Expound on This

[Detective D]

7 years old MM U302 Super. Grandpa's, then Dad's, now it is in my shed for snow duty.

8 Years old, 63 Ford, I dunno F350? 9 foot box, rear pumpkin was absolutely enormous. I mean truly enormous. Not even sure the axle was for a pickup. Not dually, but 8 lug split rims. 3 speed, but rarely shifted it, mostly got in, clutch, turn key, inline 6(oil bath air cleaner, not sure size) started on first cylander, let up clutch in first gear. Like, 3 foot long, skinny wire looking shift lever in the floor with a wooden knob on top, no boot to hide the ball and socket shifter housing on top of transmission. Never touched the gas pedal.
Got out, walked around and put rocks in the back while it drove itself down the field at like .000001 miles per hour. Learned to shift it when I was 9. Otherwise it was forward, or "back up to the fencerow" in reverse. Didn't actually shift through the gears till I was 9.

First vehicle I went more than 20mph in was buddies Ford ranger in high school. 4cyl. 4 speed, mid 80's boxy little thing.

 

[65Bel]

7 years old MM U302 Super. Grandpa's, then Dad's, now it is in my shed for snow duty.

8 Years old, 63 Ford, I dunno F350? 9 foot box, rear pumpkin was absolutely enormous. I mean truly enormous. Not even sure the axle was for a pickup. Not dually, but 8 lug split rims. 3 speed, but rarely shifted it, mostly got in, clutch, turn key, inline 6(oil bath air cleaner, not sure size) started on first cylander, let up clutch in first gear. Like, 3 foot long, skinny wire looking shift lever in the floor with a wooden knob on top, no boot to hide the ball and socket shifter housing on top of transmission. Never touched the gas pedal.
Got out, walked around and put rocks in the back while it drove itself down the field at like .000001 miles per hour. Learned to shift it when I was 9. Otherwise it was forward, or "back up to the fencerow" in reverse. Didn't actually shift through the gears till I was 9.

First vehicle I went more than 20mph in was buddies Ford ranger in high school. 4cyl. 4 speed, mid 80's boxy little thing.

 

[440 4 speed]

Some of you were sure early to do it. I was 10 when I started doing some rock picking and driving the 1952 Massey Harris 22. When I was 12 I started pulling a 4 foot one way with it. (Dad sure had some patience) making it so I could work in the field. When I was 13 I started hauling grain from the combine with our 1951 Chevrolet .
My first car was a 1958 Chevrolet 3 on the tree (lower than a Biscayne). Wife’s first car was 1951 3 on the tree Chevrolet torpedo back.
I realize some weren’t sticks, but still manual’s. Since 1971 we have had a manual. Had a stick vehicle since 1974.
All kids and grandkids can drive a stick vehicle, some better than others.

 

[Detective D]

View attachment 1548485

Mine is a year or two older than that one, it still has the MM bronze/brown paint for the engine. Wide front too, yellow rims.

 

[Ron H]

Not any specific recollection exactly; but a buddy had a 12 acre field where we would drive old beaters around. Might have been an early ‘60’s Falcon 3 on the tree I drove a bit before I got my license. When I got a job at a machine shop, 17 years old, the company truck was a ’65 150 Ford, 3 on the column. Already beat to crap and was given pickup and delivery errands btw machine operation. Boss would routinely overload the hell out of it and send me off to delver parts. Brakes were worn too, so got a lot of 'practice'.

 

[Budnicks]

I was used to a shifter go-cart, McCullogh 101 2 stroke, with a foot clutch
so I wasn't 100% unfamiliar, prior to it...

At about 9-10 in my stepdad's Pick Up
a 53 Ford F100 (about 1968-1969-ish (?), I remember it well)
a bored stroked 352 FE BB Ferd/worked over 428 heads, a rowdy solid cam,
big Holley carb, sort of hopped-up version of his daily driver
(he was a drag racer, go figure)
with a Toploader 4 speed, McLeod "heavy" Borg-warner style clutch
(tough to push for a 10 y/o)
with a Dana 60 rear (IIRC (?) 4.10 or 4.30:1 gears),
nice wider meats all the way around, on polished slots mags/Halibrands
In the Park & Shop shopping center parking lot, Concord Ave. in Concord Ca.

1st try didn't go so well, it got going pretty well, I drove Ok,
sort of hard to reach the peddles the clutch was tough, lots of pressure
the lower gears made it easy to take off
I did a few starts & stops too, just fine until
Then;
He wanted me to do a panic stop
(he said he was going to tell me when)
& when he said stop "real loud"
I didn't push in the clutch the 1st time, I got a lil' flustered
he calmly just reached over & turned it off & pulled the hand/parking brake,
under the right side of the column, it came to a quick stop & died
nobody in the parking lot, so no big deal...
He knew I could do it...
He made me do it again, I did great, got into second gear even
& drove around...

I loved that old truck...

He used to let me move it in & out of the driveway
or Mom's old 57 DelRio 2 dr Ranch Wagon
or his 64 GTO 389 tri-power
or Mom's ordered new 68 Sport Satellite 383 4 speed
when he wanted to get something out of the garage,
he always had some project side job going...
He sold it a few years later for a down payment on a bigger house
in a better neighborhood, in Cobblestone Ct. area...
All of his/Mom's cars were clutch cars/manual trans...
I drove all of them at one time or other, in around the court...

 

[440 4 speed]

View attachment 1548485

I like that! Put a lot of hours on a G1000 Wheatland Special. Really liked that tractor. very few row crops where I grew up.

 

[Ron H]

Lol, two people I tried to teach how to drive a manual w/o success. First was my wife before we were married. Was my ’70 Cuda. After numerous stall outs and some gear grinding had to end it. My available cash for repairs then was tight. Forward a few decades trying to teach my nephew how to drive my ’92 Ram plow. Bright young man, electrical engineer. Showed him again and again, even feathering the clutch to get it rolling without giving it gas. Thought it was a way to simplify the pedals. Nope – again and again. Figured he had to catch on after a good 20 minutes. Nada..