Stick shift stories - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

SentraSE-R · 01-16-2010, 02:54 PM

What's yours?

Mine goes back 30 years ago to a Food Science class at Cornell University's Geneva, NY campus. A guy from upstate NY, another from NYC, and I were hanging around together, and found a river we wanted to canoe down. The upstate guy had a canoe on his truck, so he and I scouted the river, and brought the NYC guy to drive the truck from the drop-off to the pick-up spot.

We got the canoe unloaded, but discovered the NYC guy couldn't drive the truck, since it was a stick shift. We changed plans, and I drove the truck to the pick-up spot. Four hours later, they hadn't shown up. Finally they came walking up, explained they'd left the canoe back at a culvert, and I drove them back to pick it up.

They'd wisely stopped where they did, as the other end of the culvert had a 3' drop to the water below it. The "river" was controlled by the outlet from a dam upriver, and we'd scouted it when the valves were open. My friends canoed it when the valves were closed. They'd immediately come upon shallows, and had to line the boat downriver, walk alongside it in shallow rocky areas, etc. They'd lost a paddle and a life jacket, and were pretty disgusted with the whole experience. I was spared the experience because Louis, our NYC driver, couldn't drive stick shift.

luvit · 01-16-2010, 04:12 PM

in my 1985.5 mercury lynx i could takeoff from 2nd gear... when rolling, i could shift any gear without the clutch.
i can't top your story.

Frank Lee · 01-16-2010, 04:52 PM

I've read about failed carjackings because the city-boy thieves, once in, couldn't figure out the m/t.

Sofa King We Todd Did.

wagonman76 · 01-16-2010, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I've read about failed carjackings because the city-boy thieves, once in, couldn't figure out the m/t.

Sofa King We Todd Did.

There was a failed bank robbery around here because their getaway car was a stick and they couldn't drive it. I remember reading it in the paper about 15-20 years ago.

Frank Lee · 01-16-2010, 05:46 PM

It just seems so odd to me, having driven m/t stuff since I was 5 years old.

Laurentiu · 01-16-2010, 07:31 PM

I love stick shift....could never be satisfied with a fully A/T...Only compromise I would ever make would be paddle shift (semi A/T) but that's if they don't make manuals any more in my lifetime...which is pretty unlikely

MadisonMPG · 01-16-2010, 07:42 PM

My Spanish teacher takes a trip down to Guatemala (SP) every year. She was the only female out of all (10 people total) that went. They got down there and they got their rental van and she was the only one that could "Drive a stick." The funny part is, she is a very attractive woman and the mix between her hand motion and "shirt pillows" made the entire class giggle and she just turned blood red.

Bicycle Bob · 01-16-2010, 10:33 PM

I flew to L.A. for the streamlined bike races in '79, not aware that there was a gas crisis on. People were renting cars because their own tanks were dry. So I'm having a hard time renting a car at the airport, until suddenly the guy asks if I can drive stick. It took me a while to figure out why some people were waving to me, until I realized we were all in Mustangs. It was just a long-hooded Falcon to me. Later, I was helping my buddy through the rush at his bike store, and a guy came in, looked at the lineup, threw his wallet on the counter, yelled "I'll be back!", grabbed a bike and took off.

99LeCouch · 01-16-2010, 10:46 PM

Just the usual teenage hoonage back when I was younger and dumber (I'm still kinda young and still plenty dumb, but at least I know it!). My '99 Hyundai wagon had a second gear that was good from 15-65. There were plenty of times I would take off hard from a light, redline it in first, whip it into second, and dump the clutch thinking I was a hot-shot. Oh little did I know then....

MetroMPG · 01-17-2010, 05:37 PM

My best stick story: (I've probabaly told this one before... or some version of it

)

In Toronto rush hour traffic in my '82 VW Rabbit, I was sitting at a red light. When the light changed green, I pressed the clutch in to shift into 1st and the pedal dropped right to the floor. Oh no! No clutch.

Imagine my luck: directly behind me in the line of traffic (3 lanes in this direction) is a tow truck. He saw me fail to take off and put on my 4-way flashers, so he flipped his emergency party lights on. The other cars behind started streaming around us on both sides.

We both get out, me quickly heading to look under the hood of the Rabbit to confirm what I think has happened: Yup, "busted clutch cable," I tell the tow truck guy.

Tow truck guy says: "Lucky you. I can push you into that gas station and hook you up right now if you want."

"Nah. Thanks a lot for the offer, but I think I'll be OK."

I don't think he quite believed me, because he followed me for quite a while after we both got back in our respective vehicles.

I got the the car going with the starter in first gear, and shifted the rest of the way without the clutch. Getting home became an adventure in timing lights to avoid stopping ... or when stops were unavoidable, popping it into N and killing the engine when coming to a halt and using the 1st gear + starter trick to get moving again.