first manual car you ever drove?

My first stick was a Triumph Spitfire. I had to get my dad to drive it home from the dealer until I could learn to drive it. That was 1970. OTOH,all three of my daughters learned to drive on a stick because that's all we owned.

 

1957 f-100 "Rockn' Robin" My dad's truck he bought new. It was 3 on the tree,
ohv 6, fiestas. The year was 1960. I bought it from him in '64 for a shop truck/daily while I built my '55 chevy gasser.

 

2003 jeep wrangler, I guess I'm not as old as you guys.

 

I went with my dad and two older brothers when he said it was time for them to learn to drive. My Dad wouldn't own an automatic. We went to a rural park and I got to laugh at my brothers while my Dad yelled at them everytime they stalled the ol' dodge. Once they got the hang of it my Dad looked at me and said "Your turn"; I was 11, but had already driven the "39 Allis Chalmers we kept on the hobby farm, so it wasn't that hard to learn on the car. When i took drivers ed. they had manual "simulators" most of the guys would use the simulators in the manual mode; you could hear all the cluth pedals banging up when we side stepped them at all the simulated green lights.. It seems like everyone could drive by the time we took drivers ed back then, about 1969. we even had one guy that drove about 12 miles everyday to get to drivers ed.

 

My Great-Grand -Pa's 59 Chevy pickup. 4 on the floor six in a row.
First hand shift bike Cushman Eagle scooter.

 

87 mazda 626.

 

at 13 i was kina the lot boy i washed cars and cleaned the shop
they said when you can start the ford and move it around ehe yard i got to drive the tow truck
the ford was a 1919 t touering car took me 2 days to start it
then they let me move cars to wash them
then you did not need a drivers licence to drive an emergency vehicle
it was a 57 chevy 1 ton with a weaver hand crank i moved cars around ehe yard with it
then i was sent to the parts house then sent to get a car down the street then futher
before i was 14 i did my first fatale accident i still have a wrecker that was 46years ago

 

It was either dad's 49 Chevy pickup (three on the tree) or the "new" early 55 Chevy pickup with a four speed or an Oliver 77, can't remember which in about 1954. I rolled that early 55 Chevy pickup when I was 15, lucky I was an only child or my parents would have killed me

 

'53 F-100 that dad bought new. I have owned it since the mid 80's. It's not a stick anymore though.


V/8

 

granpa's 72 chevy half ton 3 on the tree

 

50 Dodge of my friends mom. Had the "Fluid Drive" which at 14 I had no clue what that meant-all those that told me how hard it was to drive a manual seemed to be wrong!! That thing was easy!!
Until I found the real world of the manual transmission. 'Bout took out my dads clutch in his 53 Ford trying to get it out of the garage!!
Lesson learned...

 

52 Ford coupe - flathead and 3 on the tree. First floor shift was my 58 Ranch Wagon floor shift conversion. First 4 speed was my buddies 63 Merc Marauder (that I eventually bought off him)

 

Mine was a 68 mustang that was an auto when I got it- bought a standard parts car and did the swap. stayed up all night and finished it with just enough time to take a shower and get to school. ( I was 16 ) --- There was a lesson here - I also put the dual exaust on, but I did not remove the kick down arm from the gas pedal, first time I stomped the gas, it stuck to the floor! Good times

 

my friends dads 79 sunbird notchback first hamb friendly car was a 53 olds rocket 3 on the tree

 

1938 Ford Deluxe Fordor.

 

First time I ever drove, I was 9 years old. It was a POS 4 speed pinto, we chased cows around a field for several hours. Great fun. I had to sit on phone books, but not because I was too short, the car had no seats. Good times.

 

.....speaking of 3 on the tree...... I've got a buddy that used to do front end alignments at a Ford dealer. An old guy dropped off an F100 with 3 on the tree for service. The tech went out to get it. Couldn't figure out how to shift. Second tech went out, then a third. They had all driven standard trans but not column shift. My buddy finally went out and showed them how to shift it. They called him old.

 

1963 rambler wagon

 

The first manual I ever drove was a '67 Dodge P.U. 318 wide block 3 on the tree . That was a great old truck! Rob.

 

My parent's 1954 Buick Special with 3 speed transmission. Yes, some Buicks had standard transmissions. In fact, I took my DMV driving test in that car.

 

c. 1970 Toyota pick-up, column 4-speed. I was probably 16, and the truck belonged to a friend of my dad's as my dad had only automatics at the time (or since, with one exception).

I've never owned an automatic. Too often in my life I've had cars that might need to be push-started at times or wouldn't idle without being baby-sat. Automatic transmissions would have made them undrivable.

 

1951 ford 8n tractor at the age of 10

 

1957 Chevy,....what else?

 

My brother's 51 Dodge PU on my paper route when I was 14. He would sit on the passenger side and sleep while I delivered the papers.

 

Ma's 60 Ford 6 stick.

 

My dad's 1964 international scout. The poor thing
I think it use to cringe when it saw me coming.

 

1950 Chevy sedan me and dad picked up a few years back. The clutch was already slipping, he didnt think I could hurt it any worse.

 

1989 Ford Tempo, just like this one. Jealous?

 

Grandpa's Allis Chalmers wd45 and His 53 Chevy 3100

 

They were all manual's when I started, the close thing was the chrysler fluid drive but you had to shift it in first gear