I had a couple of trucks that had the old 3 on the tree too. Buddy's would watch me shift those and it was like I was deciphering hieroglyphics...one tried to drive it and just kept going from 2nd to 3rd :lol2:

I learned on "three on the tree" too doing landscaping with a friend of the family. My first new car when I was 17 was a stick and I drove it for 9 years. The last few with that car, I lived and worked in Philly, and after going through a couple of clutches in daily stop and go traffic, my next car was an automatic and I'll never own another stick. It's been almost 20 years since I've driven a stick, so I'm not sure I could even drive one if I wanted to. I did have a Hyundai a few years ago that had a transmission that you could manually override and sort of drive as a stick. I though it would be really cool, but in reality, after trying to drive it that way a few times, I realized that it sucked. It was sometimes useful on the highway when you needed a little pickup in passing, but I never used it all that much.

 

Maybe one day if I lived out in the country and had a sports car, I'd consider owning a manual transmission. But as long as I'm living near and working in a large city, no way will I ever own manual transmission as a primary vehicle.

Toughest thing I've driven was a full sized Fire Engine with a stick, it wasn't hard to drive but shifting while taking a fire truck through a slalom course isn't really that much fun either.

 

Took my 5 Speed Mustang through that same course and had a ball, but fire truck not so much.

I've never driven one before.

Yes. Most of the vehicles I've owned have been stick shift, including my current truck.

I have paddle shifters on my car. Does that count?

Yes. My current car is a six speed. I enjoy it and believe it keeps me more focused on the drive.

I can drive anything with wheels .

Absolutely. I started on an old Chevy pickup with the "3 on the tree" at 8 years old on the farm...yes, 8...and have never looked back. Of the 4 vehicles in my driveway, 2 are 5 speed manuals (both mine) and one is a 6 speed manual (girlfriends car, and I taught her to drive a stick). The odd car out is my girlfriends daughters car, she has no want to learn to drive a stick, though I keep trying to get here to. There hasn't been much of a time...maybe a 3-4 year window when I got out of the service and started college, that I didn't have a vehicle with a stick.

Growing up all we had were stick shift on the floor didn't drive my first automatic till I was in drivers ed class in HS.

I learned to drive in a car with a "3 on the tree". I currently drive a stick. Every car I have ever bought except 1 had a stick and I hated that car.

 

Shifting is second nature to me when I'm driving so much so that on the occasions that I drive an automatic I have to remind myself not to use the clutch. Stomping on a brake pedal like a clutch is not a good thing.

The only reason I don't have one right now is that my wife cannot drive one. I tried teaching her multiple times, but she could never grasp it.

Very first car was one and have had a few since then, although, the car value isn't as high with a stick.

I would be interested in how many have driven a straight shift 3-speed with a column shifter? I first learned to clutch and shift on an old car we used on the golf course I worked at to haul things around. This helped me when I bought a 4-in-the-floor import years later. Also, I had a motorcycle so I was used to clutching and shifting 6 speeds.

 

However, it was quite an adventure when I first rented a car in Ireland...a compact car where one sits on the right and has to shift with your left hand. Not only do you have to shift with the left, driving on the left is quite a change. People in Dublin were very tolerant when I drove onto a bridge over the river Liffey going the wrong way. The thing is driving on the left is not so hard, but getting the signs right and into the correct lane when making a turn is a lot harder than one would think.

Started on used Corolla GTS 5 speed in college. Graduated to a Celica GTS 5-speed out of college. No cup holders, no cell phones - just pure driving.