Yep. Except it was a 1964 Ford F-100 and it belonged to the summer camp where I was a CIT (Counselor-in-training, actually free labor.)
The first car I bought with my own money was a 1967 Mustang that had a 3-speed “H” pattern floor shift.
Indeed. My first vehicle was a `66 Ford pickup (F100, I believe). It had 3 on the tree. Back then (I’m old), many cars had manual trannys, so mastering a clutch was just par for the course. And agree that my first VW threw me a curve w/ that clandestine position for selecting reverse. Also wanted to mention that I have a '62 Bel-Air and a '63 Futura and both of them are automatics… but only 2 speeds.
We had a sturdy '58 F100 with three-on-the-tree that the previous owners had pulled the bolt-on-OD out of before we got it. I always wondered if the OD would have matched to second, to make it a nominal 5-speed.
It was actually to the left and down. I found it easier to think of it as down-left-back. And there was a (somewhat confusing) diagram on the original shift knob, which was hard to see if the paint had worn off–and if it wasn’t new it probably had.
My current restoration project is a '48 Chevy with 3 on the tree. So definitely.
No turn signals or seat belts though.
And 4 wheel drum brakes.
My first car was a Plymouth Valiant, which I bought as junk for $1 and repaired myself to running condition. It was a column manual shift.
I still remember: pull in and down for 1st. Pull in and up for Reverse. Second gear was up without pulling in; third gear was down without pulling in.
Yes.
Sure, it may have been the first vehicle I ever drove. We had an old yellow late 50’s van of the style popular for small schools (Apache?) that we used to transport a dozen kids or so at summer camp. We used to take it out to the fields and back up into cedar stumps to knock them over for firewood.
That’s the car I took my driver’s license test in (1974).
My dad insisted that we all learn and take the driving test on a manual transmission. That Dart went through a LOT of abuse at the hands (and feet) of us kids. We got VERY good at locating used clutches and pressure plates at the local salvage yards.
I started out shifting with a pickup truck with three on the column, and my first car had a column shift, too. That was pretty routine in the early 70s.
I agree – it’s unlikely.
I’ve never driven a manual with the shifter on the tree – all of the ones I’ve driven had a floor-mounted shifter, even the pickup trucks.
30 years ago, it was pretty common for inexpensive cars in the U.S. to come with a manual transmission as standard equipment (for cost savings as well as better mileage). When my wife (who was, at that point, my girlfriend) bought a new Hyundai Sonata in 1990 (at the time when Hyundais were still low-priced, and of questionable quality), it came with a manual transmission.
Today, you can still find a manual on some low-price cars (see Lsura’s comment about the brand-new Yaris), though I would not be surprised if that’s primarily found on imports, and less so on American badges.
As long as we have a performance-car market in the U.S., the stick won’t completely vanish (when I bought my Mustang in 2011, I insisted on a stick), but relatively few people I know (especially my friends who are younger than me) could even figure out how to drive my car.
I didn’t get a stick this time but one of the benefits of having one is that very people I know could ask to borrow my truck.
A WAG: Any car in North America with a manual transmission probably is less susceptible to theft, especially with a sign propped up behind the windshield saying Stick Shift in at least four languages.
Learned to steer left handed while Dad shot from the driver seat while moving.
Drove my first time in traffic ( Friday at 5 PM on a busy 2 lane street with parking on the sides. ) in a 1952 Buick danyaflush ( 2 speed ) … He yelled at other drivers a lot that day.
Then the open road work was in an 1956 Pontiac with 3 on the tree. ( I later bought this car as my first in 1959. ( worked & saved for years to have enough to get a ‘good’ car. )
Then I bought a horse which I would ride to school in good weather in my senior year in Tulsa. Bawahahaha
I learned to drive stick in a AMC Jaguar with a column shifter - don’t know the year (somewhere between 69-72, I’d guess).
Part of driving it was knowing where to reach in the engine compartment to unjam the shifter.
Part of being a passenger in it was the ablility to climb through a window, as the passenger door was broken. My mom thought it was hoot to climb in and out through the window when she had one of her kids drive her somewhere.
Jaguar is a British marque, do you mean Javelin?
I remember driving a friend’s car back in the 70’s. It was a Chevy, can’t remember which model. Had a three-speed on the steering column (or was it a four? I can’t remember). My own car back then was a '68 VW beetle, so I was no stranger to the manual transmission.
My current car is a VW passat, with a five-speed manual.
I had one of those! A 1968 VW Beetle. That was a great little car. Seriously underpowered, though – even a moderate hill required downshifting to third. A steep grade would sometimes require second, especially if you had a couple of passengers.
The first car my family owned was a '41 DeSoto semi-automatic. That had a three-speed column shift, but you didn’t have to use it. You could just leave it in third and stop and start up. You did have to clutch to shift into reverse. When I took my driving test in 1954, you could take the test in an automatic, but then you got a restricted license (at least in Pennsylvania). I didn’t want that, so I just used the clutch and the cop never noticed the semi-automatic. If you stalled the car, you automatically failed the test, but the semi-automatic was impossible to stall from misuse of the clutch. At one point, there was a slalom course you had to take in third, and I entered it in second. The cop told me I had to be in third, so I shifted to third without speeding up. So I passed.
I drove stick shifts until 2007. By then I was 70 and nearly every intersection in this 'burb is a 4-way stop. It is just too annoying with a stick and the car I bought then was an automatic. I still like a stick, but the stop signs just make it too much work. My kids all learned–at my insistence–to drive sticks (but I haven’t seen a column shifter in a long time). Officially the province recommends starting with an automatic. I wonder when Pennsylvania officially dropped the restricted license.
Had a '68 Chevy pickup with 3 on the tree. Bought it used, after a month or 2 I lost first gear. Lived up in the hills at the time, it was always a driving adventure.