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The Dying Art of Driving a Stick Shift
WSJ ^ | 27 Mar 2022 | Faith Bottum

Posted on 04/10/2022 3:21:08 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT

Only around 18% of American drivers can handle a manual transmission, according to U.S. News and World Report. You know: the clutch pedal and the stick shift—three on the tree, four on the floor or, I don’t know, five to drive maybe. Different gears, manually engaged.

Turns out that “basically” isn’t the same as “actually.” When my father’s Oldsmobile died this month, my family replaced it as the backup car with a used Chevy. Since I’m the backup driver, I climbed in, stepped on the clutch, started the car, stepped off the clutch. The engine promptly stalled. Only by grinding the gears, smoking the clutch and jerking forward in jumps did I finally get moving.

In 1980, some 35% of cars produced in the U.S. were manuals. Today that figure is closer to 1%, and only 3.7% of Carmax sales are for stick shifts—shockingly low considering that 80% of cars sold in Europe have manual transmissions. Some car makers, including Audi, no longer offer manual transmissions in the U.S. market at all.

So why would anyone want one? Your car is less likely to get stolen, for one thing. Thieves prove as incapable of using a clutch as any other American.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Humor; Travel
KEYWORDS: automotive; doubleclutch; manualtransmission; stickshift; stickshifts
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To: DUMBGRUNT
Taught my daughter to drive a stick shift in this! lol
61 posted on 04/10/2022 4:05:05 PM PDT by US_MilitaryRules
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To: DUMBGRUNT

I’ve always preferred a stick, though they’re getting pretty hard to find. You have to pay attention and think ahead a little to drive one smoothly.


62 posted on 04/10/2022 4:05:10 PM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: DUMBGRUNT
Last month I bought an old 2003 30' RV. My BIL offered his '94 Chevy diesel dually. We lost clutch halfway back. He stopped on the side of the road to look under the hood and found the master cylinder spurting fluid when depressing the clutch pedal. He was about to call for help.

I jumped into the driver's seat put it in first pushed the useless clutch and hit the starter. It chugged forward and started. I was surprised it did (especially since it was still attached to the trailer) but then I gave him a lesson in clutchless driving back to the house. Since I have had a lot of junkers I learned to to that a long time ago.

63 posted on 04/10/2022 4:06:09 PM PDT by TangoLimaSierra (⭐⭐Public hangings will wake 'em up.⭐⭐)
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To: ought-six

“ I learned to drive on a manual transmission (stick shift), back in the mid-1960s. I love them. Most of my vehicles have been manual trans (though my current Ford pick-up is an automatic).”
I am the same way. My 04 F-150 is automatic, my GTO is a 4 speed.


64 posted on 04/10/2022 4:06:41 PM PDT by wjcsux (RIP Rush Limbaugh 12 Jan 1951- 17 Feb 2021. We really miss you. 😢)
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To: fhayek

A REAL WOMAN should also know how to drive a stick shift!!


65 posted on 04/10/2022 4:08:19 PM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion....... The HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Trinity5
Ummm, you can downshift in an automatic also.

It's just not the same to me. :-)

66 posted on 04/10/2022 4:08:26 PM PDT by AFB-XYZ (Stand up, or bend over)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

When I was a state copper working in Cook County I was in Chicago in the Greektown restaurant area when my partner and I monitored a Chicago Police Dept flash message about a car jacking that had just occurred in the area within the last few minutes.

Just moments after we made note of it, we heard cars honking at a late model import that was moving slowly in the left lane, jerking and stopping as other cars swerved around it. Since it matched the description of the suspect vehicle, we made a felony stop, detained three suspects who had two pistols in the car, and notified CPD Tactical officers to meet us at the scene.

These suspects were subsequently identified as the offenders in the car jacking, and the reason for the erratic driving that had captured our attention was the fact that the ringleader driver couldn’t operate the 5 speed manual transmission in it very well. One of his accomplices was an 18 wheel truck driver who was entirely capable of driving it, but the boss said that he had always wanted to drive a stick shift and this would be his first chance, so he ordered his buddy to stand down and took the wheel himself.

We wouldn’t catch so many of these clowns if so many weren’t so damn stupid.

As a result of this experience, my 2010 Hummer H3 has a 5 speed manual trans. The transmission also helps me to get the most performance from a relatively heavy vehicle with a relatively small engine. (3.7L 250 hp, but moving 4800 lbs).


67 posted on 04/10/2022 4:09:09 PM PDT by DMZFrank
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To: Yardstick

—”Interesting that it’s still 80% in Europe.”

The price of gas is crazy in the EU; better MPG with a stick.

Some of my wife’s kin from Norway visited driving a huge Lincoln, a special deal from the rental agency!

No crackerjack box for them.

Asking about the gas? They said GAS IS CHEAP IN AMERICA!!!

The proceeded to compare the price...


68 posted on 04/10/2022 4:09:20 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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To: doberville

“Guess I’m dating myself”

At least you know who gets the check.


69 posted on 04/10/2022 4:10:40 PM PDT by calenel (Tree of Liberty is thirsty.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

When I was a country boy, the stick shift made sense. I’m now an old city dweller, and a stick is more of a nuisance.


70 posted on 04/10/2022 4:10:45 PM PDT by gitmo (If your theology doesn't become your biography, what good is i)
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To: fhayek

Perfect!


71 posted on 04/10/2022 4:11:28 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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To: Getready
Ever try push starting , or using the downward slope of a hill to start an automatic?

Not since they remo0ved the rear pumps from them 60+ years ago!

I've also, at 18YO, in a VW Beetle, had to start in 1st gear, because the clutch cable broke; then speed shift, until I could get it to the shop to replace the cable.

Drove it that way on the old 2-lane 101, from Crescent City to Eureka CA, cussing logging trucks, and timing stop lights as much as possible in towns.

72 posted on 04/10/2022 4:14:39 PM PDT by ApplegateRanch (Love me, love my guns!)
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To: DUMBGRUNT
I taught my daughter to drive on a manual (I know; child abuse) and she can drive anything on 4 wheels.
I’ll lay you odds that 80% of Freepers and 100% of preppers are capable of driving a stick.
73 posted on 04/10/2022 4:16:29 PM PDT by stormhill
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To: TangoLimaSierra

Something similar happened when I was riding with a friend in his Audi sedan. He was going to call a tow truck, but I told him how to shift without the clutch and we got where we were going.

When I drove VWs, sometimes I’d drive around for a week or more with a broken clutch cable before bothering to replace it.


74 posted on 04/10/2022 4:17:57 PM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: cyclotic

—”I tore my left Achilles’ tendon and had to wear an air boot for a while.”

Long ago, ankle in a cast...go into work extra early and use cruise control on the expressway.


75 posted on 04/10/2022 4:18:28 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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To: gitmo

When I got my license back in the 50s if you took your driving test on an automatic you were restricted to automatic…..stamped right on the license.

..


76 posted on 04/10/2022 4:18:55 PM PDT by Mears ( )
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To: DUMBGRUNT

I learned how to drive in a 1950 Mercury. It was more like a tank than a car. I still remember coordinating clutch and shift.


77 posted on 04/10/2022 4:19:38 PM PDT by McGavin999 (To shut down the border tell the administration the cartel is smuggling Ivermectin )
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To: DUMBGRUNT

When my son was in the Navy, the carrier had stopped in a port in Spain where they spent a few days.

Some sailors needed to be picked up at a location and couldn’t get a ride or taxi. All that was on the ship was an old, white, van, stick-shift.

He knew how after purchasing a Mustang with one, so he was the only one that could drive it. They went to go pick them up and he earned and an extra day off.


78 posted on 04/10/2022 4:20:32 PM PDT by sumuam
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To: fhayek; Daffynition
A real man should know how to drive a stick shift.

That's for sure. Accept no substitutes!

O Come O Come Emmanual..

79 posted on 04/10/2022 4:21:30 PM PDT by Ezekiel ("Come fly with US". Ingenuity -- because the Son of David begins with Mars ♂️.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Uh, automatic transmissions are the exception rather than the rule in Europe and Latin America - which is the main thing I hate about traveling to those regions. Stick shift is sooooooo 100 years ago.


80 posted on 04/10/2022 4:22:01 PM PDT by Clemenza (I have no tolerance for tolerance)
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