My Minneapolis based daughter traded in her Honda Civic and after the deal was done, the dealer hadn’t realized that it was a stick. Not a big seller in the big city.

‘Ol Blue was my trip truck with a five speed, but none of my relief drivers knew how to shift it very well. I remember taking a break in the back and either lugging through town in fifth gear, or screaming (both me and the engine) down the highway in third gear.

My kid was just out of school at his first job for Circuit City and being a big strapper, they told him that he got to deliver the TV’s. All well and good until he got to the truck and saw that it had a manual transmission. Learned to drive one real quickly or no delivery gig.

The wife tells the story about a friend of hers calling asking if she will come over to the dealership and drive her new car home for her. A never learned to drive a stick shift person buying a manual transmission vehicle, but she liked the color.


My other auto is a .45

The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price has faded from memory