TexasCHLforum.com

Lynyrd wrote: ↑Wed Aug 08, 2018 10:59 am I learned to drive in one of these. Most people under 40 could have never seen a starter pedal.

My first car was a '47 Chevrolet Stylemaster. I ticked nearly all the boxes from this thread so far, including this one!

Lynyrd wrote: ↑Wed Aug 08, 2018 10:59 am I learned to drive in one of these. Most people under 40 probably have never seen a starter pedal.

Or a foot operated high beam switch.

M151A1. The starter button was underneath the clutch pedal. You had to push the clutch all the way down to hit the starter.

Lynyrd wrote: ↑Wed Aug 08, 2018 10:59 am I learned to drive in one of these. Most people under 40 probably have never seen a starter pedal.

OK this is where I fail. I've never driven anything like that before... Oldest car I've driven is an '88.

Bitter Clinger wrote: ↑Wed Aug 08, 2018 11:59 am

Lynyrd wrote: ↑Wed Aug 08, 2018 10:59 am I learned to drive in one of these. Most people under 40 probably have never seen a starter pedal.

Or a foot operated high beam switch.

Or 4 wheel non powered drum brakes, no power steering, no air conditioning, and no cruise control. Probably don't know about a carburetor with a manual choke either and the joy when you get it to crank the first try and keep it running when its freezing outside. Wait, I'm under 40 and I know all those things... at least under 40 for a few more months.

I learned to drive in my dad's 77 F100 with a 302 and three speed on the column. I helped him build a fence when I was 5 and by help, I drove the truck. He left it in first gear and I would start and stop by cranking the motor and turning off the key. By the time I was 8, he would let me drive it 15 miles to town on a farm to market road while he sat in the passenger seat. If I ever went faster than 30, he told me to slow down.

My first truck was a 1968 F100 SWB standard side bed. 360 with a 3 speed on the column. I love that truck and still have it. It needs some work and I would love to frame off the thing. Of course it would get, ac, power steering, power disc brakes, and fuel injection, lol. I will keep the foot high beam switch though.

At my second (part time) job, I got in a cement truck to pull it in the shop and it was an automatic. It took me a second to figure out how to get it in gear.

That windshield wiper washer thingy on the right, where the shifter oughta be is what confuses the bejabbers out of me.

I learned to drive a bulldozer before driving a car. Mastering three clutches, was a lot easier than figuring out that windshield thingy.

Bitter Clinger wrote:
Or a foot operated high beam switch.

I sure miss those... much easier to tap with a foot then move my hand from the window to the steering wheel

I have actually wondered how much work it would be to put one in my 2014 f150.

Liberty wrote: ↑Thu Aug 09, 2018 5:22 am That windshield wiper washer thingy on the right, where the shifter oughta be is what confuses the bejabbers out of me.

I learned to drive a bulldozer before driving a car. Mastering three clutches, was a lot easier than figuring out that windshield thingy.

I can't figure out what you're talking about.

Pawpaw wrote: ↑Thu Aug 09, 2018 9:11 am

Liberty wrote: ↑Thu Aug 09, 2018 5:22 am That windshield wiper washer thingy on the right, where the shifter oughta be is what confuses the bejabbers out of me.

I learned to drive a bulldozer before driving a car. Mastering three clutches, was a lot easier than figuring out that windshield thingy.

I can't figure out what you're talking about.

They used to have a shifter attached on the right of the steering column. They now have this smaller lever that goes up and down front and back, with a twisty knob. I find them confusing as all get out. More complicated adjusting the wipers than setting the clock.

Not long after the Soviets gave up and The Wall came down I had a chance to visit the former east Germany and meet some of my former foe/counterparts that the Federal Republic of Germany had decided to retain in service (about 90% of the DDR military got the boot).

One of the guys had a Trabant, which I got to drive. It was quite an experience. It had the H-pattern shift on the steering column, which happily I had some experience on from driving my Dad's 1965 Ford pick up.

And everything on that vehicle was severely manual...and flimsy. I think the suspension system was made out of rubber bands, it bounced all over the place. Tiny little clutch, brake, and gas pedals. Lawnmower engine...with the gas tank between the engine and the firewall/dashboard.

I have a similar story.

I learned to drive a stick shift tractor (I wass 11) before I learned to drive a stick shift car.

Liberty wrote: ↑Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 am

Pawpaw wrote: ↑Thu Aug 09, 2018 9:11 am

Liberty wrote: ↑Thu Aug 09, 2018 5:22 am That windshield wiper washer thingy on the right, where the shifter oughta be is what confuses the bejabbers out of me.

I learned to drive a bulldozer before driving a car. Mastering three clutches, was a lot easier than figuring out that windshield thingy.

I can't figure out what you're talking about.

They used to have a shifter attached on the right of the steering column. They now have this smaller lever that goes up and down front and back, with a twisty knob. I find them confusing as all get out. More complicated adjusting the wipers than setting the clock.

That sounds like my wife's car. I don't drive it often, and on the left side is the lever to control the lights and turn signals, which I can generally handle without too much problem, but in my truck the left side lever controls the turn signals and the wipers. It is quite a show for anyone watching me drive her car, at night, if it starts to rain. I have turned off the lights, turned them back on, veered out of my lane trying to locate the right direction to push the lever, turned on the rear wiper, all the while my wife is asking "What are you doing?" I say "trying to turn on the (forum rule check) wipers!!"

Bitter Clinger wrote: ↑Wed Aug 08, 2018 8:29 am Turn 6 at Eagles Canyon. Ripped my shifter lever right out of the housing during a 4-3 downshift as I was approaching that turn just a little too enthusiastically...

Fun track! I'm a member and also instruct out there...wait until you see the changes!!!

I'm amazed at how difficult it is to find a standard-transmission these days - especially in a Vette!?!?!?! I'm not a fan of the 7-spd in my new Z06 but it is fun to drive in 1-5 though, 6 and 7 tend to be awkwardly placed IMO. Downshifts are a little different - very easy to go from 7 to 4 inadvertently...

One of the license plate frames on my Mazda3 5 speed stick says "Mine has 3 pedals....it's a stick shift thing!"

I am a dedicated stick shift driver and will only get an AT if I break my leg, or need a truck to haul an RV.

People always tell me that AT's are faster, which is true, but a stick shift driver is more in control on the twisties,
plus with a stick you don't always have to ride the brakes to bleed off speed.

If it doesn't have 3 pedals, it's not for me.

SIA

I learned to use a clutch by learning to ride motorcycle before I learned to drive a car. A lot of these stories are old history to me, including the anti-theft device. I handled a car-jacking back around 92 where the teen used a shotgun to jack a Jeep Wrangler. He got mad when he could not get it moving and shot the tire when he jumped out. I also remember being amazed the first time I drove an M151 Jeep in the Army. Yep, they hid that starter button alright. And one of the weirder trucks I test drove was a new 2007 (I think) Volvo. It had the new at the time autoshifting transmission. Just to really confuse the younger guys, you had to use the clutch to start and stop, but then it shifted by itself through the gears.

I am surprised no one mentioned old motorcycles though. Before 68, British bikes had the shifter and brake on opposite sides from American bikes. This also reversed the shift pattern from down to get first and then up for the rest to up to get first and down to upshift. That was confusing to learn. Fortunately, I never tried to drive one of the antique Harleys with foot clutches and a stick shift, though I thought they looked cool.