I was a 3rd year med student and bought an acura integra. Salesman taught me the basics on the lot when I went to pick up the car. I still remember him telling me that I could go from 70-0 with one downshift. Took me a looong time to get home that day. Amazing that the car lasted for over 250K miles.

 

Off topic....but my dad (born 1908) lived part of his life in a small town in PA at the bottom of a moutain road.

At that time, the lining of most auto & truck brakes was canvas. He said you could always tell who was riding his brakes coming down the mountain because all 4 wheels would be on fire when he rolled into town -- at high speed 'cause now he had no brakes. This was even more interesting when you consider that most of the wheels of that era had wooden spokes.

 

At 18, I fell in love with the idea of small, convertible sports cars. Since they were only available with manuals, I decided on buying a '64 TR-4A IRS, taught myself and had a wonderful time "rowing" thru those gears!

Definately lit the fire for buying sports cars only with a manual trans.

Had some great memories with that car.

 

In a WWII era Land Rover on my Uncle's farm in Kent, England. Took 2 hands to move the stick, quite an experience!

 

I learned on my grandfather's 1955 Farmall Cub tractor. He used to stand behind me on the tow bar and push the pedals with his hands. Then, when I was old enough to reach the pedals, he just jumped off one day while we were mowing one of the trails. With that tractor, you had to delicately slip the clutch to get the mower spinning and the tractor rolling at the same time. If you went too aggressively, the mower would clunk and bang and get all unbalanced. I also learned how to back a trailer with that tractor.

Later on, I would always volunteer to help move cars in the driveway so I could drive my dad's 1985 Mustang GT, which eventually became my hand-me-down car in high school. The first time I drove it in the rain, I was 16 with a learner's permit. I wanted to imitate my dad and get it sideways at an intersection, so I got on it in first. It came around so fast, I just instinctively got off the gas and cranked the wheel to opposite lock and saved us from facing the wrong direction. Afterwards, there was silence as I tried to act like my heart wasn't coming out of my chest. Finally, my dad said "Well, your instincts are good - I guess you won't kill yourself!" I didn't... but I went through a set of rear tires pretty quickly!

 

I was 21 when I went to a Nissan dealer and bought a new 1986 Nissan 200SX. The salesman took me on test drive and showed me the basics. I bought the car the same day and drove it home. Took me 1/2 hour just to get out of the dealer's parking lot

The next day I drove to Baltimore, MD (from Rockville, MD) to take my brother to lunch. We had a blast on the hills

 

1987, when I was 15 (lived overseas), I learned on a late 70's Peugot 404 built in West Africa (French car in an English colony) . I think it had 60hp, a 4 speed gear box where the reverse required "down, in, and over" and the drivers seat was on the right and directional and wiper stalks were reversed. When I came back to the US for college, I grinded the gears off my Mom's Miata while accidentally high-beamed people in the rain and missing all sorts of shifts...

 

I was 17 and learned on my Dad's '91-ish Nissan Stanza, so the car was about 7 years old. Went to an empty parking lot of a nearby school on the weekend. Broke the axle after maybe an hour of driving. After it was fixed we went back to the same lot, even though my Dad said it wasn't my fault it broke I was scared I would break it again. Got it under control that day and have had a manual ever since.

 

Like Henry, I learned on a Triumph TR4. My father let slip at dinner that a colleague of his was moving to NY and had a TR4 for sale at $300. Red, with wire wheels, tonneau cover. I was 14, and had more than enough in the bank, so begged him to allow me to buy it. My father being a car nut (he had as many as 9 cars at once, including vintage MG and two 1950 Mercedes), the car was mine the next day. We lived on a shared private road about 1/3 of a mile long, with a dozen houses. My dad got me started there, showing me how to slip the clutch and work the gears. By the time I got my license at 16, the neighbors had installed six speed bumps along our private road.

 

I learned on a Dodge D100 pickup with 3 on the tree and a 318 engine, but I didn't get really good until I learned to drive my father in laws Mack 10 wheel dump truck with a Quad box in NY traffic.

 

17 or so. High school friend had a BMW 2002. Easy as heck to drive. Strangely enough, tried to drive my other friend's Honda Accord a few months later and couldn't get the damn thing out of the parking lot

 

1978 Subaru delivery wagon from American Office Products in downtown Santa Monica when I was 16. I'd previously had a total of 10 minutes behind the wheel of a manual transmission VW Rabbit in driver's ed. When asked the question, "can you drive a stick kid?" I didn't flinch and said "sure."

After loading the wagon up with office supplies to be delivered to businesses around Santa Monica, I gave it a bunch of gas to get out of the parking lot and spent the next 4 hours delivering office products and learning how to drive a stick. Oh, and using up about 20k miles on the clutch in those 4 hours. Damned if Subarus aren't tough though!

In the 28 years since then, I've owned one car that had an automatic, tried to drive it for six months, hated it, sold it, and never looked back.

 

Even though I learned to drive stick many years ago, it took me a while longer after that to master the art of manual transmissions.


Many fantastic stories!

...keep em coming, Ive enjoyed every one.

 

I first learned when I was about 12 years old on a friend's Honda MR50 (mini) motorcyle. I then got my own Yamaha GT80 (mini) motorcyle. I sold that bike when I was 16 and didn't drive a manual anything unitil I bought my first Mazda RX-7 in 1985 when I was 20. At the time there were "premiums" on RX-7's and finding one that you didn't pay OVER sticker price for was nearly impossible. Finally, I found a Mazda dealer about 75 miles away from where I lived who was willing to sell me the car at list price. I got in the car and simply "translated" what I knew from bikes into learning how to drive a car with a manual. I made it home without any issues. Most of the ride was on the Garden State Parkway (in NJ) which is not an easy road to be on in a brand new car. They drive like maniacs on this road. This was late summer when there was still a lot of shore traffic (and this was l-o-n-g before "Snookie" her crew made the Jersey shore famous - LOL!) After less than a week I was really comfortable with the car. This is also why heel/toe downshifting came relatively easy to me because I always blipped the throttle on a bike when downshifting. It was just a matter of learning to do it with my right foot instead of my right hand.

 

Learned how to drive a clutch at around 13 on Yamaha 80 dirtbike, and Honda 125, before eventually winding up on Suzuki GPZ1100 and then, rationally 1987 Harley davidson low rider and a host of other Harleys.....................

After learning clutch operation and balance and hills/turns on a motorcycle, 4 wheels was a simple feat!!!