Stick shift stories

[Lazarus]

Originally Posted by MadisonMPG

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.

I just got back form Cancun. The driver there laughed when I told him there was a whole generations of people in the US that could not drive a stick. He though I was kidding and when he found out I was serious just shook his head.

[Clev]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

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.

Recently, while chasing down a leaky clutch hydraulic hose in the Clunker, I lost the clutch two or three times. Fortunately, the starter could easily get the car moving in first (as long as I pressed the pedal down to get past the lockout switch) and shift without the clutch well enough to get home (even climbing up the hill--I can pretty much do the entire thing in third.)

When first learning to drive, my dad taught me in two MT vehicles--a Ford F100 with a three-on-the-tree, and a Honda CRX. By the time I got those two totally different vehicles down, I could pretty much drive anything. Fortunately, I married a wonderful woman who also could drive anything with a stick (heh.) While moving to Northern California before we were married, we took turns driving the 24-foot moving van with the diesel and 4-speed manual.

[Bicycle Bob]

A friend of mine drove daily for months without using the clutch in an old VW bug. He was missing reverse, too, but managed by rolling backward on the frequent hills.

[wdb]

My tales also tend to be of the teenage asshattery variety, such as the time I managed to find reverse instead of second gear in my girlfriend's mother's almost new '71 Beetle while road racing a guy in an 850 Fiat. The following is not my story, but it came from a friend of mine.

The car was a Saab 96 Monte Carlo with a 2-stroke engine. The engine died for some reason I don't recall, and the starter was bad -- a common theme among my poor car nut friends at the time -- I wouldn't dare count the number of times I've kick started a car. Anywhoo, they kick started it on a hill -- going backwards. When the car started they found had 1 forward speed, and 4 speeds in reverse.

[Bicycle Bob]

I remember one day on the wet coast when our town was invaded by tourists so I could barely find a downhill parking spot when my starter was out one day. When I got back, I could barely find a break in traffic to push it out onto the road, but I jumped in, and the faithful Toyota pulled away, instead of creating a massive traffic jam. Machines seem to like me, usually.

[99LeCouch]

That reminds me of the times I pop-started my old Hyundai when the battery went out or I had left the lights on too long. Like I said, I was younger and dumber then.

Pop starting the car when it's dead is another reason I want my next car to be a manual. Hopefully diesel-powered and a wagon to boot...

[MetroMPG]

This thread got me thinking... I remember the very first time I ever drove stick, and it was a mild adventure.

I was probably 11 or 12, visiting my grandpa's farm, helping my uncle with the haying. He needed to move both the bailer and an extra wagon to a different field, so asked me if I wanted to pull the wagon behind the big Massey Ferguson tractor by myself while he pulled the bailer with the other tractor.

My experience to that point: I was OK with steering and using the hand throttle, but had zero experience with the stick or 3 pedals (clutch and 2 brakes - one per rear wheel... which I learned later).

I said ... SURE!!!

He put it in the appropriate gear and explained how to ease up the clutch to get going (without actually explaining the concept of "clutch" to me). He may have even got the thing going and then jumped out of the cab - I don't remember.

But I do remember him saying, "just push that pedal back down to stop. Then shut off the engine."

Except the field we were going to wasn't entirely level.

Eventually I got it stopped, but the instant I pushed that clutch the blood drained from my face and I knew he hadn't told me the whole story!

[bryan11]

In college, I drove a Honda hatchback with a broken starter all summer. To start it, I pushed until I was almost running holding the door frame, hopped in, and popped the clutch. Once it started getting cold, I found a shop to rebuild the starter. Doing that routine in ice and snow didn't sound fun.

[Frank Lee]

Heh heh, it probably needed $10 worth of new brushes to fix! At least you stayed in shape!

[Clev]

Originally Posted by 99LeCouch

That reminds me of the times I pop-started my old Hyundai when the battery went out or I had left the lights on too long. Like I said, I was younger and dumber then.

Pop starting the car when it's dead is another reason I want my next car to be a manual. Hopefully diesel-powered and a wagon to boot...

Ah, good point. My negative battery cable had corroded and worked its way loose enough that I couldn't start the Clunker on Thursday. I pop-started it, and the alternator could run the car well enough to get me home. This morning I attacked it with some baking soda/water solution, a toothbrush and new terminal protectors.