The Ford Barn - View Single Post - Who still uses a 'stick shift' in their modern vehicle ?

armchair67 · 03-15-2016, 08:09 AM

Wow there ARE a lot of us with both Model A's and air cooled VWs. my 31 Model A is a stick of course and I have owned a lot of old VWs over the years and still do. The Cadillac CTS-V I owned previous to my Model A was a manual also (6 speed). My current fleet includes:

1931 Model A (manual)
1967 VW Beetle sunroof (Manual-BERG 5 speed with Quaife diff)
1970 VW Fastback (automatic)
2015 VW GTI (manual)
I also have a 1973 VW that I am slowly building, manual also.

As the owner of a plumbing service business, we also have two manual VW panel Buses (73, 78) as well as an automatic (74) in addition to our modern vehicles, which are automatic cause that is all that is offered (99 Chevy Astro, 04 Ford E series, 04 Dodge Sprinter, 2014 and 15 Ram Promasters, 14 Ram C/V)

I used to shift for my parents who both owned manuals when I was a kid (68 and 73 Beetles, 74 Subaru, 80 Toyota, and a 51 MGTD and 69 Jag E Type my dad had back then and still owns). That was in the early-mid 80s. Now my 9 year old stepdaughter shifts for me, as she has since she was about 6. I think it is pretty neat that she knows the different shift patterns for these cars, and that on the Model A you have to take it a little slower as I double clutch. She is also pretty good at judging when to shift by the engine sound which is pretty different across each car. She started out in my 1990 Mexican made Bug which was my daily for many years-sold it last year. My A was my daily for 15 months so she got a lot of crashbox experience!

03-15-2016, 08:09 AM	#80
armchair67 Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Chicago, IL USA Posts: 115	Re: Who still uses a 'stick shift' in their modern vehicle ? Wow there ARE a lot of us with both Model A's and air cooled VWs. my 31 Model A is a stick of course and I have owned a lot of old VWs over the years and still do. The Cadillac CTS-V I owned previous to my Model A was a manual also (6 speed). My current fleet includes: 1931 Model A (manual) 1967 VW Beetle sunroof (Manual-BERG 5 speed with Quaife diff) 1970 VW Fastback (automatic) 2015 VW GTI (manual) I also have a 1973 VW that I am slowly building, manual also. As the owner of a plumbing service business, we also have two manual VW panel Buses (73, 78) as well as an automatic (74) in addition to our modern vehicles, which are automatic cause that is all that is offered (99 Chevy Astro, 04 Ford E series, 04 Dodge Sprinter, 2014 and 15 Ram Promasters, 14 Ram C/V) I used to shift for my parents who both owned manuals when I was a kid (68 and 73 Beetles, 74 Subaru, 80 Toyota, and a 51 MGTD and 69 Jag E Type my dad had back then and still owns). That was in the early-mid 80s. Now my 9 year old stepdaughter shifts for me, as she has since she was about 6. I think it is pretty neat that she knows the different shift patterns for these cars, and that on the Model A you have to take it a little slower as I double clutch. She is also pretty good at judging when to shift by the engine sound which is pretty different across each car. She started out in my 1990 Mexican made Bug which was my daily for many years-sold it last year. My A was my daily for 15 months so she got a lot of crashbox experience!