Stick Shift car

In My Humble Opinion
21

Interestingly, I learned how to drive a car and how to operate a manual transmission (because all of my parents’ cars were stick shift vehicles) in the Lake County area of Illinois. Unfortunately for the OP, that was over 30 years ago, and I moved away long ago, so I can’t help him now.

To be honest, though, good luck finding anyone who will let you learn how to drive a manual transmission using their vehicle. Stick shift newbies are notoriously hard on clutches and transmissions.

Case in point: when I was in high school, our mechanic said that my old Volkswagen Rabbit was going to need a new clutch within the next six months to a year, as it was starting to slip. Shortly thereafter, my stepfather’s sister came to visit for a week, and she was given my car to use. Though she said she could drive a stick shift, I was dubious. :dubious: The day after she left, the car had to go into the shop to have the clutch replaced. :rolleyes:

For the same reason, it’s also unusual to find manual transmission rental cars (at least here in the U.S.).

The OP’s best bet is to find a driving school that will teach you how to drive a stick shift. The driving school that taught my son how to drive here in Connecticut offers this as an option.

22

As suggested already, if OP has a friend or relative with a stickmobile who is willing to teach him, that’s your best bet; other than a professional driving school.

That’s how I learned. Shortly after I got my license at the age of 17 or so, my Big Brother dropped by one Saturday afternoon with his Datsun stick-shift pick-up truck, and announced that it was time for me to learn to drive a stick. We found some office building with a big empty parking lot and drove around and around that for a few hours.

At some point, he showed me how to stop on a hill and then start up again without rolling back. His method was to use the hand brake to keep from rolling back.

Fast forward 30 years: In another city far far away, I went to my niece’s wedding (daughter of my other Big Brother). Other niece (daughter of Big Brother who taught me to drive a stick) was there too. Wedding was held in a very hilly area, and niece happened to park in a ditch. I was with her when she tried to back out, using the clutch and accelerator but not the hand brake. So I taught her how to use the hand brake, just as her father had taught me 30 years earlier.