Patience Under Stress
- Thread starter ga. prime
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ga. prime":39hz2t99 said:
Ah yes, I remember learning about a stick shift. We had an old winch truck with an upside down bucket for a seat. Dad put me in it - I was about 16 years old - pointed out the clutch, the brake, the gas pedal, where the gears were, shut the door, and turned me loose. I got a bit overwhelmed by shifting, clutching, and accelerating all at the same time and ran into the bar pit. The neighbors daughter came along at about that time, got me out of the bar pit, and I went on my merry way! Life was good until a Chevrolet Chevelle Supersport came into my life, and I had to learn all over again - it was a bit more sensitive than the winch truck was. :lol: 8) I don't envy your son, ga. prime, I've been where he is now and it's more than a little intimidating! I wish him the very best, and hope your nerves can handle it.
I learned on a tractor at about 9. Graduated to a 3 ton flat bed truck at 10. Learned real quick. Dad was stacking hay on the back and told if I threw him off he was going to whoop my butt. You learn real fast that way.
My 1st stick was driving our farm truck 64 ford with 3 on the tree. I LOVED that truck. Learned real young, as dad and uncles would end up having a few too many beers when the wood cutting was done, and I would drive dad home... I was probably about 12.
Our daughter has been driving tractors and such for many years now. So when last weekend dad told her to move the farm truck (94 ford 5 speed) she said "I don't know how to drive a stick", I hollered back, just like the 3 wheeler except the clutch is with your foot"... dad, muttered something about me being a DA ;-) and hollered to her "just like a tractor" ... well DUH, I thought to myself
No problems for her, truck was even parked on a hill. She got out and said, Yeah - another vehicle I know how to drive. Dad lets her drive way too much I think, she is 14 and I have to admit a very accomplished driver.
Michele
Our daughter has been driving tractors and such for many years now. So when last weekend dad told her to move the farm truck (94 ford 5 speed) she said "I don't know how to drive a stick", I hollered back, just like the 3 wheeler except the clutch is with your foot"... dad, muttered something about me being a DA ;-) and hollered to her "just like a tractor" ... well DUH, I thought to myself
No problems for her, truck was even parked on a hill. She got out and said, Yeah - another vehicle I know how to drive. Dad lets her drive way too much I think, she is 14 and I have to admit a very accomplished driver.
Michele
Green Creek
Well-known member
flaboy":1uklf9il said:
Exactly how I learned except they had to put a gallon bucket behind me to reach the pedals and they were stacking round bales. Lots of screaming and yelling until I got it right. I was an old hand at tractors at 9 thru 11 and then graduated to the hay truck.
Hubby wouldn't let the kids near the tractors till they mastered the old truck out in the pasture.
His dad had bolted blocks on the pedals for him- and the holes were still there so he put the blocks back on so they could reach them. Gave them a short lesson- then told them not to come home till they could take off coming up the big hill--- at the bottom of the big hill was a ditch.It was a LONG walk home if they got stuck in the ditch. We only had to pull them out of the ditch once each
I think the best way to learn is to be all by yourself with no repercussions for whatever happens. It made the kids much more confident drivers than the way I learned-- I learned driving my new car home thru the city- I still have nightmares of that LONG,slow embarrassing ride and my first accident rolling back into a car on a hill.
BTW it was a VW bug with the Rolls Royce package and a sun roof--- my pride and joy.
His dad had bolted blocks on the pedals for him- and the holes were still there so he put the blocks back on so they could reach them. Gave them a short lesson- then told them not to come home till they could take off coming up the big hill--- at the bottom of the big hill was a ditch.It was a LONG walk home if they got stuck in the ditch. We only had to pull them out of the ditch once each
I think the best way to learn is to be all by yourself with no repercussions for whatever happens. It made the kids much more confident drivers than the way I learned-- I learned driving my new car home thru the city- I still have nightmares of that LONG,slow embarrassing ride and my first accident rolling back into a car on a hill
. BTW it was a VW bug with the Rolls Royce package and a sun roof--- my pride and joy.
Ha! I am sure I have no idea what you are talking about!!dun":3ha197ei said:
Do you know that neither of the power windows work either. This winter I was shopping with my oldest and we got in the truck, shut the doors, and I realized I didn;t have my keys on me ~ I had left them in the store. Should have been no big deal.......until I realize I was now locked INSIDE my truck cause I couldn't turn it on and roll the windows down to open the door. What an idiot asking some woman walking by to open my door for me!
Here you have to know how to work a clutch. Too many things have one not to know. My first car had 3 in the tree. My friends teased me about inheriting it from my gma, but they were in it when it was time to go!
angie":1wp6k74y said:This winter I was shopping with my oldest and we got in the truck, shut the doors, and I realized I didn;t have my keys on me ~ I had left them in the store. Should have been no big deal.......until I realize I was now locked INSIDE my truck cause I couldn't turn it on and roll the windows down to open the door. What an idiot asking some woman walking by to open my door for me!
No inside door handles, power windows that don;t work and a heater that you have to hotwire, sounds like a "blonde truck"
dun":ykido7k3 said:angie":ykido7k3 said:This winter I was shopping with my oldest and we got in the truck, shut the doors, and I realized I didn;t have my keys on me ~ I had left them in the store. Should have been no big deal.......until I realize I was now locked INSIDE my truck cause I couldn't turn it on and roll the windows down to open the door. What an idiot asking some woman walking by to open my door for me!
No inside door handles, power windows that don;t work and a heater that you have to hotwire, sounds like a "blonde truck"
Pretty cool truck if you ask me. I'm beginning to think angie is the sister I never had...
Thank you cpinz ~ ignore dun today. Someone shut his tail in the door I am thinking :roll: .cfpinz":9eq74tr0 said:
Wanna hear the coolest part? I have to put in power steering fluid about every 10 days too ~ thank God for full service stations! :nod:
dun ~ isn;t it about nap time for you?
GMN
Well-known member
Let him take it for a drive himself and listen to the motor winding up and down, and I'm sure he will get it very soon. First time my friend tried to teach me I did not get it, then I traded my car in for a Dodge Pickup many years ago, and it had a stick, had to drive it home thru heavy traffic, etc.. and it just came to me, no problems.
GMN
GMN
ga. prime":13xln74t said:
I got a stick shift when I was 16. My dad didn't have the patience to teach me to drive it, so my brother took me out on the country roads and taught me. I taught my ex husband when we were married. I drove sticks until the last ten years or so. I found that driving a standard transmission made me a more careful driver, especially when I was young. Now it is just fun. Steve's Crossfire has a six speed manual shift and it is fun to drive, on the right kind of road.
CKC1586
Well-known member
Started driving at age 5, John Deere B. Was real proud when I was allowed to drive the "new" 50 that Dad got when my Grandpa sold his farm. Was a bigger deal when he got the new diesel, I think it was a 3010? Wasn't real hard when it came time to drive the cars and trucks. All this remembering makes me feel older than dirt.
i grew up with ponies young and graduated to horses. Minibikes, go carts and motorcycles where inner seeded with those. My cousin and i fought to be next to Granddad in the 1969 Ford 3/4 Ton so we could shift gears for him as we went to town on Friday's. Grandmother always got the window seat.
All that in the past. Granddad was in between laborers when i was 12. i drove the 3020 with a flatbed house trailer behind as we got up square bales. You could put 175 per load on there. The worst part for me was when we got to the barn. i weighed right at 100 pounds. i even got to cut in broadcast soybeans in a place that was too wet when he sowed the first time.
Some people have said i'm wrong for letting my 14 year old drive the Jeep back and forth to my Mothers. i probably am.
All that in the past. Granddad was in between laborers when i was 12. i drove the 3020 with a flatbed house trailer behind as we got up square bales. You could put 175 per load on there. The worst part for me was when we got to the barn. i weighed right at 100 pounds. i even got to cut in broadcast soybeans in a place that was too wet when he sowed the first time.
Some people have said i'm wrong for letting my 14 year old drive the Jeep back and forth to my Mothers. i probably am.
I wished every manual transmission were a eaton roadranger. That would be so much easier for young people to learn with. Probably would be not feasible money wise to build one for small vehicles though.
angie":sd5auji4 said:
Here's one for you: Had a friend move a car for me on his rollback this evening, it smokes a bit and has some major issues. It uses a bit of oil, doesn't have a dipstick that reads right so he drives it til it starts knocking and adds 2 quarts. Uses a quart every 50 miles or so.
skyline
Well-known member
1967 chevy stepside with a straight six and three on the column. I was too small to reach the petals and had to sit in Dad's lap. But he stuck with me until I got the feel of the clutch. Sure wish I had that truck back. You actually knew what everything under the hood did and you could climb up in there, sit on a wheelwell and change the spark plugs. Everythings too dang complicated now.
Learned to drive a stick shift in my Uncle's 36 Ford 4 dr Sedan. It had suicide doors and a flathead V8.
By the time we were 14 we were chasing coyotes across the prarie with it. Amazing thing was we never sprung the doors. That car wore out 2 engines and a rebuild and is still goin today. Mohair seats and all.
My uncle had it wired somehow to the frame with a switch inside. When we would go to town for groceries on Sat. he would sit in the car hoping for a dog to pee on his tires so he could give him a little electrical education. It led to a lot of sittin and darn little action.
By the time we were 14 we were chasing coyotes across the prarie with it. Amazing thing was we never sprung the doors. That car wore out 2 engines and a rebuild and is still goin today. Mohair seats and all.
My uncle had it wired somehow to the frame with a switch inside. When we would go to town for groceries on Sat. he would sit in the car hoping for a dog to pee on his tires so he could give him a little electrical education. It led to a lot of sittin and darn little action.
