Stick or Automatic?

[Mahnarch]

WW, true about the guns and alcohol.

...but, Guns N. Roses?
Solid combination.

***

After driving for half my life, now, I still enjoy gear grinders over slush boxes.
I just 'trust' them more - not that I could pull either tranny out alongside the road if needed be.....

...actually, I probably could. But, I wouldn't want to.

[Phil]

My 87 Chevy truck had a muncy rock crusher and it just about would crush a rock. Now the trans even the manual seem to be not as tough. But maybe I'm wrong.

[Mahnarch]

87 K10s with a manual? I believe those has a creeper gear, didn't they?
I was only 10 and by the time I got to driving age, they were almost all but extinct (mostly because of the fuel tank 'issues'.)

But, the Bronco's of that time had a creeper that could pull a stump w/o even bogging down.

[Phil]

The 87 K20 had it was called a 4speed but its more like a 3 speed with a super low because you don't need 1st gear unless you're stuck or pulling a heavy trailer.

In fact, Chevy and GMC trucks of that time frame labeled their shifters
L-2
1-3-R
A Ford although set up the same way 1st gear would be more of a superlow they still are labeled
1-3
2-4-R
Both kinds of trucks had reverse all the way to right and back.

[Mahnarch]

I hate it when they don't label where Reverse is!

When you (used to) work on cars for a living, you can jump into 10 manuals a day and every one will be different.

You jump in one car, it's over and down - the next, toward you and up - the next, lift the lever and pull toward you and up.

I've never seen an 'over and up', though.

It took my first two months of parking-lot driving semi to realize where 1/6 was.

I thought first and sixth were wuss gears when they were actually 2nd and 7th.
I was skipping 1/6 altogether (split shift/dual range tranny).
They like to hide the shift patterns on the sunvisor and/or in the glove box.

[dannyboy]

There's a few people we know that have some old 3 on the tree cars too.
They're 50s or 60s and they're a 3 speed manual but on the steering column.

I never saw reverse to the right and up or to the left and back. It seems from my experience if its toward the dash it's all the way left, if it's toward the seat its all the way right.

[Mahnarch]

Ah, 'Three on the Tree'.
My grandpa had one of those when I was really young.
All I can tell you is: the car was green.

I didn't know my cars back then.

Danny, have you ever seen an old GM with a push-button Auto on the dash?
We had one customer (classic collector) who had three of them.

***

Right now, as winter's approaching and my wife is now driving, I'm looking at an '89 Beretta that near my work.

5 speed manual.....her first winter driving....hmmm.
2.8 or 3.1, to boot (window sticker just says 'V6', haven't talked to the guy, yet.)

Yes, my wife is 23 and didn't get he license until a couple of weeks ago.
She grew up in Las Vegas and took the bus everywhere.

In the past few years I've been chauffer and so have her friends.

Funny story: When she first moved here I tried to get her her license right away.
She says, "Why? I can just take the bus.".

The bus?.....in the farm country? lol!
Maybe if the hay wagons had a regular schedule.

She also thought snow was 'pretty' that first year, too.....until she went outside.

[Jason O'Lewa]

i played streetracer with stick becaus its faster off the start
i might like stick better after a while

[aido179]

i forget if I have a post here already. Learning to drive atm. I'm learning with stick shift because you can get a license for both auto and stick if you know stick but just auto if thats all you know.
I drive around the driveway (big driveway) and on sundays on the streets by the sailing club (because its quiet). tommorow, my mum has offered to let me drive her car in an industrial estate near our house.
I usually drive mums car (fiat something...small) but I prefer my dads. its a volvo, I dont know the type here either but is big. 2.8l, stick, power steering, abs, etc....It's so wierd how different they feel to drive. I find the bigger volvo easier to handle. especially on hill starts off the handbrake.
so ya..thats my driving career so far.
time to go to sleep.

[Classicblast]

For Mustang GT stick but if it's just a driver automatic.
It just happens to depend on what you're using it for.

I agree with Aido179 about you should know how to drive both. It's just better for you overall to be able to drive both kinds of transmissions.

[Mahnarch]

I agree with Classic about knowing both.
I always use the example: Let's say you and buddy drive out to the woods in his manual tranny truck to camp for the weekend.
He gets hurt and you don't have a cellphone.

You have a perfectly working vehicle, but you wouldn't know how to drive him to the hospital.

Or, say Zombies are running after you.........different story...lol.

***

aido179, I agree.
Volvo's are just nicer all around.
I used to drive a combination of trucks - Volvo, Frieghtliner, and White GMC during a day.
Now I just drive the Volvo.
They just feel more....I don't know...comfy?

In my Volvo I feel like a part of the truck. It nestles you in.
In the Frieghtliner is feels like you're riding on top of the truck. I may as well be on the roof.
The White GMC, it feels like you're riding an actual farm tractor on the road...and the seats never come forward enough for anyone under 8ft tall to drive comfortably.

***

I'd say the best gear jammer is the Berreta, or the Cavalier.
I'd never drive one myself, because I'd beat the living hell out of it....think I'm rehashing, here.....

[Classicblast]

I have one of each. My F350 is automatic the Mustang is Stick. Blastgirl doesn't like to drive stick because she is kind of unpracticed at it. But if we went somewhere in the Mustang I got hurt and we had no cell phone, and Zombies were chasing us, she could drive it well enough to get us home.

[Mahnarch]

That's good that BG can step up.

I find that the best place to teach someone is on a slight hill (after some basic, flat parking lot practice).
That way, they have to get a really good feel for the clutch engagement and really get to know how to use the brakes properly. (you can clutch without the brake, but you can't brake without the clutch..).

It's amazing that someone can drive an auto for years and, during manual training, they completely forget the brake exists at times.

And, Zombies are a force to be reckoned with, I tell ya.
But, she would'nt want to bring you home, she'd want to bring you guys to a Walmart.

imdb.com/title/tt0089907/board/nest/20861379?p=8

I pipe in somewhere on page 8 (that I've linked to) and it's mostly between me and darkchia TZ (formerly 'darkchia') from there on out.

It's a good laugh and see if you can come up with anything new.

[Blastgirl]

I'll remember that next time Zombies chase us.

[Phil]

I'm bumping this because there's a question that got brought up at work lastnight/this morning however you see it when it's like 2 or 3am.

Well, a guy is talking about a Honda motorcycle with an automatic transmission. I knew there was such a thing but I kind of find a motorcycle something you have to shift you just do.

[Classicblast]

An automatic motorcycle? Never knew there was such a thing.

[Mahnarch]

Ah, yes. The "Honda-matic"

A waste of a potentially good machine.

From what I hear (never owned one/riden one) they are worthless.

I'd rather decide what gear I'm in, especially on a bike, than to let some fluid or a computer decide for me.
,
What if I wanted to pass one of those danged Semis? (Semii?)
I'd probably lay the bike down as it shifted on it's own, without warning, to get around.

[dannyboy]

They're wussy bikes. But they do have reverse that's a nice feature. Honda and Suzuki bikes are fast but nothing is as throaty as a Harley Davidson. So I'm loyal to the Harley bikes.