Always drove family hand me down automatics till I bought my first brand new car, a 1979 (or ‘80?) VW Rabbit Diesel manual. Taught myself manual on that car, somehow not destroying it.
Only manuals since.

1970 VW Beetle
1980 Ford Grenada (right hand drive)

1963 Ford Ranch Wagon - three on the column.

quote:

Originally posted by ScotP7:
Always drove family hand me down automatics till I bought my first brand new car, a 1979 (or ‘80?) VW Rabbit Diesel manual. Taught myself manual on that car, somehow not destroying it.
Only manuals since.

My grandpa had one of those. He claimed 50 mpg.

I learned on a Ford 8N.

I had the basic understanding of how to use a clutch from using a small tractor around the property since a child which I think helped. My first actual experience in a car was in 1968 when at 15 my older sister's boyfriend taught me in his 57 Chevrolet, 3-speed column shift.

I had no problem at all starting out, shifting from 1st to 2nd, or backing up, going back and forth our long, but fairly level driveway. Then he said "now drive over to the field, you're going to practice starting out on a hill, on the grass." The field was sloped, some sections more steep than others.
He had me starting out on a slight hill.... "what you need to do is not stall it but also not spin the tires." After stalling it and spinning the tires a few times I mastered that, then we moved to the steep section. The challenge there of course was by the time I released the brake, moved my foot to the accelerator and released the clutch to the engagement point, the car was drifting backwards so fast that I was spinning the tires some when engaging. He said "you're doing fine, you just need to get it just right, quicker. Many experienced drivers wouldn't be able to do this here." So after a few more times I got better and finally was able to consistently start out on that slope w/o spinning. Looking back on that now, once a person masters how to use a clutch I can't think of a better way to teach them how to do it on hills than on a grass slope.

1976? Toyota Celica

Four speed on the column while stationed in Italy. Full size and probably a Fiat, but not sure. It was the shop truck and the guy who was on-call that week ran the DIN calls during his rotation. (Do It Now - emergency service calls).

The one that was the most challenging was an old Dodge van 3 speed on the column, while in Saudi. We drove some old beat-up stuff there.

1978 Pontiac Trans Am. Awesome ride, wish I still had it

‘78 Toyota pickup. It was my first vehicle. My Dad bought it pre-owned from a guy in 1978 and drove it to work until I was 16, then he gave it to me. I learned to drive in my Mom’s Toyota Corolla wagon with an automatic, but my Dad taught me to drive the stick concurrently so once I turned 16 and got my “real” license the truck was mine.

A very fine, low mileage 1976 Chevette....It never showed but only saw the taillights of others. LOL!

Early 70's Ford work van. Three on the tree.
Boss drove a 50's car, I think Chrysler, the only thing I remember about it
was you had to push the gas pedal all the way to the floor to engage the starter.

quote:

Originally posted by Schmelby:

you had to push the gas pedal all the way to the floor to engage the starter.

My 1950 Studebakers (I had two of them), the starter buttton was under the clutch pedal. Step on the clutch really hard, to engage the starter.

1953 Chevrolet in 1954. Good old 3 on the column.

quote:

Originally posted by Schmelby:
you had to push the gas pedal all the way to the floor to engage the starter.

Same with my dad's '57 Buick convertible.

1987 Mazda B2000. No power steering or AC. We taught everybody in the neighborhood how to drive stick in that truck and it never had a clutch or transmission issue. Probably still running.