I learned to drive a stick when we talked my Mom into getting a new ‘69 Camaro. If you weren’t smooth on the stats, you could almost bounce the front ene in the air.
My first pickup was a used ‘67 Chevy C10 fleetside V8 with 3 on the tree. Nice truck.
My Mom continued to buy stick shift cars until she retired. Said she had “more control” She went over to an auto because my Dad had pretty bad arthritis in his hands and might need to drive.
My wife learned how to drive in my ‘81 stick shift Toyota Tacoma pickup, manual steering and all. Both my boys were taught to drive a manual. I’ve had 9 vehicles with stick and only a few with auto.
I sold an old stick shift VW Dasher to an elderly lady. Her two boys wanted to learn. She hadn’t driven one in years, but I checked her out and she remembered very quickly. I had her stop on steep hills and restart without coasting back - console mounted parking brake helps a lot.