I
love driving a manual transmission. My current vehicle, a 1998 Honda
Accord, has racked up nearly 145,000 miles on the original clutch, and
it’s still going strong. Almost every car I’ve ever owned was a manual,
except for the beautiful classic 1968 Ford Mustang I owned in college.
All said, I think I’ve put more than 500,000 miles on manual
transmissions over my lifetime. And, I’ve done quite a bit of that in
HEELS!
Most of my husband’s cars were also manuals. We were
getting seated in a rental car on a family vacation one year, when we
saw the shift lever on the console, and practically in unison said to
each other “Oh my God, it’s an automatic. Do you know how to drive an
automatic?” We both spent that entire vacation stomping our left foot
onto the floor every time we started the car. (Manual transmission
drivers will understand why that is funny. The rest of you might not
get it.)
I’ve taught at least three other people how to drive
a stickshift: One was my college roommate who would often borrow my
car, another friend from college whose inability to learn to shift
actually killed the clutch in my Chevy Monza, and one male colleague
who bought the used car before he even knew how to shift it, and needed
to learn just so he could drive it home. Ironically, my older son who
is approaching permit age has told me several times he doesn’t want to
learn to drive a stick; he says it seems like too much trouble. My
answer to him remains “Oh yes, you WILL!”
I came across this post at Lipsticking.com,
in which Mary Schmidt recounted her mishaps with a Mitsubishi Eclipse.
For some reason, the vehicle had two clutches die very sudden deaths in
the first 11,000 miles. She said, “The first one that died, the
mechanic made a comment something like, 'Man, even if you had your foot
on the clutch pedal at all times, you couldn't have killed it this
fast.'
The second clutch that abruptly died (while I was
driving on the PA turnpike. One minute I had a gear higher than second,
the next I didn't.) I had the car towed to the original dealer from
which I leased the car. His comment (complete with chuckle and
eye-roll): ‘You women can't drive stick.’ ” He may have been a complete
bozo, but I think her lifetime ban on Mitsubishi products might have
been a little harsh.
So, Ladies, stand up and be counted! Do you
drive a stick? Tell us about it here, or share your car stories in our
automotive social network at www.carblabber.com.
Brandy Schaffels
Editor, AskPatty.com
1968 ford mustang
