Gear Jammer/Stipper Stories

My 13 yr old grandson is coming to visit us a few days and help me do some stuff around the place. I don't know if he knows how to drive a stick shift but I was thinking that, if we had time, I would put him in the little Nissan PU, go find a non-busy road (which we have plenty of) and start teaching him how to drive a standard shift.

This also got me to thinking back when I first was learning and we didn't have the luxury of automatic transmissions. My Granny taught me in a '52 Ford with 3 on the column. I can still remember almost "whip lashing" us both when I would first let out on the clutch and give it too much gas. One time I almost ran into a very deep ditch but just barely managed to stop. My Granny never shouted and remained so quite and gentle with her instructions when I know that there were several times she wanted to scream out loud but didn't.

Anybody got any stories about learning to drive and what kind of vehicle car/truck/tractor/other did you learn on?

Good Memories just Feel Good !

I first learned on a tractor at age 9, so stick no trouble for me
when I got old enough to drive trk or car with stick. I've seen
men 40 yrs old who could not drive a stick.

Learned on a Ford Tractor at age 11- Uncle and I were with a cow calfing and having difficulty- told me to go get it- hitch up the trailer as well- just said to make sure I didn't put it in the drainage ditch- get it going forward and not to worry about shifting-

I learned in Dad's International pickup. My best story is the time we were on a gravel road, and I killed the engine on a hill. I turned around to look over my shoulder. Dad asked what I was doing? I told him I was gonna roll back down to the bottom of the hill to start it up. He said that I needed to learn how to do that on a hill. {:-o

I eventually got it done..... but I also learned how to "scratch gravel" for the first time!!! I think he later regretted me learning how to spin the tires, since I did not stop doing it for the next 20 years!!! YeeeeeHaaaaw! :-)~

My early driving experiences began on motorcycles and I had the whole “ease-out-the-clutch” thing down pretty well. My father ran a television service and repair store in Crestline California and I started my “real driving” in a Chevy Carryall (pre-cursor to the Suburban). 235 six and a three speed on the tree. I learned quickly about pulling on the emergency break when I had to stop on a steep hill with an expensive console set in the back! Never had a big problem.

My buddy Bruce drove a milk truck and he once dumped the clutch on a steep hill and what a mess that made when a load of glass one gallon jugs came through the back doors of his Divco milk wagon!

Bought a 1957 Corvette when I was 17 – 283 and a stick. Spun a lot of tire on that one, but mostly by choice!

learned on a john deere tractor at about 12 .. cars were no problem later ..

i was about 8 or 9 my dad let me drive his dodge a100 van i only steer the van because i could not reach the pedals but the first car i actually drove was 67 plymouth sport fury where we use to camping when i was about 12 it was my moms car it was mint condition about a year later they junk it because they couldent find a radiator.as adult i think it a shame people just use to just junk car like that for what ever reason.

Ya know, I think a lot of us would be surprised to know how many people we know that can't drive a stick shift.

I'm really enjoying the stories ! :toocool:

Well------------------ first off, at 6 years old, I learned the importance of staying in the proper lane (row) driving a team of mules while my 1 1/2 year older brother worked the cultivator on a single row cultivator---
Later steered the tractor while pulling wagon while the big guys picked up hay bales--someone would start it moving , jump off then jump back onto tractor to stop it. Later, one of the neighbors had a Ford 8n and I could drive that and work the clutch by standing up on the pedal. Soon my Dad bought one for our farm and let me loose going all kinds of row crop cultivation----learned enough about staying in the center of the lane that drag strips and airport runways have been a piece of cake forever since.Speaking od piece of cake---anybody want some?? Robin just made me a triple layer German Choc for my 70th birthday tomorrow------

Cake OH yea. but its a bit of a drive... I learned in the alley behind my grandparents house.. My uncle parked his work truck out there and left the keys in the ashtray.I was about 12 I'd guess it was a big red chevy panel truck I'd go forward then back If I went to far forward they could see from the house but if I back up I could go to the end of the block. Then later on my mas car(51 chevy 3 on the tree) when she road to work with a friend and my dad was at work. I'd drive it around the block . That was all good till one day someone else took the parking spot. Talk about red cheeks, and I don't mean the ones on my face.:eek:

i work at a Brennan Marine over i mile long yard. they had gas and diesel tractors i think i still may hold the best and tallest wheel stand with a 26 sea ray on the back comming out of the boat ramp they did not keep it up very good we would get stuck i had this old pain in the butt boss .he was chewming my butt so my friend showed me how to lock the back axle:D i ran it as hi as you could get one of them diesel to rev then dump it:D . i used to speed shift them tractors wide open throttle on the dead man no clutch hit 3 gear and she get air under the front tires .:whacked: first learned to drive a stick by putting a 4 speed back in my gto when i was 17 had a nice running 396 i showed guys how to dump the clutch at 6500 in the school parking lot. i was also kick out for drag racing in the school parking alot ..well it was a side road . i had more then one escort by the good guys one day two state cops one in front and one in back escorted me from school back home i was driving the GTO them guys really like me alot :D a sheriff use to park by are house every day and wait for me just to see if i had my license on me and say hi ..:D. it was time to cool it just a wee bit

I learned in a little Hillman Minx, probably about a '57 that Dad bought when he had a commute to school about 50 miles away. He overheard me telling the guys at school "...it'd be easy to drive..." and decided it was time for a lesson. Four speed column shift, he drove out of town on a back road, we traded places and he pointed out the ditches on both sides of the road and said, "Don't hit 'em, let's go." It was a cool day, and we drove for about an hour, including back home, and I was soaking wet with nervous sweat by the time we got back.:LOL:

A '48 Ford F-100. It was my Dad's pride and joy, he taught all us kids to drive in it. My first "solo" was age 11 to go out to the field where he was plowing and take him some lunch. Already had time on tractors and driving the pickup with Dad along before that, but never had been allowed to drive it by myself. Driving sticks was a natural for us farm kids...

What's an automatic???is that one that you don't have to crank???

I learned on a 61' Valiant,my dad used to buy the "end of the day ashphalt loads" when the roads crews were paving near by,(I think the cost was a case of beer),and he used it to pave your driveway. Catch was, we had to shovel it off the pile,I was smaller so my big brother got the job of helping shovel, and drove the Valiant back and forth ,used it as a roller,lol.

I think that to get a drivers license these days, kids should have to know how to drive a standard.
Brian

My mom was born in 1910, so of course she grew up without automatic transmissions. When I was a kid, we always had manual trans cars and both mom and dad drove them. I learned in a '55 Stude 3-speed. In 1957, my dad bought a brand new '57 Stude Golden Hawk, blown 289 automatic. The first automatic he or mom had ever driven. He took her out to the country to learn to drive the auto. She came up to a 4-way stop and used her left foot to jam in the clutch. Problem was, there was no clutch and she jammed on the power brakes. Well, you'd have to know my mom, but she could put a sailor to shame with her mouth. Madder than a wet hen, she got out and changed places with dad, never again to drive an automatic. She was still driving at 86years old, a 4-speed Chevette.

I learned to drive in high school, my sophomore year (56-57); they still had driver training available back then. The school had two new DT cars, one a '57 Ford Fairlane 500 4 door hardtop, and the other a '57 Plymouth 4 door hardtop, and they also had an old dark green '52 Chevy coupe. The two new cars had automatics, but that Chevy was a "3 on the tree", and we had to learn to drive it well, before they would let us drive the new cars. Now my Dad had never taught me anything about driving, other than what I picked up by osmosis, so I was really green. The first time I got into that Chevy, it was sitting in a parking spot by the school offices. I got the lecture about how to do things, practiced a few engine off dry runs, then the Teach told me to start it up, trans in neutral, foot on the clutch. I did what I was told, and he said I was to put it in reverse and back slowly out, then pull it back in. I got it in second, instead, and dropped the clutch, jumped the curb, and stalled it in the Principal's flower bed. I did learn, though, and rather quickly. Ever since, I have preferred a stick to an automatic for the most part, at least for recreational cruising.

I taught my boys to drive when they were each about ten or eleven; had a Toyota 4X4, and took them out into the boonies on a dirt road, stopped the truck and got out and walked around to the passenger side and said get out, get in, and drive. And they did. Youngest is now a trucker, and his big bro gets to play with the big truck when they cross paths here, from time to time.

i was about 6 or 7, had already learned to drive an automatic, dad said it was time to learn a stick. took me over to a park with giant parking lot in our tow truck traded spots and i haven't wanted an automatic since.

my dad had a towing company from the time i was 6 till i was 17, course he'd been doing it alot longer that, i picked up alot just watching the feet.