback turns, if you did not get it right and get it rolling in 1st, you'd roll backwards off the road and tumble down the mountain.

At huge party over in the valley one evening and we were running out of beer fast, The only vehicle we could manage to get out of the jammed up driveway/yard was an old 60something Chebby that had a converted three on the tree to a floor shifter. Somehow I was elected to drive this POS to make a beer run. We were in a little area named Verona, which happens to be in the mountains. I was just drunk enough to pull it off.

When I was a kid, we had a 100 acre farm with a befriended family in "Downstate NY". Besides the tractor, an old Ford, we also had a 1942 Willys Jeep as our farm vehicle. I was 12 and digging ditches as a summer job, when Rolf, the farm's co-owner dropped me my lunch packet one afternoon (he had a restaurant and was between the lunch and dinner seatings) and to check up on me (this was 1981 - no cell phones, etc.) because it was a typical 95/95 day. Because it was so hot and I'd made good progress digging, he suggested I take a dip in the brook at the other end of the farm. He tossed me the key, said "have a great afternoon" and took off. I spent the rest of that afternoon learning the intricacies of the Jeep's 3 speed manual. Needless to say, progress on the ditch slowed somewhat in the coming weeks of that summer, but I got a lot better at driving... If I ever get the space (and the necessary small change), I will get myself one of these Army surplus Jeeps. Very fond memories...

I was 14 and in Europe on holiday with my family. Such a great time in my life.
My uncle, the farmer owned a tactor an he taught me how to drive it. Pretty easy from memory.

He was a very old school European Gentleman. God rest his soul. He didn't suffer fools.

Ironically while I was learning to drive his tractor my 78 911 was being built in the Stuttgart factory not far from my uncles farm.

2002 the reason I remember is because it was the year I started college and I bought a new car. A few failed attempts while in highschool and a few people less than enthusiastic about letting their car be the trial and error car. So I just bought a stick and figured it out. About a year later I got pissed off about the problems I was having(car not starting and such not the clutch ;) ) with it even though it was a new Honda, and I bought a Tiburon. which is actually my favorite stick to this day.

What about your 944 Janet?

From memory a 944 Shifts sweetly. Or at least the one I drove did.

When I was 15, a 16yo friend of mine had a '39 Buick with a three-on-the-tree. He let me drive it when were in a rural area, so I had plenty of room to get used to it without worrying about other cars. It wasn't pretty at first, but we and the car survived.

Age 12, 1980, drove a 1950 5-ton dump truck all summer on our farm; 5-speed split. Then drove it to school a lot starting at age 13.

I was 14 and my dad and I had just finished washing all the cars, including the 924S. He tossed me the keys and asked if I wanted to learn how to drive. I did ok.

I mastered it when I turned 16 and it became my daily driver.

Learned to drive on my mom's automatic. Found a 53 Ford I wanted. Took owner to bank and gave him almost all my savings from working. Got in the car and it had an "extra" pedal. Asked what it was and was told that I would figure it out. And so I did, lurching, bucking, and stalling down the road. This was in 1958. Still in high school and working. Learned a lot with that car.

Around 1988 ,my best friend gave me a VW Rabbit Diesel when he got a new car. He taught me the basics of a manual gearbox. It died and was sold less than a year later.

In 97 I bought his 94 Z28 with a 6 speed which was pretty easy to drive. After that car was sold I went without a manual until I bought the 911.

Talk about going backwards in technology!

Wow...I can't recall. Like many, I had been driving plenty of vehicles since about 12 (not on public roads). I purchased a new Jeep CJ5 (with money I'd earned working during those years) when I was 17 and I was a veteran with a "stick" by then. I reckon I killed those brain cells somewhere along the way :)

I haven't driven it yet :) and probably won't get to for another few months. I imagine she'll move to the top of the list after that.

I was a farm kid, so was probably about five with a B John Deere (dad was alongside). They had a hand clutch (and of course, "all ate up with torque") so was easy to start out. Probably by seven I was driving them alone.
I think I was 14 before we got our first car with an automatic, had been driving three on the trees for years by then.
Jim

When I was 16 I just HAD TO have a 5-speed Integra. I found one, went to the dealer with my dad who test drove it, bought it, and he drove it home. Once we were home I made a disastrous attempt to take the family to WalMart in it, but by the third day it was gravy.

Ahh, yes, it was the summer of '73.

City sponsored drivers ed. (Boise)

Yellow VW bug.

Good times.

My dad taught me in our backyard when I was 9. He joked about me being a "3 pillow driver". Hey, at least I learned in a Porsche...

In '86, a Farmall Cub with a 6 foot mower, and 7 acres taught me how to operate a clutch. Also, a wood stove, a Super A, a tobacco wagon, and a woodpile were part of my studies.

It was 1972 and I was 17 and working at a local gas station filling cars and changing oil. A customer had a 1971 Z28 with a stick. My boss asked me to take the car out of the stall and park it.

Yes, that's how I learned. It took me a ½ hour or better to find a parking spot';)

Did not burn the clutch just taught myself to drive a stick. I had the basics from asking and watching others.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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!!

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.

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.

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

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.

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).

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.

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! :p

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

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.

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.

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....

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.

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.

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.

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!"