What are you thinking about? Part VIII

Thinking about how I really need to learn how to drive a stick shift so I can drive my husband's jeep.
 
Calvin said:
Thinking it has been overwhelming day today... a lot of stuff going on. I just got off the highway and was on the off-ramp when car died on me and won't start. Adding to that with long night at work and other things going on with me. Had to wait 45 mins for a tow truck while being embarrassed due to blocking a lane with some unhappy drivers had to get around me.
Click to expand...

Ew bummer Calvin. But on the bright side YOU are in one piece and working properly- those unhappy people will just have to deal with it- a minor bump in their day :P.
 
AlleyCat said:
Thinking about how I really need to learn how to drive a stick shift so I can drive my husband's jeep.
Click to expand...

Oh.... I would love to learn to drive a stick shift. Family tried to teach me but after I managed to stall the car in third gear then promptly restarted it in third gear (without moving back to first or neutral...) they refused to anymore. I've had several friends say they'd teach me but the problem is...they're in other states or more than 2 hours away.
 
Calvin said:
Thinking it has been overwhelming day today... a lot of stuff going on. I just got off the highway and was on the off-ramp when car died on me and won't start. Adding to that with long night at work and other things going on with me. Had to wait 45 mins for a tow truck while being embarrassed due to blocking a lane with some unhappy drivers had to get around me.
Click to expand...
DeafDucky said:
Oh.... I would love to learn to drive a stick shift. Family tried to teach me but after I managed to stall the car in third gear then promptly restarted it in third gear (without moving back to first or neutral...) they refused to anymore. I've had several friends say they'd teach me but the problem is...they're in other states or more than 2 hours away.
Click to expand...
Do you think they would have made the offer if they lived close by? :giggle: Just kidding! ;)
 
I sort of learned about 20 years ago but then I humiliated myself by stalling the car in the Chicago tollbooths (on a road trip to NY) and promptly gave it up after that LOL
 
My dad sold Oldsmobile, Buick & Cadillac and we got to use the Olds demonstrator as a family car. Of course, with those brands even in the late 50's & early 1960s they did not even got hardly any used cars with stick shifts. I did beg my dad to bring one home when they did get one to teach me enough to get us back to town if I was with someone that had one and got sick or hurt. Finally they had a Corvair come in and we went out one Sunday afternoon. A few years later I bought a car with a 3 speed in the middle of December in Southern Illinois. I don't know how well I would do with one now as I haven't driven a stick since I think it was 1980 when I last borrowed a company pickup with one.
 
Calvin said:
Thinking it has been overwhelming day today... a lot of stuff going on. I just got off the highway and was on the off-ramp when car died on me and won't start. Adding to that with long night at work and other things going on with me. Had to wait 45 mins for a tow truck while being embarrassed due to blocking a lane with some unhappy drivers had to get around me.
Click to expand...
:hug:
 
AlleyCat said:
I sort of learned about 20 years ago but then I humiliated myself by stalling the car in the Chicago tollbooths (on a road trip to NY) and promptly gave it up after that LOL
Click to expand...

Same here to learn stick about the same time.
 
Calvin said:
Thinking it has been overwhelming day today... a lot of stuff going on. I just got off the highway and was on the off-ramp when car died on me and won't start. Adding to that with long night at work and other things going on with me. Had to wait 45 mins for a tow truck while being embarrassed due to blocking a lane with some unhappy drivers had to get around me.
Click to expand...

Turns out that it's the fuel pump went out in a bad timing when I had a bad day yesterday.
 
Calvin said:
Turns out that it's the fuel pump went out in a bad timing when I had a bad day yesterday.
Click to expand...
Well, it was probably good that it died on you on the ramp and not in a middle lane on the highway.
Yep, when it rains it pours sometimes (re bad days)
 
LoveBlue said:
Well, it was probably good that it died on you on the ramp and not in a middle lane on the highway.
Yep, when it rains it pours sometimes (re bad days)
Click to expand...

Yes but the weather was clear and hot.
 
AlleyCat said:
I sort of learned about 20 years ago but then I humiliated myself by stalling the car in the Chicago tollbooths (on a road trip to NY) and promptly gave it up after that LOL
Click to expand...

LOL Ouch... I was a little luckier-- I learned in the local elementary school parking lot (on the weekend) and they decided to let me drive home- lived out in the 'suburbs/country'. Didn't make it out of the parking lot lol. Almost 30 years for me.

@LoveBlue- LOL Well the one friend first promised me when we both lived in Colorado near each other so there's that. The other I know would do it if I ever move to Washington. lol ;)
 
I never learned how to use stick shift until after high school. Back in the day at work, their trucks had stick shift, they let me drive around the yard and of course I stalled and stalled til a co worker helped teach me how.... I got a bit better but still need to practice.

When I grew up, my parents had stick shift in their cars, then when I was teenager, they bought new cars with automatic so I couldn't get a chance to learn. A friend who had his license suspended (outstanding motorcycle tickets) let me use his car VW Jetta to take him to places and taught me how to use clutch... I did pretty well but I stalled a few times coming to stop... not too bad.
 
I had a VW bus and learned how to drive a stick shift when I lived on the mountain in Northern Ca. One of my sister's friend brave enough or crazy enough to teach me.
We had no room for any error on a mountain side , one wrong move and you're a goner ! I had to blow my horn when we got a bend to warn any car coming the other way . There was just enough room for 2 cars to pass as long we not right in the middle of the road. I was getting at it but moved back to city and went back to hoofing it .
 
My Dad bought me my first vehicle while I was in H.S. It was a 70's C10 Chevy pickup, 3 speed on the column (not floor). I could not get it out of the driveway.....why? Dad said..release the parking brake!. *sighs*
 
DeafDucky said:
LOL Ouch... I was a little luckier-- I learned in the local elementary school parking lot (on the weekend) and they decided to let me drive home- lived out in the 'suburbs/country'. Didn't make it out of the parking lot lol. Almost 30 years for me.
Click to expand...
 
DeafDucky said:
LOL Ouch... I was a little luckier-- I learned in the local elementary school parking lot (on the weekend) and they decided to let me drive home- lived out in the 'suburbs/country'. Didn't make it out of the parking lot lol. Almost 30 years for me.
Click to expand...

Everyone honked at me like crazy because I could not get out of the toll booth. Not doing that again until I really learn a stick shift. My husband tried to re-teach me a few years ago and I actually did sort of ok, but then I forgot it the next day!
 
I was told that I have to use Neutral (stick shift) at the stoplight... you would not want to keep the clutch down for long periods of time.
 
To add to my previously posted long story.

I had some fun with the clutch on that car I bought used in the middle of December. It had been owned by one of the owners of a local trucking company that did their own maintenance. We discovered that they had put a truck spring on the clutch! It was not just what was usually used on a pickup but a big truck. The fun came from not telling guys that was what was on it. They would kill it when they first started out in it because that strong clutch spring had the clutch jumping back on them.

It didn't bother me unless I was caught trying to hold it on a steep hill like the subway under the train tracks. Then it was really a strain on my left leg.

Jane B. said:
My dad sold Oldsmobile, Buick & Cadillac and we got to use the Olds demonstrator as a family car. Of course, with those brands even in the late 50's & early 1960s they did not even got hardly any used cars with stick shifts. I did beg my dad to bring one home when they did get one to teach me enough to get us back to town if I was with someone that had one and got sick or hurt. Finally they had a Corvair come in and we went out one Sunday afternoon. A few years later I bought a car with a 3 speed in the middle of December in Southern Illinois. I don't know how well I would do with one now as I haven't driven a stick since I think it was 1980 when I last borrowed a company pickup with one.
Click to expand...
 
Back
Top