Mid-70s GMC rack body truck

1980 Ford Pinto.

Late 60s Ford Cortina.

Ford USA imported them until 1970 when they switched to the German made Capri. I had a 1974 one of those later on.

Don't remember the year but it was an Oldsmobile Omega. Same as a Chevy Nova.

VW station wagon, sometime in 1976. The car was older than that.

Some ratty pickup on the Navy base. The guys with me thought it was pretty funny when I turned the key, the truck lurched, and then stalled. I had no idea what a clutch was at the time.

1982 Dodge Challenger. That was a fun little car for its time.

1968 Volkswagen Square Back.

Chevy Luv truck.

My old mans 1961 Chevy Biscayne. 2 door. Odd shade of tan. Straight 6. No power steering or power brakes. 3 on the tree. You did not drive it, you wrestled it. It was indestructible. It survived my learning process and the old man drove it another 10 years.

A dump truck with 12 gears, each with a hi/lo. I also had to learn to double clutch that boy.

In 1964, a 62 Chevrolet Biscayne, local P.D. Car.
I was twelve and washing cars at my uncle’s gas station. From the wash bay to behind the station.

And the clutch survived.

1963 GMC Pickup, Granddad’s farm truck.

It was my Dads Chevy P/U, 3 speed on column in 1974-75 time frame.

Dam thing was famous for hanging in gear and had to get out and under hood realign linkage.

1985 Ford Ranger

Interesting question for me. I learned manual on motorcycles then moving empty grain trucks around the farm, I was probably 13. I feel like I just always knew how. Those grain trucks had gearing and torque that certainly simplified the task. The 2 speed axle that was likely 3 years later

A 1962 Chevy Impala, three on the tree. That was 50 years ago. I drove manuals until 2005 when the vehicles appropriate for my needs no longer had a manual option. I will own another.

1937 Dodge pickup. Three on the floor.

I grew up on a farm in the 50's and 60's.

Tractors, pickups, trucks, cars...all manual. Cars mostly 3 on the tree, pickups usually the same or a "4" speed where 1st was a creeper and only used occasionally, the "big" truck was a Chevy 6100 (?) a 2-1/2 ton, inline 6, 4 speed with a 2 speed rear end, vacuum shifted. With a full load of wheat on, you might...might... get it up to 35 MPH and if you missed a shift, you started over from a dead stop.

Good thing most of central Michigan is as flat as a table top cuz if you had to stop that thing loaded and going downhill, you were well and truly screwed.

1967 VW Beetle. This was in the UK in 1975. So high school senior me got used to driving on the left side of the road in the London suburbs, and learned to drive a manual transmission, while operating a left hand drive beetle. Looking back, I'm amazed it turned out ok.