Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Manual Transmission car sales now outnumbered by electric cars

The cell phone is what killed the manual transmission , people can't text & shift at the same time.


Mike

Guessing my old truck will soon become a collector item?

Nah, nobody wants those things. I'll give you $500 to save you the hassle of dealing with it.

But then I'd be.. afoot!

Back in the late 1940's my father was the first man in Nashville Tennessee to work on automatic transmissions. In 1958, I attended a class he was teaching for other mechanics in the area on rebuilding the Dual Range Hydra-Matic transmission. When I passed the end of course test, General Motors sent me a certificate stating I was a certified Hydra-Matic technician- - - - -at age 12! Dad had a saying that I totally agree with- - - - -"Automatic transmissions are smarter than all drivers and most mechanics- - - -there's no way to get one in the wrong gear!"

Now before some of you snowflakes flame me- - - -I also learned to drive a B-73 Mack with a Tri-Plex transmission- - - - -two shifters- - - - -15 forward gears and 3 reverse! And I can parallel park an 18 wheeler!
Jerry

When we bought our 2003 Ram 3500 in 2005, wife and I had to relearn stick (both of us learned to drive with sticks), after over 20 years of autoshifts. And both early 20 boys had never driven stick. They can now.

God, I hate the smell of burning clutch! Which blew up (literally) a few years later, for a $1,000, 119 mile tow bill.

It's working now. . Hell, we can (mostly) hit all the gears without any grinding..... I'm still working on getting my wife to pay attention to the tach and motor sounds, tho.

Buy 'em up now boys and stick them in storage. In a few years they will be worth real money.

I still have a 5 speed , don't expect to have it much longer though.



The only sticker on it.




Mike

That there is sig-line material.

When i bought my f150 i was looking for an auto for the afore mentioned traffic crawl. Found a nice clutch one instead. I do not understand 3.05 axle, big tires, and no granny or even low 1st. It has a lo transfer case though.

Daughter has a GTI with 6 speed. SIL has sinilar vw with 6 speed.

As for doudle clutching or no clutch the ford has the engine control that eases rpm down to 1700 for emissions so I have to wrap up to 3500 or 4000 to up shift, down can be done ok.

The smog test tech had no trouble with the clutch yhis time

While searching for Daughter #1's first truck, I looked and looked for an F-150 with a manual. No dice anywhere over multiple months. I found a few but the trucks were hammered. Finally gave up and bought her an automatic. She will learn to drive my F350 manual, though.

Bought our RAV4 new in 2016...........with an automatic transmission. The last one of them I had was my '54 Bel-Aire, which I managed to hold on to until '86 or so even with other standard vehicles. Married a stick shift driver, so the RAV4 was her first auto in many years too.

We figured, being of advancing age and having had between us multiple foot, knee, and hip surgeries we might want a vehicle we could easily drive with on foot if necessary as we live a bit outside town.

We do not necessarily like the dang thing though. After driving the other vehicles for a few days in a row, we have to remind ourselves not to shift when pulling up to stop signs.

The "sport" option I use on a road in OR going to a Dr appointment in Ashland. It's nice to have some downshifting capability, and I do mean "some", as it works somewhat to hold back the car on downhill twisties, but not like either the Tacoma or Matrix.

Another thing, and I think I read it was designed this way, let your foot off the gas in "D" and the dang thing coasts forever, hardly seeming to slow at all.

I can't complain much about the 30MPG average over the first 60K miles though.

Got real tired of rowing gears in the cities my wife lived and worked in when I came home during the off season. E WA is pretty open and once in 5th gear there sometimes was 30 miles between having to downshift again. Not like the stop sign and 3 stop lights in a half mile trip to the store at one place my wife lived.

Going to SoCal to visit relatives sucks even worse when I do so on the way home from a hunting trip with the Tacoma. SoCal freeways and surface streets are a good place for an auto transmission, as the MD guys have suggested.

Geno

One will be able to safely leave his keys in the rig from hence forth.

Still a manual transmission fan. My '06 Dodge 3500 diesel, '06 Honda Accord, and '02 Honda Civic.
The only auto is the wife's '19 Honda Pilot.
But I have to admit it is easier to like them when there is only two stoplights in my county.

Hey. Keeny. What's a doudle clutch???

I submit, sir, you never learned to drive a stick shift. A clutch is a nice convenience to have but not necessary.

I earned my son’s respect the first time when I was towing his Bronco to the mechanic about 45 miles away. Lost the clutch linkage coming up to the first light. Oops. So, I told him to watch my moves (on speaker phone, he was in the Bronco on the strap) and follow my lead. Time the lights, jake shift up to freeway speeds, and we were at the mechanic’s about 45 minutes later.

About the same time period on a trip to Calgary, I was coming down Crowsnest Pass in the semi, loaded at 80,000 lbs, and the same thing. Spring broke, no clutch.

Three hours later I pulled into the customer’s yard, and had to ask for a push back into the unloading area. Didn’t want to horse up the starter getting 80k lbs going on an uphill....

08 wrangler and 16 Camaro SS both manual. I had to special order the Chevrolet as the dealer said they only order autos for stock.

I also prefer sail boats which are the manual transmissions of watercraft.

Teenager at my old church knew my Ford Ranger had a manual transmission. He was looking at a car in his price range, but it too had manual transmission. He asked me if I could teach him how to drive one. I said sure. He said it was ok with his parents. I told him to have a parent call me to set up a time and date. His mom called within an hour. Couple of test drives later he test drove his new ride...and none of his friend could 'borrow' it. Good kid, nice family.

Broke the z-bar linkage in my chevelle roundabouts Butte MT, en route to Bellingham WA. No big deal, no starter interlock, no brains no headaches. Almost had to come out of 1st gear in seattle traffic though, and restart with the starter.

Spend some time maneuvering heavy trailers and things around the yard and boat ramp, and one soon appreciates a stick vs an auto. The ability to have absolute control over wheel speed in slick low speed heavy load conditions is well worth any "bother" that the third pedal contributes. Engine braking on log roads and on snow/ice: MT is the winner. Unplanned gear shifts on icy roads, causing near-wipeout: not a problem with MT.

Wife learned to drive with a MT diesel rabbit, then a MT honda CRX. This after driving all manner of farm tractors and motorcycles as a kid. She can drive about anything, and do it right without riding the pedal. But she likes autos better.

That's depressing. Just wait until Nascar goes all auto.

But yeah, you're so much more "engaged" driving a manual. Too complicated for most.

I luv that sticker.............