Driving

[aps45819]

Find a hill. Leave her ass halfway up it.

My older sister's first new car was a used Corvair convertible. Dad and I were following her home and we stopped at a light on a hill.
Light turns green, she takes off and stalls, rolls back into dad and CRACK goes a tail light.
Sis starts it up moves 2 foot, stalls and rolls back into dad and CRACK goes another tail light.
Does it again and pops a third tail light and Dad is getting hot tells her to pull into the next service station. We pull over, attendant comes out and Dad tells him what's going on and the attendant tells dad that if a cop saw that, he'd have gotten a ticket for following to close
Dad was turning red

 

[oldman]

I started off in a 53 chevy pickup while working at a shrub nursery as a young teenager. First day with very little instruction I managed to get around while only using 1st gear. Things progressed from there and since then I've only owned one automatic and that was because the dealership messed up, sold the car I was getting, and gave me a better model for the same price. I have never had a clutch problem so I must have learned good.

 

[morningbell]

I grew up with dirt bikes, riding up spring rock river beds so when it was time for my dad to teach me to drive the 73 Bug it was a piece of cake. Just had to teach my foot what my hand already knew. That bug was fun to drive in the mountains of CT, it was the first year they put a round windshield in the bugs and it seemed like it had so much room in there. I had an eight track tape player with Pink Floyd the Dark side of the Moon playing and a crank type sun roof open whipping around the back mountain roads on my way to bonfire parties with friends. Those were the days

 

[aps45819]

I hate driving an automatic, they don't slow down when you lift off the gas. They've eliminated engine braking to get the gas milage up on automatics.

 

[toppick08]

I hate driving an automatic, they don't slow down when you lift off the gas. They've eliminated engine braking to get the gas milage up on automatics.

3.73 gears, and good compression, help mine out...:shrug:

 

[sockgirl77]

I hate driving an automatic, they don't slow down when you lift off the gas. They've eliminated engine braking to get the gas milage up on automatics.

I do miss my stick. It was fun. Automatics are boring. Aren't sticks way better on gas too?

 

[oldman]

I hate driving an automatic, they don't slow down when you lift off the gas. They've eliminated engine braking to get the gas milage up on automatics.

I love my 3 cylinder, 5 speed Geo. To me it's sporty and gives you the feeling of speed. Have given rides to friends and they have commented that they thought I was exceeding the speed limit. I used to love speed but at my age I'm just happy to get the feeling of it. It will do over 85 but I no longer have the desire to. I'm just never in that much of a rush.

 

[morningbell]

I hate driving an automatic, they don't slow down when you lift off the gas. They've eliminated engine braking to get the gas milage up on automatics.

Yet another thing I am agreeing with you on! Wow! Are we having a good day or what?

Its like we're that much closer to becoming BFFs

 

[aps45819]

3.73 gears, and good compression, help mine out...:shrug:

What year?
A friend that was selling cars last year was telling me that GM was eliminating engine braking completely via a free moving trans.
Kind of like a slipper clutch on high end bikes

 

[aps45819]

Yet another thing I am agreeing with you on! Wow! Are we having a good day or what?

Its like we're that much closer to becoming BFFs

Go find a political thread, quote Bruzilla kissing Obama's butt and tell him Clinton was given the nomination last year in a secret back room deal. It makes him

 

[Wenchy]

I do miss my stick. It was fun. Automatics are boring. Aren't sticks way better on gas too?

They are better on gas.

Today she ended up rear end in a ditch. After multiple tries to get out we swapped, and I got the car out. We will visit the ditch again tomorrow.

Good times.

 

[fredsaid2]

They are better on gas.

Today she ended up rear end in a ditch. After multiple tries to get out we swapped, and I got the car out. We will visit the ditch again tomorrow.

Good times.

You must be very patience! I tried to teach my DD to drive a stick. Lesson 1 culminated w/ me ordering her out of the driver's seat, pulling up to our house and telling hubby "she's all yours!".

He had her shifting btween 1st and 2nd fairly smoothly in an hour. They went out to the un-built end of Wildewood Blvd. According to her he got in the passenger's seat, closed his eyes and played deaf/mute. He acquired hearing and speech long enough to give directions but basically let her feel it out herself. Now she has a 5-speed down pat and I have what's left of my sanity. Good luck, I'm sure it will go fine!

 

[itsbob]

Dirt is good for learning the clutch engagement point.. the tires will spin more freely and not jerk the car like on asphalt... much better on the clutch and transmission. once she gets to the point of starting off without churning up dirt she's ready for the asphalt.

 

[itsbob]

I do miss my stick. It was fun. Automatics are boring. Aren't sticks way better on gas too?

I thought your preference to sticks was covered in a bunch of other threads already.

 

[sockgirl77]

I thought your preference to sticks was covered in a bunch of other threads already.

Good point.

 

[punjabigyrl]

My dad taught me to drive a stick in a parking lot first then, he took me for a long drive on a road that was windy, uphill, downhill, got a few stop signs, fourway,and left turns. When driving back home I got the hang of it. That was 19 year ago. That is all i drive and now shopping for a car certain cars don't even come in a manual transmission.

 

[bohman]

That is all i drive and now shopping for a car certain cars don't even come in a manual transmission.

I have a feeling that's going to piss me off the next time I start searching for a new car. You'll be left with a choice of high-priced sports car or base-model econobox, and nothing in between.

As for learning, I initially taught myself in a friend's Civic. He didn't feel like driving, and didn't bother giving me any instructions. So we lurched around and I stalled a few times, and smoked the tires a few times, but managed to get where I was going.

Months later, my dad bought a stick shift and taught me the right way to do things. It was such a revelation to realize that I didn't have to let the clutch out quickly.

 

[Gwydion]

I "learned" how to drive stick shift when my sister in law had to be taken to the hospital in the middle of a snowstorm. She couldn't drive, so I grabbed the keys, jumped in my brother's jeep and took off.

I don't think the first 5 minutes of sputtering stops helped her keep the baby in.

 

[High EGT]

My girlfriend’s Dad back when I was a teen had a 74 Ford Pinto that he let me drive after I lied that I knew how to drive a stick. Needless to say I didn’t impress my girlfriend but after about an hour I had it figured out. I probably took at least a years life out of the clutch but what a memory.

 

[mamissa3]

Where are you from in CT..

I grew up with dirt bikes, riding up spring rock river beds so when it was time for my dad to teach me to drive the 73 Bug it was a piece of cake. Just had to teach my foot what my hand already knew. That bug was fun to drive in the mountains of CT, it was the first year they put a round windshield in the bugs and it seemed like it had so much room in there. I had an eight track tape player with Pink Floyd the Dark side of the Moon playing and a crank type sun roof open whipping around the back mountain roads on my way to bonfire parties with friends. Those were the days