ernie9468

OMG - You guys make me feel old I learn the stick or should I say (the colum shifter ) on a three speed 52 Ford truck or is it a Mercury lol I'm old.

colin944

I learned to drive in my first car a 74 vw Beetle.Of course in the UK we all have manual cars, we find first go in an auto to be frightening as you have not got the same feeling of control.Infact in the uk if you pass yout test in an auto you can't drive a manual until you pass another test.

944Ross

I have a '52! I just love column shift, left arm on the window sill, taking about 5 minutes to go from 1st to 2nd, flat V8 humming along!

But my first stick-shift car (i.e., not motorcycle) was an A-H 3000. You could sidestep the clutch at idle and the massive rotating mass would just ride thru it.

gregeast

'77 Mustang II 4 banger for me. Loved that sweet bordello red vinyl interior!

Keep the faith, I recently taught me son and after a month or so he had an epiphany and finally understood when I said that the clutch was not an on/off switch.

lovemyp-car

haha, i learned on my 944, then i relearned when i gave it 400 horsepower....haha!

Marcquito

I learned on a late 80's suzuki samurai with rounded gears and a spring clutch.

choinga

heh '83 Honda Accord here, and yes...very easy clutch...I put 155k on that car before it started slipping...

I've got a Fidanza flywheel in my 951...no one has gotten it out of first without stalling on the first try yet. It's on or off...

Will Feather

Im going to join the Accord crowd here, first DD was an 88' carb'ed!

nine-four-four

I learned on a rust bucket '71 Chevy Nova. 4 door with a 307ci v8. You could see the ground through the rocker panels. Sold the car a few months later for $900. Of course that was about 20 years ago...

333pg333

If I was teaching someone to drive a manual the first thing I would get them to have worked out is the transition from clutch take up point to accelerator going down. In other words practice clutch starts up a slight hill with no hand brake. Once they master or get comfortable with that you will have a much easier time when teaching them the other stuff.
I would even consider teaching them to Left foot brake and double de clutch / heel toe fairly early in their learning process too. Nothing like a sponge to soak up instruction.

In saying this, I probably wouldn't teach them in my 951 at first. Maybe hire a cheap manual car for a day and start on this. They can fry the clutch a couple of times and not worry about it.

harrisonrick

'73 Ford with 3 on the tree..haha!

(not counting the neighbour's tractors I drove since @ 10 years old)

For auto..a 74 Mustang Mach 1 my cousin owned...13 years old...good times.

Mighty Shilling

I learned on a 1996 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra... stalled it a couple times...

Arominus

I learned in my old 1993 Dodge Daytona Iroc, V6 with a 5 speed. It was a fun car even it it was extreme understeer action. I had driven a stick previously and done ok (in like a 95 civic) but i didn't feel that i truly learned until i owned my own stick shift car and drove it every day.

mavfan

I taught a few people how to drive clutch in my 88 924S. Definitely sucks when they start chugging it, but generally because it is a porsche they at least try to be as gental with it!