In a message dated 8/17/02 5:22:58 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
guy@weller-lakes.freeserve.co.uk writes:
> After 35 years driving "normal" stick shift cars I finally drove an
> automatic for the first time last week. It was really difficult!!
> Whenever I approached stop lights I kept hitting the brake pedal to
> the floor, thinking I was depressing a clutch. Nearly put me through
> the windscreen and caused real confusion in the traffic behind!
> Guess you can't teach an old cat new tricks!
>
> Find it funny to think how all USA teenagers just get in and drive
> these things, but cannot get the hang of a "proper" gearshift!!
Sadly, it's not just teens in America who can't drive sticks -- it's all
sorts of folks, including (it seems to me, anyway) lots of women under age 50
or thereabouts -- they've just always had automatics! Statistics I recall
seeing were that in 1996, only 14% of cars sold in the US had manual
transmissions. By 2000, it had dropped to 8%. Even the modern sports cars
sold here are more likely to come with automatics, including the vast
majority of BMWs and I'd guess far more than 50% of Corvettes. Virtually
everyone I know who in the last five years has tried to buy a brand new car
with a manual transmission has had to wait until the dealership could find
one so equipped -- they're getting more rare every year.
I fear knowledge of manual transmissions is rapidly becoming a lost art in
the states.
Which reminds me of a ride I took with my nine-year-old nephew a few years
ago, when I still had my 71 Midget. The single thing he found most
fascinating about the car -- his first ride in any
2-seater/convertible/non-family sedan or minivan -- was the crank on the door
panel for the windows! He had NEVER SEEN MANUAL WINDOWS BEFORE!
I recalled that when I was about 9, my grandfather bought a car with power
windows. They were the first power windows I'd ever used and I just played
with the switch the entire time we were in the car -- up, down, up, down -- I
was just fascinated! My nephew did the same thing with the crank windows --
he just thought it was the coolest thing he'd ever seen!
I suppose there are folks around who, at some point in their lives, had to
get used to the idea that you didn't have to hand crank the engine to get it
to start, too, but I never thought I'd feel so old at 34!
Chris Eck
59 Bugeye
/// unsubscribe/change address requests to majordomo@autox.team.net or try
/// http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive/spridgets
|