In a recent video The Deer Hunter and I talked about manual drive cars. Since I adore language I was fascinated by all the various terms folks used to describe them.
I’ve most often heard straight shift or straight drive. I’ve also heard the number of gears used as reference. For example I had a couple of 5 speeds and The Deer Hunter’s truck he drove when we met was a 4 speed.
Stick shift was mentioned in the comments and that reminded me I’ve often heard that phrase too.
Two others mentioned were manual and stick.
We never had a straight shift when I was growing up, but the trucks Pap drove for work were all straight drives.
I loved seeing him change the gears when I rode with him to school.
One of my best friends in high school had a straight shift, well her parents had one and that is the car she got to drive. She showed me how to change gears but somehow I still couldn’t quite master the clutch and gear changing smoothly.
We worked at McDonalds and would often carpool. Sometimes our shifts didn’t end at the same time. If her’s ended first I would drive around the McDonalds parking lot trying to improve my straight shift driving skills. One day it all just clicked and after that I was good to go. I had several straight drive cars and loved them all.
The first car Pap helped me get was a straight drive. I loved that little car I was so proud of it, but I wrecked it in the snow. That same friend was with me. We had just left McDonalds after getting off work. Pap tried to get me to let him come and pick us up but I insisted I could drive home. Obviously I couldn’t 🙂 I slid off the end of the bridge below Clay’s Corner and landed upside down in Wayne Holland’s field.
When Pap came to pick me up and talk to the policeman I said I was so sorry that I should have let him come and get me. He could tell how upset I was and how contrite I was for refusing his help and wise instruction. Instead of getting on to me he said “Now don’t worry about it. The important thing is you’re both okay. Why if I had come and got you we might have all wrecked and got hurt.”
He and I both knew that wasn’t true, but Pap was a true encourager—even during the times I sure didn’t deserve it.
Last night’s video: We Got Our Tomatoes Planted!
Tipper
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We had never heard “straight” shift before, we call it a “stars” shift. A couple of yrs after I married my husband we ordered a new truck, bc we wanted a standard shift and that’s was the only way of getting one, an 86 Chevy Scottsdale. We currently have a 97 F150 that is a standard shift that is in great shape, no rust, 4X4, low miles, grandeddy is hoping to give it to the first grandson in about 14 yrs.
* “standard” shift ….not “stars” ……..oh my goodness these phones think they know everything!
Great post, Tipper.
I’m the youngest of 6 boys and 3 girls. My older brothers always had old beaters in the driveway or back yard. I remember a surplus WWII jeep and a ’32 Model A coupe. I taught myself to drive on those 2 vehicles when I was about 10 yo and could just manage to reach the pedals if I sat on the edge of the seat and held on to the steering wheel. My first car was like the one in my avatar, a ’50 Ford Custom with 3 on the tree. The first automatic I owned was a ’63 Falcon Futura bought in early ’64. I wouldn’t have chosen an automatic but it was a super good deal, $1100. I’ve owned 6 or 7 other automatics and about as many manual transmission vehicles.
In addition to my ’90 F150 with a 5-speed floor shift, we have an ’08 Ford Escape. It has an automatic transmission; so I tend to get lazy. Driving a stick shift comes naturally to me. The sound of an engine at various rpm’s automatically triggers my shift response; so I learned the engine sounds without thinking about it on each manual vehicle I drove. Nowadays, most all vehicles include a tachometer – including my old pickup.
Other comments have used cubic inches to describe engine size. My old pickup has a 4.9 liter 6. When – and more importantly, why – did manufacturers change to metrics? (said the grumpy old man)
I am hogging the comments, but in these comments about clutches and stick shifts I have not seen anyone comment on my Daddy’s cardinal rule about driving with a clutch. It was do not ride with your foot on the clutch pedal, even when shifting through the gears, after shifting a gear take your foot completely off clutch pedal until ready to shift again. Another no no was riding the the clutch- partially out and engaged to hold vehicle on a hill. He never had to replace a clutch in any of his cars. I mentioned driving a school bus, one requirement when taking the driving part of test was to use the hand break to keep bus from rolling back when starting off on a hill. It was a hand lever beside the gear stick and you released it after the clutch had engaged and the bus begin to pull off. Me along with other drivers after passing the test did not do this when driving our bus route.
Yes papaw, I learned and know how to double clutch. Have any of you every head anyone speed shift the gears on the hot rods and muscle cars of the 60’s. They could make the cars sound like automatics when drag racing or just showing out “barking” the tires while winding her (car) out.
My mother had a straight drive Plymouth ,, except the shift lever was on the column — it was called 3 speed on the column — or as we all called it — ” 3 on the tree”
We had an old Ford Fairlane stick shift when we got married in 1974. The stick shift was on the steering column which was very confusing to me. I had learned to drive on an automatic in high school. My husband decided to teach me how to drive the stick shift. After one lesson and a colossal argument, we decided that it was more important to stay married than it was for me to learn to drive the stick shift! I still can’t drive one, but we will celebrate our 50th anniversary in June!
We were taught to drive in high school but on an automatic shift car. We had been taught book wise how to drive a stick shift but did not actually drive a car with one. My Daddy always owned stick shift cars. One day I said to my younger brother I’m going see if I can drive Daddy’s car. I remembered what the book said about how to drive one, so I thought I could do it. My brother got in the passenger side, and I started up the car. I said let’s drive forward in the driveway, the garage was only about ten feet away from the car. I put it in gear and the car jumped and I stopped it just inches from the garage door. I tried to back up and came within inches of running into a big tree on the side of the driveway. My brother jumped out and said,
“I’m not riding with you, you don’t know how to drive!” I got out and said, “I’m sticking with automatics.” That was my last experience with stick shifts, and I’ve never regretted it.
Never heard straight shift; it was stick shift in my neck of the woods. I didn’t learn to drive one till husband took it into his head to replace our car. Up till then and since, I’m the family car buyer due to better hardline bargaining skills and not taking anything off car dealers with an attitude toward women buyers. Used to drive me crazy when the first question a salesman would ask was what color do you want? You could almost hear one of that type mentally adding “Li’l lady” or “honey” or some such. That was the best way not to sell me a car. Anyway, husband came home with his “bargain”, a new stick shift. He caught it from his dad for buying brand new instead of good used and from me who’d never successfully driven a stick, my dad having been the world’s worst teacher. I learned one Sunday afternoon, bumping and jolting around an empty college parking lot. When it came time for our girls to learn, I taught them on that stick shift since husband’s old station wagon, automatic, was so unreliable, only he could keep it running. Both of them drove only sticks till fairly recently. I had that car till a driver making a left in a hurry trying to beat the light broadsided my car and totaled it. That poor car was actually wrinkled, and it’s a wonder I had only bad seatbelt bruising and a stiff back for awhile. Its replacement was my last stick. It didn’t shift as smoothly, and I just never felt confident in it, especially after my first drive over Florida’s beautiful Sunshine Skyway bridge. My current car is a Prius, and I love it.
I learned to drive a 3-on- the -tree in my Dad’s ‘41 Chevy coupe about 1954. I have been driving the same ‘55 Chevy with 3-on-the-tree since 1958. I also have an ‘81Ford Courier p/u with 4-on-the-floor.
I’m from SoCal, so I learned to drive with a manual or stick. Still feel I have more control that way. The worst was the push button shift. In the 60’s, my friend’s mom would take us to school in her gigantic station wagon..I was concerned that she would push the wrong button and kill us all. Enjoyed your experience as a new driver…I was hit by a train…the lights, bells, and guards were not working.
Your Pap sure was a good man! I learned to drive on an automatic, then my Dad turned me loose on our country road to teach myself to drive our ’55 Plymouth. It had a straight shift, and I finally made it back to the house with it. It had ” three in a tree” but later on I learned to drive “four in the floor”. I’m happy with an automatic now though!
I learned to drive a stick after I was married when we bought an old VW Beatle. It took a while, but I finally got the hang of it. I have to admit I did get a little nervous when I had to stop on any road that was hilly. I was always afraid that I would roll into the car behind me. Loved what Pap said to you. It reminded me of my own Daddy, always encouraging and understanding.
After I learned how to drive on an automatic I decided I needed to learn how to drive a straight drive too. So daddy got in the passenger seat of his work truck and started telling me what to do…he said alright push the clutch in and crank her up! I did so and the truck lurched straight into the end of the house taking out a big chunk of foundation. He failed to tell me I had to push the brake too! He said good grief you don’t know to push the Brake?? Nooo daddy that’s why this was my very first lesson! I still haven’t mastered the straight drive lol. I can get from point A to point B in a straight drive truck but it ain’t the smoothest driving. Never have been able to drive a straight drive car though…tried for about an hour one night to drive my friends car and couldn’t even get it out of the driveway haha.
Tipper, I never turned one over, but I’ve had lots of close calls, both while driving and as a passenger. Yes, there are guardian angels. You and your friend had yours, and mine worked overtime on several occasion s. My dad, like yours, was calm and understanding. I tried to be the same with my two children.
I learned to drive a stick on hills. There was this one stop light at the top of the hill and as soon as I let off the brake to clutch, that car would start drifting backwards. I learned in a hurry to stop that car from drifting and clutch it. Nothing like fear of drifting backwards downhill into another car to improve my focus. LOL.
Can’t let this day go by without mentioning double clutching? Did you learn to do that? You let off the gas, push in the clutch, put it in neutral, let out the clutch, wait for the engine to slow down or speed up to match the gears, push in the clutch, select the gear you want to be in then let out the clutch again. All in a few seconds.
Did I get it right? I confuse myself sometimes! That’s it basically, but to do efficiently requires a lot of skill and coordination. Some people cannot learn (or say so anyway).
Normally double clutching is unnecessary on a modern car unless the transmission synchronizers are shot and you can’t afford to fix them. Some big rigs and heavy equipment still have unsynchronized transmissions and require double clutching.
I learned to double clutch by pushing in the clutch pedal and revving the engine with the gas pedal then shifting to a lower gear. I still do that with my ’90 Ford F150.
Morning everyone. I have heard automatic and stick. I don’t remember hearing manual. I have tried to learn stick, but never could. My sister only drove stick. And my dad’s first car was a stick. Drove it into a lake on a snowy Canadian road. Automatic Mustangs after that. I admit I am one of those people that doesn’t look at a car for how pretty or fast is. My cars are reliable, good on gas. My car is a 2006 RAV 4. Only 71 thousand miles. All terrain tires. My car has never broke down, needed anything. Uses no gas. Drove us from California to Arkansas. My driveway is gravely, rural bumpy roads. She will be with me forever. Oh and you would be surprised how much can be hauled in her. My next car will be a small truck. Automatic of course. Wishing you all good health. Anna.
The new term I like best is “anti-theft device” since so few can drive a straight gear now.
🙂
Recently our local news told about teenagers try to highjack a car and having to leave it because it had a manual/ stick transmission.
Haha, that’s true!
A home run post! The only kind of driving I enjoy for itself is a stick shift on mountain backroads. As good as a picnic! There are not a lot of things I can do well but a co-worker once told me I was the only one who knew how to drive a straight shift in the mountains. Whether true or not, I treasure the compliment. The only trick is to downshift just before you need to. You’ve made me wish I had that old GMC stepside 3-speed back. That was a honey of a truck; miles and memories.
That “old GMC stepside 3-speed” was what I learned to drive in!
As a teen I learned to drive the only car we had, a straight shift, in our corn field after it was harvested. Daddy wouldn’t buy a tractor and used his team of horses and later mules on the farm. I was almost out of college when I bought my first car, a new automatic ‘72 Chevelle. I had saved money from a job and Daddy and I spit the cost and paid cash. Years later my husband bought a used ‘79 Mustang with a 4-speed stick shift that was fun to drive. We still have it but it hasn’t been driven in a while and I’m not sure I still could because I’ve had automatics since. I didn’t know a hill on a state road had not been cleared several days after a good snow years ago and slid into a guard rail at the bottom of a big hill. I did shift to a lower gear and was able to keep it straight as it slid but the curve at the bottom was too sharp to miss. I have a friend who still drives a stick shift car because it turned out to be a good one and another friend who bought a manual a few years ago because that’s what she prefers. A
relative who learned to drive in the 1950’s on a manual could never drive another manual after buying her first car, an automatic. Tipper, as usual, you have caused a few people to remember their younger life.
Good dads are like that aren’t they Tipper, and we were lucky to have them weren’t we.❤️
I learned to drive on a 53 Chevy pickup with “3 on the tree”.Also taught me basic mechanical skills as the gears would hang up and you had to go under the hood to correct. We lived in a rural area so at 12 or 13 I had plenty of hay fields and dirt roads to practice on, o what fun. Think about it every time I hear Allen Jackson’s song about his dad’s boat can’t remember the title.
Your comment about “one day it clicked” resonated with me. Our first car when we married was a stick shift. My husband was stationed at the Defense Language School in Monterey, California learning Russian (Cold War days of the 1960’s). I could barely manage shifting on flat ground, but having to stop at an “uphill stop sign” or light was a terrifying experience for me. I was afraid I would roll backward into the car behind me. Monterey was a hilly town so I stayed home all summer and let my husband have the car. Late August came and since he would soon graduate and be deployed, I was going back to Houston to finish my senior year of college. I was so afraid of the long and lonely drive from Monterey to Houston that he drove me to Yuma (as far as he could go and get back without missing class) and took the bus back to base. I prayed my way back to Houston, but by the time I arrived I had mastered stick shift! I actually chose a stick shift when we bought the next car a year later and kept driving manual cars until a 2008 hail storm demolished my last stick shift. By that time, my knees were telling me that they didn’t appreciate daily stop-and-go commutes on bumper to bumper freeways here in Austin so my new car was automatic. Being able to drive a manual transmission is like riding a bike – once you learn, you don’t forget. I had to use the “push and pop the clutch” method of starting the car a couple of times and you sure can’t do that with an automatic transmission.
Back in the day, a “stick shift” was the common terminology I recall for a manual shift! All early vehicles I drove were a manual transmission whether it be a tractor, truck, or car; and I reckon that was the order of what I drove. As noted, “three on the tree” was around, and still used by car guys, today. Many early trucks, and size factored in, had a floor shift – which was popular in 50’s in cars with high school age drivers! I still drive a “three on the tree” 55’ Crown Vick • and a little 29’ A Model pickup out in the barn has a floor shift. Although times have changed, a few “stick shifts” in other than sports cars are still alive and well, Tipper!
Ah! The 1929 Model A! I took and passed my driver’s test in Anderson, S. C., in a friend’s ’29 “A-knocker” in 1949. My license was a brass plate with name and address and a hole for a chain or fob. It was Number 692674. I still have it. My dad later owned a ’30 Model A pickup that took us on many a fishing trip to Chauga (“Chauggy”) River just after WW II.
The only straight shift I ever had was a 1992 Ford Ranger. It was a beautiful green color that was almost teal and not quite emerald, but somewhere in between. I LOVED that truck! What a sweet daddy to not “kick” you when you were already feeling down. Glad neither of you were hurt except for a little pride maybe.
My husband and I both grew up driving stick shift vehicles and we had at least one in our household during the time our 4 older kids were learning to drive. I’m so glad they learned how to manage that type of vehicle even though they hated it at the time. Our youngest didn’t get that opportunity since there’s 10 year gap between our 2 youngest kids. But when she was dating her now husband, he had a stick shift truck and he taught her how to drive one!
I learned a straight shift in my dad’s 1965 Ford Econoline van he used for his plumbing repair business.
praise God for the love and understanding Pap had, what a man! glad you survived,
Beanie’s dad Luther had a WW2 era surplus Jeep that was geared so low that he would often show it off by putting it in 1st, getting out and walking along beside it. That thing didn’t need a road, it made its own.
Sounds almost like a “granny gear”–first gear on a 5-speed work truck. I had a granny gear on a school bus I drove during my senior year in high school. Didn’t use it much.
That reminds me of the old Land Rover in the movie, The Gods Must Be Crazy.
My first car was a stick shift. We kids called them stick shift or in my case 4 on the floor. other adults called them standard. I loved that car, even now would prefer a stick.
I may be good at some things (depending on who you ask, that is) and let me be the FIRST to comment I cannot drive a manual transmission and never have been able to do that. Once the cops pulled a few of us gals over and of course my friend had a ticket and she couldn’t drive off. The fuzz said for me to drive and of course I said “ok” -knowing I was full of it, but once he left the window and drove off, there we went with me driving and her talking and changing gears… we got home laughing and getting jerked the whole way. I know I wasn’t lying, but EMBELLISHING my accomplishments… Also, I absolutely HATE to drive myself beyond the grocery store about 4 miles away. Everybody who really knows that always says “well, let’s go, MISS DAISY” cause they know I’m not driving before they even ask. I must say to you movers and shakers GOOD FOR YOU AND THATS AMAZING! Btw, sooo glad you didn’t get hurt wrecking off a bridge and yes indeed you could’ve been badly hurt or worse! Thank God for all the times he’s watched over us huh???? What a friend we have in Jesus!
My dad wouldn’t let me get my license until I could drive a stick shift. He just told me to get in and follow his truck and I said how? His answer was you’ll figure it out. By the time we got to his destination 20 miles away I was proficient. I had killed the 1955 chevy 2 times while taking off in first gear. I got angry with myself so I tried harder to do it right. He also wouldn’t let me drove until I could change a flat tire. Thank you and bless you Dad.
I taught myself to drive in a 1951 GMC pickup. I never drove an automatic until I met my wife in the mid 1970s. I learned quick on hers. Except for a few stomps on a nonexistent pedal it went flawlessly.
I bought a 1980 Ford Explorer pickup in the mid 90s that was a manual and a 300 straight 6 cylinder. I never learned to drive it. It was a long bed and had no power brakes, no power steering, no power anything. I had begun having joint problems by then already and it hurt me to drive it so eventually I had to park it.
I bought a new 1986 Ford F-150 300 cubic inch straight 6 cylinder engine with the 4 speed manual transmission, 4th gear was overdrive, and drove it for 15 years. The 300 engine was bullet proof. I had to trade this truck for a 97 F150 with an automatic transmission that I own and still drive. It has around 300,000 miles on it, the odometer broke 12 years ago at 235,000 miles. I didn’t trade until my left knee got so bad I couldn’t use a clutch. I would grab my pants leg with my left hand and help my left leg with the clutch before giving in to trading. Like you, after trading I stomped the floor out with my left leg searching for the clutch pedal. I knew a man that drove a 55 hotrod Chevy with a 4 speed transmission. He had an artificial pincher hook right arm. He lost his arm working a summer job at a sawmill when he was 18 years old.
I learned to drive by using my dad’s stick shift on the column pickup truck. My first car was a Mercury Comet with an automatic transmission and vinyl seats. My next get up and goer was a Datsun with a stick shift on the floor. I drove that automobile all through college, was married, and had a child. After many years it succumbed to the junk yard. She was great transportation. Since her demise I have driven automatic’s. I admit I am nostalgic about the vehicle I gained my driving skills on.
I teared up when I read how kind your father was when you wrecked your vehicle. Your dad demonstrated love and wisdom. No wonder you have such wonderful memories of Pap.
I learned how to drive a stick shift one summer when my dad made me drive the tractor all over the field pulling a wagon…starting and stopping…starting and stopping…while he and a couple others picked up bales of hay and loaded them. After that, when I tried to drive a stick shift truck, I just knew how. I only used to get a tiny bit nervous when driving over this bridge coming home from town. There was a stoplight at the top and the incline was pretty steep. It always seemed like people drove right up on your back bumper when you got stuck at that light and I worried that they were too close in case I drifted back just a little. I do still like to drive a stick shift occasionally just to make sure I still can.
When I was sixteen my father bought me a car, a 1971 Mustang. He said it was a “manual.” He said, “If you don’t learn now, you never will,” meaning to drive a stick shifter. Back in those days, hot rods were at their finest, and I wanted a fast car. This was a three-speed slow car, but it taught me to use a manual shift, and my father took me first to parking lots and then country roads to learn. He was a good and patient teacher, and by the time I was allowed to drive by myself, I loved that slow little car more than I can say. My friends were impressed that I had a stick shift and could drive it, especially the boys! I never had an automatic transmission until my mid-30’s and, to this day, I don’t like them.
When I was in high school at Pisgah High in Canton I drove my dad’s 53 Chevy pick up truck . It had a starter in the floor and a stick shift. I was dating a cute little red head at the time and taught her to shift gears. I would work the clutch and she would change gears. That’s back in the days when your steady would sit next to you on the old bench seat. No bucket seats or console. Those were the days. I miss that old beat up truck!
I remember when the old trucks had the starter in floor and all cars and trucks had the headlight dimmer switch in the floor. Working a clutch and trying to dim the lights at the same time could be a problem. I got into trouble letting a cute girl shift the gears on my school bus while I worked the clutch pedal.
I can relate to your entire conversation…those WERE the days and the people that were part of THOSE Days. I learned to drive with and 1953 one-ton pickup with 5 years and late on I have driven and tractor with 10 gears. Those tractors could and would be shifted without using a clutch, now that is a trick everyone should try. God Bless.
Of all the cars and trucks I’ve ever owned, I’ve always loved my stick shifts the best. Teaching others how to drive one is not my strong suit.
I love your story about your Pap. Sounds an awful lot like my Daddy as well. I once apologized to him for all the bad stuff I’d done growing up. His simple but powerful response…”I’m not sure what you’re talking about”.
Your Pap was so sweet!
I learned to drive cars when I was about 13 years old on a 58 Chevy with a manual three on the tree transmission. When I was 15 I took the highway department driving test driving a 63 Falcon with a three on the tree manual transmission.. I had been driving a tractor for many years before I started driving a car so learning to use a clutch pedal was not a problem. At 16 years old I begin to drive a school bus with a Granny four speed manual transmission and manual steering. It was not unusual for country children to begin driving cars or trucks around the a farm or on the back roads before the legal age. Driving depended more on when you could reach the clutch pedal. I loved driving a manual transmission and would still have a manual transmission in my pickup truck if not for my bad knees. Now manual transmissions are fast becoming a thing of the past even in the large trucks.
Some descriptions of manual transmissions when I was a teenager:
Three on the tree- 3 speed transmission with the gear stick/shifter on steering column
Granny 4 speed- 4 speed floor gear stick with a very low geared 1st gear most often used in heavier larger trucks, buses, etc if not heavy loaded would start off in 2nd gear
4 speed floor stick in the faster Sports cars, such as Mustangs, Chevelles, teenage boys like to joke and say with a fifth under the seat, the fifth referred to was not a gear.