Posted on 01/29/2013 4:41:10 PM PST by grundle
Where does it say they were black?
Three on the tree.
The mysterious workings of the standard transmission is a lost art.
First car I ever drove was a Willies station wagon. Was a farm car Pop put out to pasture. Lived its life out in the fields. Must have been at least 15 of my school buddies (girls too, my sisters were good at it ) lean how to drive with that thing. Gas was cheap and after school we all had fun blasting the wind rows. I could upshift, downshift and jump a gear.
To the uniformed, jumping a gear was your basic 1st to 3rd shift, jumping 2nd. On a 4 speed, you could always do your basic 1st to 3rd, or 2nd to 4th.
My most favorite trick was synchronized shifting. You know, when you can run through gears WITHOUT the clutch. Just get your MPH in heavenly harmony with RPM and you could slide into the target gear smooth as silk.
Old guys (and a bunch of gals) know what I mean.
I’ll back you up on that one.
In high school, my best friend had a 1950’s Chevy truck her dad bought her. She taught me how to drive ‘three on the tree’ in that Sear’s green truck and then taught me how to drive ‘four on the floor’ in her orange ‘vette.
(’Course it was a Che-vette.)
My father taught me sync-shifting. Used to drive my ex-wife insane when I did that in her brand new Škoda Octavia.
Of course, everytime she stalled it coming from a stop into first, I used to look at her. :)
Yeah, I was just thinking about the old Ford Falcon with 3 on the tree. I could put my arm around my girl, drink a DP, smoke a cigarette and still manage to shift the thing.
I'd be lucky to find my glasses and say 'whut'? today, if in the same situation. ;)
/johnny
Back in the day I had a number of old 50s and 60s medium trucks. You had to practically be a magician to shift some of those old International cabovers. About a mile of linkage between the shifter and the transmission, and if you didn’t hold your mouth just right, you’d never hit the right gear. :-) It was an art.
I can’t remember any automatic transmission vehicles that I drove except when I chauffered a three star around in a souped-up Ford LTD.
Drove clutch vehicles most of my life. First time I tooled around in an automatic, I almost killed myself. Approached an intersection and attempted to push the clutch in to down shift and of course the clutch was now the brake. LOL! Glade there was nobody behind me. ;-)
/johnny
HeeHeeHee,
I loved watching the “experts” try to stop on an upward hill, and then get things rolling without popping the clutch or rolling backwards into the car behind or stalling and dying.
I taught my kid sister how to deploy the foot brake. Get the clutch out to the point where the engine just barely started to sound like a stall, then pop the brake.
She showed up so many guys, they quit going out with her.
I learned on a stick, a four on the floor. My third car was a Dodge Dart with three on the tree. A guy I knew pulled up next to me at a light on Sunrise Highway and started revving...so I threw it into first (so I thought), revved it up to pop the clutch and raced backwards at the green...dumb.
Yep, though that's not something that every driver could master. A true heel-and-toe downshift, properly executed, is also a joy. Computerized, flappy-paddle gearboxes just aren't the same.
“Where does it say they were black?”
When did I say they were black? I have NO CLUE and I wouldn’t DREAM of violating their civil rights.
My dad taught me that fine art as well. There was a steep hill close to where we lived, with no traffic at all (an abandoned property development) and I figure I must’ve practiced for hours on end until I finally got it. He had me do that again and again and again until I mastered it.
Actually, I’m really glad he did, because the majority of autos here in Europe are manual transmission. I’ve met a few young American expats who grumble about not being able to rent a car here because they simply don’t know how to drive it. You can, of course, rent an automatic but it’s more expensive and there’s a couple of rental agencies in my town that have no automatic transmission cars at all in their fleet.
LOL...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.