Clutch or automatic

[Newport Red]

5 speed.
I had an automatic and couldn't wait to get rid of it. What a snooze.

[Danny Serafini]

I'll never willingly buy a car with an automatic, stickshift all the way for me.

[bucksfan]

WE've had both. For a while both of our vehicles were stick, now they are both automatics. Realistically we probably won;t have a stick again unless we become wealthy and can afford to have a sports car for a "toy". But otherwise the convenience of the automatics and the fact that either of us owning a sportscar (where IMO we'd get the most out of a manual transmision) would be very impractical seems to have us in automatics for the forseeable future. But I do miss our old 5-speed Pathfinder sometimes...

[creek14]

Clutch until I was 40. Automatic since. Although a friend of mine just bought one of these and it gave me the itch to drive a sporty stick shift again.

[gonelong]

Mrs. Gonelong and I both drove sticks for years on end. However, at this time, we both are driving automatics.

I don't really have a preference for either one ... I view a car as a tool, it holds no real fascination for me any more than a hammer does.

If I owned a 1970 Barracuda or similar, then I might have a different take on things.

GL

[GIK]

Automatics should be illegal.

[Roy Tucker]

Stick for fun, automatic for utility, i.e. sometimes, the trip is the thing, other times, just getting there is the object. Unfortunately, at this stage of my life, the trip is rarely the thing.

I taught my son how to drive a stick about a year ago. That was quite the adventure. The skid marks are still visible on the neighborhood streets and I still have the neckbrace from the whiplash.

[westofyou]

I taught my son how to drive a stick about a year ago.

This can seque into the realm of showing your age... I learned how to drive a stick in a 62 Falcon with 3 in the tree.

That sucker stalled out 35 times around the block.

[M2]

Ahh, the old steering column shift. If you wanted to torture a modern teenager you could give him/her a three-speed column shifter and say the car is his/hers if he/she can figure out how to drive it.

Roy, how big did your son's eyes get when you showed him how to drop gear in order to accelerate?

[gonelong]

Ahh, the old steering column shift. If you wanted to torture a modern teenager you could give him/her a three-speed column shifter and say the car is his/hers if he/she can figure out how to drive it.

Roy, how big did your son's eyes get when you showed him how to drop gear in order to accelerate?

My first vehicle was a '71 Ford pickup with 3 on the tree. Or ... really, my first vehicle was a John Deere. I used to drive it back and forth between my neighbors farms (3-4 miles). By the time I had turned 16 I had 2-3 years of "experience" and didn't need any instruction on driving a stick.

Dad put me in the truck at 15 1/2 or so and had me drive him around. When we got home all he said was, "here are the keys".

GL

[Roy Tucker]

Ahh, the old steering column shift. If you wanted to torture a modern teenager you could give him/her a three-speed column shifter and say the car is his/hers if he/she can figure out how to drive it.

Roy, how big did your son's eyes get when you showed him how to drop gear in order to accelerate?

Actually, that's how my dad proposed it to me when I asked him for a car. He had a beat-to-crap '60 Falcon with the column shift and said "good luck son". My best friend lived on a farm so we drove the car around an open field to learn. Just had to dodge cows.

My son was a tad reluctant, but I told him it was one of those life skills a guy needs, like tipping a bartender or tying a tie. I bought him a 2001 Saturn with a massive 1.9 liter 4 banger with neck-snapping torque (ho-ho) and a 5 speed. He has a lot of fun with it now. Plus he's got a nice iPod-compatible sound system in it so I borrow "his" car every so often and crank up the tunes.

And the either further date myself, my middle child turns 15 1/2 tomorrow which makes her eligible for getting her temporary license. She has reminded me of this a few billion times. To which I ask if she has enough money yet to pay for drivers ed. and contribute to my monthly car insurance bill. The conversation hasn't gotten past that yet. Although she starts her job at Wild Oats next week so I imagine the conversation will get revived.

[RFS62]

I too learned on a '60 Falcon station wagon, three speed on the column.

We called it "the bomb".

[westofyou]

I too learned on a '60 Falcon station wagon, three speed on the column.

We called it "the bomb".

I'm closer to the golden dawn
I can't believe the wagon's gone
It's history
I'm living in a callous realm
Where others seem to dig it
Just too much reality
I'm frightened by the total goal
I'm drawing to the ragged hole
And I ain't got the wagon anymore
No, I ain't got the wagon anymore

[creek14]

Automatics should be illegal.

Get back to me in a few years when you have two kids in car seats in the back screaming for the bottle and pacifier that they threw and are now rolling under your feet and you're at a stop light on a hill.

[pedro]

I had one of these. (actually I've had three, 75, 77, 84)

Loved those cars. Especially the 77.