Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001 Posted March 6 Posted March 6 I think , I will have a beer MAYBE 6 1 2 Quote
Texas Lizard Posted March 6 Posted March 6 5 minutes ago, Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001 said: I think , I will have a beer MAYBE 6 I will join you after that... Texas Lizard 1 1 Quote
Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 Posted March 6 Posted March 6 ........... and that's why your automatic is more likely to get stolen .......... 😉 2 2 Quote
Subdeacon Joe Posted March 6 Author Posted March 6 Rapid fire like that makes it sound mych more complicated than it really is. Just like some receipts that seem to be really complex at first glance are fairly simple once you read them through and think about them for a minute. 2 Quote
Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103 Posted March 9 Posted March 9 When a tall boy is first learning to drive, all this has to go through the thinking forebrain. Every bit of it. Every wheel adjustment, turn signal, clutch, brake, throttle, choke, shifter, look, listen, shift, it has to go through the thinking forebrain. I did not learn until years later that the brain will handle only so much critical high stress information in the thinking forward section. Until it becomes a patterned response, until it descends into muscle memory, until the nerve pathways are developed enough they run without the thinking forebrain's giving each individual command, action and degree, it is close to an impossible task. Add the stress of learning to drive when dear old Dad puts you behind the wheel of THE ONLY NEW VEHICLE HE'S EVER HAD IN HIS ENTIRE LIFE, and him sitting beside giving a constant nonstop instruction which also has to go into the thinking forebrain for processing ... ... listening to this fellow's presentation, I broke out into a cold sweat ... Pardon me. I might not be settin' down between Chickasaw Bill and Texas Lizard, but by golly now I think it's time I had some barley pop my own self! 3 Quote
Subdeacon Joe Posted March 9 Author Posted March 9 1 hour ago, Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103 said: barley pop Good one! I tend to think of it in Roman terms - Agri-cola. On how to work throttle, brake, and clutch, Dad told me "It's like walking. You don't have both feet down or up at the same time, when you need to shift, ease off the gas and ease down on the clutch. Then ease out on the clutch and ease down on the gas." It made sense, but, as you say, it needs to become nerve pathways and muscle memory. 1 Quote
Alpo Posted March 9 Posted March 9 It is amazing how long that muscle memory lasts. I learned, of course, on an automatic. Driver's ed. But the first automobile I got to drive all the time was a 170 three on the tree. Then I had a four banger of some sort with a three on the floor, then went to a 250 with a three on the tree. In 1976 I upgraded to an automatic. Then I went to another automatic, but in 1981 I got a pickup truck with a three on the tree. And I drove that truck until 1996, when I bought the Chevy I'm still driving which has an automatic. Long about 1912 I was visiting my daughter up in Georgia, and my fuel pump went out. Well it was in the garage, if I needed to go somewhere I would drive my son-in-law's jeep. And after driving an automatic for 16 years, I had no trouble with that clutch. My feet remembered how to do it. I didn't have to think about it. 1 1 Quote
Subdeacon Joe Posted March 9 Author Posted March 9 53 minutes ago, Alpo said: Long about 1912 I was visiting my daughter up in Georgia, Dang! You're OLD! 54 minutes ago, Alpo said: It is amazing how long that muscle memory lasts After about 10 years of driving a Chevy pickup with 4 on the floor (more like 3 on the floor plus a Granny Low 1st gear) with about 3 feet of throw between gears - OK, that's a bit of hyperbole, but it was a lot of movement- I was looking for something else. Went for a test drive in a little VW diesel something or other with a 5 speed transmission. Only took about 3 inches of movement to shift. 1st to 2nd wasn't bad, just straight down. But trying to go 2nd to 3rd I hit 5th every time. 1 Quote
Alpo Posted March 9 Posted March 9 (edited) I was test driving a 69 goat with a 4-speed. Just kind of slapped it down from first to second. Work great. Unfortunately the Friendly Father Finance Corporation would not loan me any money on that car. Ah well. A year or so later my brother was letting me drive his Super Bee. And I just kind of slapped it down from first to second and it started hopping and jumping and bucking. He had a racing shifter in that car, and it had a spring. You had to hold it to the left when you went from first to second. The spring was to make it easy to go from second to third, but if you just slapped it down from first the spring pushed it over and you went into 4th. Shifting from first to fourth at 15 miles an hour - that car did not like that. I had the damnedest time getting it out of the yard. I pushed in the clutch and I pushed the shifter over to the left and up and let the clutch out and it started going forwards. So I pushed the clutch back in and pulled it down into neutral and tried again. After about 3 attempts my brother leaned over and SHOVED that sucker over to the left and up. That spring again. It was not an easy car to shift, but it was a fun car to drive. Until he and another guy were coming back from Yuma one night and he was sleeping and the other guy was driving and the driver fell asleep. Bye-bye Super Bee. Edited March 9 by Alpo otto 2 Quote
Count Sandor, SASS #74075 Posted March 9 Posted March 9 1 hour ago, Subdeacon Joe said: Dang! You're OLD! After about 10 years of driving a Chevy pickup with 4 on the floor (more like 3 on the floor plus a Granny Low 1st gear) with about 3 feet of throw between gears - OK, that's a bit of hyperbole, but it was a lot of movement- I was looking for something else. Went for a test drive in a little VW diesel something or other with a 5 speed transmission. Only took about 3 inches of movement to shift. 1st to 2nd wasn't bad, just straight down. But trying to go 2nd to 3rd I hit 5th every time. Know that feeling on a "larger" scale - two summers of part-time driving a mid-1950's Chevy dump truck with manual steering and a 4-speed with Granny Low that needed regular double-clutching with the "muscle-builder" clutch pedal while making those giant throws...then the Village popped for a 1965 International Loadstar with power steering and a synchroed 5-Speed with two-speed electrically shifted rear axle (a whole new and fun ball game there!) that had Granny left and back, Reverse left and forward. With a load on, it took a deliberate move from 1st to 2nd to avoid just barely nicking Reverse and making a bad sound that was very embarrassing to the kid who thought he was a hot shot driver! 2 Quote
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