Learned to drive in a ‘53 Ford with “three on the tree.” I’ve owned a lot of cars since then, and less than half of them had autos.
Autos: ‘68 Charger R/T, ‘78 Cutlass 4-4-2, ‘84 Volvo 760 GLE Turbo Diesel, ‘89 Jeep Cherokee, ‘91 Jeep Grand Cherokee, ‘06 Ford Fusion
Manuals: ‘53 Ford, ‘66 Mustang, ‘66 MGB, ‘69 VW Squareback, ‘71 Fiat 124 Coupe (1st 5-speed), ‘66 Volvo 122S, ‘63 Galaxie 500 Convertible (3-on-the-tree), ‘72 Mazda RX-2, ‘74 Audi Fox, ‘78 Mustang II V-6, ‘79 Fiat Brava, ‘73 Volvo 164, ‘80 F-150, ‘82 Volvo (240) Turbo, ‘84 Volvo 245 Wagon, ‘83 Honda Accord, ‘87 Jeep Cherokee, ‘88 Jeep Cherokee, ‘91 Taurus SHO, ‘94 Ford Ranger, ‘95 Ford Contour V6, ‘94 Nissan D-21 pickup, ‘97 Nissan D-21 pickup
One reason I chose a Ranger over an F-150 a few years back was the larger truck is no longer available with a manual trans. The Ranger had 4.0 V6 with 5-speed manual. When towing a trailer in the Ozarks, where I used to live, really appreciated having the manual.
My ‘06 Fusion has the auto, but when/if I ever trade it in, I’ll get a Mustang with stick shift.
The drag racers found out that the automatic Chryslers were faster off the line back then because the torque converter allowed them to hook up faster and get off the line before the other guy
The push button shifters were a bit geeky though