Baby, Can You Drive My Car? Not If It’s a Stick Shift

[XS22J8R]

When my manual Scat Pack got delivered yesterday the young guy driving the car hauler sheepishly admitted he "wasn't very good with sticks".
It made me cringe a bit when he got in the car to back it off the trailer. He stalled it right after firing it up, then managed to get it off the rig after firing it back up. I took it from there.
I wondered if he loaded it on the trailer earlier that day, or if a colleague at his dealership group who was more skilled with manuals did that chore. If he drove it up that inclined trailer the car probably suffered the equivalent to about 10,000 miles of clutch wear!

 

[1 Wild R/T]

When my manual Scat Pack got delivered yesterday the young guy driving the car hauler sheepishly admitted he "wasn't very good with sticks".
It made me cringe a bit when he got in the car to back it off the trailer. He stalled it right after firing it up, then managed to get it off the rig after firing it back up. I took it from there.
I wondered if he loaded it on the trailer earlier that day, or if a colleague at his dealership group who was more skilled with manuals did that chore. If he drove it up that inclined trailer the car probably suffered the equivalent to about 10,000 miles of clutch wear!

Drives a Semi but can't drive a stick... We're doomed... BTW we need photos..

 

[bm02tj]

In BC they have class 1 with automatic only to drive a manual stick you need to pass test driving one

 

[XS22J8R]

Drives a Semi but can't drive a stick... We're doomed... BTW we need photos..

It wasn't a semi, it was a hotshot type rig owned by the dealership group as they do a lot of online sales to other states and deliver (for a fee). I assume those guys still need a CDL?
I've wondered how the hotshot business works as you see hotshot rigs on the road everywhere and I don't recall seeing a lot of them until the last decade or two. The kid driving this one said cops don't like hotshotters and hassle them alot, and he gets caught up in that even though he is a dealership employee driving their rig delivering cars his employer sold to customers. He said he will go put paperwork from weigh stations on the dash so he can argue he's already been directed to get weighed twice in the last 6 hours.
Anyway, I am going off topic with that.
I have probably driven a half million miles over the last 45 years in manuals, but had the opportunity a few years ago to drive a class 8 manual trans truck at the test track my employer has. I thought I'd impress the mentor in the right seat with my abilities to use my left foot, but I found other than getting it going in first, shifting gears was a whole other ballgame compared to cars and light trucks, so I ended up looking like a clod! I almost threw a different mentor out the front windshield of a tractor when I tapped the brakes to slow down from 60 mph on the oval track and they almost locked up, so air brakes is another whole other ballgame I don't know about.

 

[Triplegreen500]

air brakes is another whole other ballgame I don't know about.

And this is why you are required by DOT, to get a Class B CDL when you own a motorhome with air brakes (i.e. a diesel class A - gassers still use hydraulic brakes, but diesels are like big rigs and use air).

Not that anyone takes that test, or gets that license.

Think about THAT, next time you see some fossil driving a 42' diesel pusher down the highway.....and then drive in a different direction, as quickly as you can.

 

[33 IMP]

This would probably befuddle more than just the millennials!

View attachment 1689396

I can't tell. Is that a Hurst, or a Mr.Gasket verti-gate? (I think a v-gate. I had one in a box Nova. Great strip shifter, didn't care for it much on the street).

Edit: nevermind, Budnicks handled that a few posts later, above.

 

[biomedtechguy]

BOTH my wife and I are adamant about 3 pedals. I was so fortunate to have installed the Passon 5 speed, and it worked so well.
The TKO-600 has been in its crate in the garage for the 65 428 Tripower GTO, and with the 3.80 gears in the 9" rear axle, it really needs that OD 5th gear.
I had switched from the 3.54 Track Pack factory gears to 4.10, when the 5 speed replaced the 18 spline a833.
Dropped from 3,500 to 2,750 in top gear, and although "it's only" 750 RPM, what a huge difference in the experience of the lower highway cruise RPMs. First and Second were a HOOT.
Anyway...