Donny Brass

threw the keys to my 15 year old son, after he was telling all his friends how he was going to show the old man how it is done in the Vette at the drag strip.............

about the 10th time he stalled the car, he looks over and says "You know Dad, you make this look easy."

4 years later and he drives very well, he's gone 12.66 @ 109 in the car, and he has built his own 2006 GTO with a LS2 and a 6 speed manual............

I tell him all the time "Son, you passed the DNA test."

Railroadman

I learned how to drive in a '64 Chevy impala, but learned to drive a stick on my 3-speed '59 Vette. Bought the car without knowing how to drive standard but I figured it out (with a little help from my mother)

TexVette66

My son learned to drive a riding lawn mover at about 8 years, drove tractors, backhoes, dump trucks ,all kinds of construction equipment until he joined the Army, in Iraq, sarge asked if he could drive a 18 wheeler to del. some bottled water to some solders , he said he could drive anything with wheels, but did not have a army license, sarge said that was all right, they were going to steal the truck anyway! So when he returned I figured he had earned the right to drive the 66

RatDog

I've taught several family members how to drive a stick, except for my son who has no interest in learning. My only failure was my mother. I took her out to learn how to drive my '63 Pontiac Tempest with 3 speed on the floor. We went to an open area with no traffic around. She got behind the wheel and put her foot on the clutch. Then her left leg started shaking badly from her nervousness. So we got out of the car and walked around a bit until her leg calmed down. Tried again and no luck. Eventually, we just gave up.

I'm glad my wife knows how to drive a stick. She had a VW when I met her so she aleady knew how. It's made things much easier when buying cars over the past 46 years of marriage. However, right after we got married, I had to sell my '69 Ford Torino GT 4-speed because she couldn't reach the clutch. When I started looking for a C6 for her, I asked her if she wanted a 6-speed or a paddle shift. Without hesitation, she said she wanted the stick.

Steve

corvetteed

I taught my sons how to drive on a '98 Cobra Mustang and an '03 GT Mustang (that was a long time ago). I taught them the hard, but proven successful way: They had to learn to pull away from a dead stop (on a flat open space with no traffic) using no gas - no foot on the gas pedal. With the engine idling you just let out the clutch until the car pulls away at idle. It teaches you the clutch take-up points independent of laying on power. After that, using the gas pedal in conjunction with the clutch is easy peasy. If you learn that way, you will never ever have a problem using a clutch.[/QUOTE]

I noticed that when I would hitch-hike home from school, that the driver's would do what you're pointing out, and when I bought my first car in my senior year in high school, a three on the tree, and I'd never driven a stick before, it didn't matter; I just got in the very first time, let out the clutch easy peasy and drove away. No lessons, no problems.

ricott

Both my sons learned how to drive a stick in my 69 corvette big block convertible. You absolutely could not stall the car out even when they would dump the clutch. They both graduated to a S-10 square body 5 speed for a time - that truck took a lot more finesse to get going! While the oldest has mostly stuck to automatics, my second son prefers a six speed manual.

GUSTO14

I used the same technique...

When our son was taking Driver's Training in High School, I started looking for a small "pickup" for him to drive. I finally found a low mileage, 4-cylinder Tacoma with a 5-speed. (Driver's Training only used automatics.) I brought it home and showed it to him and his first response was, "I don't want this, I want a Mustang..." I calmly told him, it was either this or riding the bus! A few months later when he got his real license, he came to me and asked if maybe I could show him how to use the clutch.

After multiple starts and STOPS, chattering of clutch and rev'ing of the gas, I said, "you know this thing can take off without touching the gas if you release the clutch smoothly." On the 2nd or 3rd try he got it right and gave me a big grin! In no time at all he was using the gas and doing it almost like a pro.

He drove it for 2 years in HS and 4 years in college. At that point I reminded him it was my truck and now that he had graduated from college I wanted it back, ...or he could buy it from me. He said, "well I guess I should buy it then." 12 years later and he's still driving it. That and his 2006 ZO-6...

I've successfully used the same technique to teach a few of our nieces and nephew's since then how to drive a stick!

Good luck... GUSTO

darrahc

My son turned 16 and I have been teaching him to drive a stick on my Mazda CX5. After seeing what he's been doing to it with the over reving, gear grinding and clutch dumping, I'm not sure the Corvette would have made it.


I told him that once he gets the hang of it we'll go out in the Corvette so he can see what a 51 year old car is like to drive.

61ratvette

might as well get in here. learned and car is still in possession and on road today.. 1953 ford mercury. 3 in the tree. flat head 8. daughter at 15 with leaners permit asked when she can learn to drive a standard. (the 61 vette) I told her in spring when snow all gone u can try the merc. she said no dad the vette. I hope one of her friends has a standard.

Railroadman

Since we're on the subject - a funny one about my son. He learned on at automatic but had driven race karts and microsprints so he was at home behind the wheel. He wanted to learn stick so we went out in my 4-cyl 5-speed Ford Ranger. Went out in the country, tried it the first time, and while it was a little rough it didn't stall. Repeated that for about 20 minutes and never stalled it once, he had it down pat and was smooth.

Headed home, came to s stop sign and stopped. A cop car turned from the cross road going in the direction we came from, and as it passed, it was a cute young female deputy who gave him a smile as she went by.

He then stalled the truck!

63Corvette

Start-em young
daughter

grandson

Frankie the Fink

Really ? an Opel GT ?

Prob the only car with a more complicated headlight system than a Corvette...

Kerrmudgeon

I used to steal my big brother's friend's 51 Chevy, 3 in the tree....while they were in the pool. I'd have a bumpy start or two then take it around the neighbourhood for a short trip. Learned how to shift that way at 13.
I wonder how many kids would even know what a '3 in the tree' is these days?

63 340HP

Both of my kids learned to ride motorcycles to understand the clutch action. They also practiced the clutch on my father's tractors (a modern John Deer and a 1936 CleaTrac crawler). Learning to feel the driveline take up slack is probably easiest in the crawler, as the weight and tracks take a lot of effort to get moving. The hand throttle and top gear leave little else but clutch feel to work with to learn how to not stall on takeoff.

They have both practiced the stick in my 63, but the lightweight flywheel proved to be a challenge. My son can do the idle atart, but watching his clutch-drop wheelies on his 80cc motorcycle he is not driving the corvette alone for a while.

Driving is the easy part, the road rules and defensive attitude is more difficult to coach. Becoming aware, while processing the rules, remains a challenge. They have more road experience to gain in other cars before practicing in the corvette.

mcb55-210

My 22 year old daughter and I have irregularly scheduled date nights-only a few a year, but just a night for the two of us to hang out and talk. Last summer one night I picked her up in the Corvette and drove to a drive-in burger joint about 15 miles away. Asking what she wanted to do after supper, she surprisingly stated she wanted to try driving the Vette. We drove to our church on the outside of town, for it has a large paved parking lot....with one light pole in the center of the lot.

She got behind the wheel, and although she has been with me thousands of times through the years observing me driving a stick, she had never attempted driving one herself. I would guess it took better than 30 attempts before she managed to make it twenty feet before killing it for the last time, but I told her it was probably due to the fact I have 3:08 gears in the rear end. She was able to avoid the pole, she didn't burn out the clutch, and we had a memorable date night I will treasure forever.

Maybe I will throw the 3:70's in this year and let her try again.

Mike

GTOguy

The same amount who know who Gus Wilson was and know what hand signals mean!

Frankie the Fink

Or engaging the starter motor by pressing the accelerator to the floor...

jimh_1962

Now here is something timely... Last week, my son was in class when his teacher asked the class "who knows what a manual transmission is and who has driven one?". My son was the only one who raised his hand.

The teacher just shook his head.

Only one student in 30 or so students have driven a manual. Who knows what the actual number was for the rest of the high school.

Railroadman

How times have changed! "Back then" an automatic was very un-cool. It was better than no car at all, but was considered sort of sissy.

William Buckley

Tried to teach my first wife to drive the '66 four speed, and she nearly ruined the clutch and transmission. Regret that I sold it shortly after that bizarre experience. Bought a restored '66 recently, and have no wife now to tear this one up.