Manual Transmissions

[Bob_Roller]

There's a large construction project to add a 'people mover' system at the airport where I work ( Phoenix Skyharbor Airport) .

This involves putting up concrete 'piers', or pilings to support the concrete bed for the transportation system .

The construction company just placed cones with signs stating that any vehicle remaining in the cordoned off area of our parking lot after 1500, will be towed at owners expense .

A couple of mechanics asked co-workers to move their vehicles, as they will be here until 2300 tonight, and are involved with a project, that they can't leave .

Anyway, two vehicles have manual transmissions, and no one here other than the vehicle owners knows how to drive a manual transmission vehicle !!!!!

I just thought that this was amazing, I've never owned a vehicle with an automatic transmission, I guess I'm the oddity here !!!!

[montmil]

Good Lord! My late father made it mandatory that little brother and I knew how to stir a gearbox before he would permit us to exercise the rights of our newly earned drivers licenses. This ties into another thread discussing dear ol' Dad's "car period".

Back in the day, I took driver's ed in a VW Bug. Of course it was manual transmission! That far back, all Bugs were. The instructor was so impressed with both mine and my car stealin' buddy's shifting skills that he would tell us to, "Drive for a couple hours and then wake me up." By the second day, he would smoke a cigarette, then sleep the entire time we were out cruising.

My wife's father had her prove to him that she could completely change a flat tire before she was permitted to drive. Her manual transmission skills were developed while driving the family farm's manure spreader. And she has the nerve to tell me that I spread it around...  

Monte

[Bob_Roller]

I went to look at a '94 BMW R100R 'Mystic' a few years ago, at a local Chevrolet dealer about three miles from the house .

After looking at the bike, was leaving, and noticed the Mercedes Benz dealer, I've never been in an MB dealer before, so I rode the R65 over there and went inside .

The sales manager was obviously 'annoyed' with my presence in his showroom .

He approached me, and asked if he could help me, I asked if this particular model was available with a manual transmission, the response I got was , " sir, Mercedes Benz makes luxury automobiles, not farm implements' .

[Altritter]

That far back, all Bugs were.

Must have been really far back, Monte!   In the 60s, VW made a Bug (both US and (their) domestic versions, I think) with a "semi-automatic" clutch. I seem to recall that the shifter knob was touch-sensitive. After using the clutch to start off in G1, the driver shifted gears without the clutch, not depressing the clutch pedal again until stopping. I drove one a few times in Deutschland. It drove me—crazy—for at the time I had the bad habit of absentmindedly resting my hand on the shifter knob. (I kicked the habit after being told, years later, that even light constant pressure on a shifter lever causes premature wear.)

[montmil]

"Must have been really far back, Monte!"  –Altritter

It was. It truly was. I work for the local school district as a kinda sorta retirement gig... health insurance comes with the job, dig?  Anyway, drivers ed these days is done in automatic trans and air conditioned cars. Wimps.

8-) Monte

[Lucky_Lou]

The sales manager was obviously 'annoyed' with my presence in his showroom .

He approached me, and asked if he could help me, I asked if this particular model was available with a manual transmission, the response I got was , " sir, Mercedes Benz makes luxury automobiles, not farm implements' .

I hope you told him where to stick it.......the only thing any good on my merc was the manual gearbox the rest was a complete disappointment.
Lou

[Bob_Roller]

I made a smart a$$ comment to him : 'that's the same comment that Adolph Hitler made about BMW motorcycles in WWII', as in BMW motorcycles, were referred to as 'farm implements' .

He had no comeback for that, and just walked away .

[JDS]

Me and George put a toyota 5 speed in this old Merc. It didn't get a good responce from the Mercedes dealer.  I grew up in South Dakota and people always called Harley's, John Deere's. Never made sense because every year during sturgis week the highways were littered with Harley's broken down on the shoulders. and I can't remember a John Deere that didn't always run.

Its an old picture from the 80's, Its George in the picture. My retired neighbor back then. He had a full machine shop in the  garage and I had a welding shop in mine next door. So we came up with silly prototypes all the time like some of the first suspension Mt. Bikes. I think we did 25 different suspension designs. This one wasn't a real good one. But was the first full suspension bike racing the Nationals. One of our funnest projects was putting a retractable parachute on the white bike. I was complaining about not being able to stop once i got my speed up coming down the ski slope. and George had once owned a parachute mfg. company. We actually got it working.

George was one of the machinist that built the first H-bomb on some little Atol in the pacific. Told good stories

My 12 yr old is learning to drive my manual 3/4 ton truck. but she's had a dirt bike since she was 7, so the clutch is all she knows

[Bengt_Phorqs]

That MB SL behind George looks like some kind of 4WD version.  MB's are a highly over rated vehicle in my opinion and my wife's recent experience with a $300 replacement key merely reinforces that belief.  We'd ditch the car in a heart beat except it's paid for  and does run reasonable well.

[Semper Gumby]

I keep a '66 Volvo just so my 13 year old can learn the clutch when the time comes...all too soon I'm afraid.

<sigh>

[Barry]

MB's are a highly over rated vehicle in my opinion

how old is your wife's car Bengt ?

I agree anything from the early 90's onwards is no more reliable than any other modern car and maybe worse which is pretty poor given the price of the them.

If my 89 190E is anything to go by earlier Mercs are properly engineered and much simpler a bit like airheads. I keep mine because it just never goes wrong.  Only downside is fuel economy at least at our prices but this is now offset by zero depreciation. My biggest worry is what am I going to replace it with.

[Bengt_Phorqs]

how old is your wife's car Bengt ?

It's a 99 C280.  Power seats don't work, right rear taillight keeps shorting out no matter how well I fix it (must be the fixture) and the A/C is intermittent in the heat of the summer.  All of these items are repairable but the local MB rapist wants a couple of hundred just to pop the hood without even doing anything.  Looking for a good aftermarket shop.

[Altritter]

In the 60s, VW made a Bug (both US and (their) domestic versions, I think) with a "semi-automatic" clutch.  

Update on my earlier post: For all you obsessive-compulsives who must research these things—VW's official marketing name for this semi-automatic drive train was a "Stick Automatic." I couldn't remember the correct name when I wrote this bit.

[steve hawkins]

In the UK most people drive manual shift.  

If you try and take a driving test with an automatic, you will not be able to drive a manual until you have taken another test with a manual shifting car.  

People do not want to take two driving tests,so everyone learns a manual and then you can drive an auto as well.

As a result there is almost a stigma against Auto's.  As many feel, the only people driving an Auto, are those that never managed cope with a manual.  The very same people, it could be argued, should not be allowed to be put in charge of car in the first place.  

Historically, you always get better mileage from a manual as they always had more gears that the Auto equivalent.  And you were in charge of when the gear change happened.  This may not be the case with moder Auto boxes, but who cares - you will never catch me driving and Auto of any kind given the choice.

Steve Hawkins (UK)

[not-so-fast-ed]

My kids learned on their Mother's '85 190E five speed.  She had stick shift cars all her life until buying her current Accord V6.  Both daughter & son had to show me they could change their own flat before I'd sign off on them getting a car.

Being an old fart, it was many years before I switched to automatic. Son still drives a six speed V6 Accord, but the rest of the family have come over to the "Dark Side" with me.  I kind of like having Air Conditioning and an automatic in the hot bumper-to-bumper summer traffic.  Even the seven and a half liter GTO now has A/C and a three speed "Dual Gate" automatic.  Not quite the performance of the four speed manual models, but I can live with it.